Page 15 - Bulletin 2 1998

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Of particular interest was the discovery of the oldest human remains in the region; an early

Homo sapiens, believed to date between 400 and 500,000 years ago, and Late Acheulian-type
(ESA) stone artefacts found on the site, would also fit roughly into the same time span and

were probably made by these people.

Many of the accumulations at Elandsfontein were made by brown hyaenas bringing parts of
scavenged carcasses to their pups at nursery dens. In these there is a range of antelope, birds,

such as ostriches, vultures and bustards, tortoises, giant buffalo, rhinoceros, carnivores,

including lion, jackal and hyaena pups, most of which bear the gnaw marks and other damage
characteristically caused by hyaenas. At one occurrence it is possible to be reasonably sure

that people had butchered various antelope, giant buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, etc., before

discarding the many hand axes and other tools used there for this purpose.

In other areas, the skulls of elephants, rhinoceros, giant buffalo and hippopotamus are the
common remnants. These are of animals that died naturally or were killed by lions or people

at waterholes and were scavenged or butchered, the movable parts ending up in the above
accumulations.

Early Stone Age Acheulian handaxes are sometimes washed up on Milnerton beach, and
handaxes have been reported from a peaty layer on Fish Hoek Hill. Middle Stone Age (MSA)

artefacts, dated to between 250,000 and 30,000 years ago are relatively common.
Duinefontein 2 is probably the earliest MSA occurrence in the area and is estimated to be

about 200,000 years old. In the Saldanha region, at Hoedjiespunt, parts of a human skull
found in a hyaena accumulation may exceed 150,000 years old and could provide exciting

new evidence on the transition from early Homo sapiens to anatomically modern Homo

sapiens sapiens (ourselves.)