Abstract
THE Archæology Survey of the Union of South Africa has recently published a pamphlet entitled "Early Man in the Vaal River Basin"(Archæology Series, No. 6. Pretoria : Government Printer, 1948. 5s.). This interesting paper includes an article by Prof. H. Breuil on the earlier stone-age finds in the Vaal River area, a second by Dr. C. van Riet Lowe on the older gravels of the Vaal, their industrial contents and the relationships with successive pluvial and interpluvial periods, while a third, by Dr. A. L. du Toit, is a note on the older gravels of the Vaal between Barkley West and Windsorton. Much important work is being done just now in South Africa not only in correlating the various cultural stone-age levels with the successive climate changes, but also in the intensive typological and technological study of industries made mainly from non-flint material. The raw material occurs in large blocks ; and the frequent occurrence in Stellenbosch industries of the so-called Clacton platform would seem to show that this method of breaking up large blocks of raw material is in no sense typical of any particular culture, but was used freely when fashioning a nucleus from large lumps of refractory material. The diagram correlating the various phases of the Stellenbosch culture and the middle and later stone ages with the climate changes will especially interest students and give rise to some earnest thought. Dr. du Toit's note is purely geological and is concerned with the actual formation of the various gravels. This series of pamphlets issued by the Survey is always interesting ; but to those concerned with correlations and the earlier industries this number is of Very considerable importance.
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Archæology in the Vaal River Basin. Nature 163, 395–396 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163395e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163395e0