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Approximate age:160,500 years old=average of minimum (0.087 Ma) and maximum (0.234 Ma)

Date based on: U-series See map of sites with similar ages

Dating reference: Beaumont PB, Vogel JC (2006) On a timescale for the past million years of human history in central South Africa; Chazan, M., Ron, H., Matmon, A., Porat, N., Goldberg, P., Yates, R., et al. (2008). Radiometric dating of the Earlier Stone Age sequence in excavation I at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa: preliminary results. Journal of Human Evolution, 55(1), 1-11

Hominids: Middle Stone Age (MSA)/Mousterian      

Archaeology:      

Important specimens:

Notes: prepared cores, blades, and Levallois, unifacial and bifacial points; incised slabs that often feature well-spaced parallel curved lines; Specularite pigment fragments; 2 handaxes were deemed to be intrusive (a lightly weathered specimen from Stratum 3 UP in Exc. 6, that was probably collected from outside, and another from basal Stratum 2 of Exc. 2, which is taken to have been displaced from the surface of MU3)

Location: Kuruman Hills, situated between Danielskuil and Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa
Map location/coordinates reference: Johnson CR, McBrearty S Archaeology of middle Pleistocene lacustrine and spring paleoenvironments in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31(4): 485-499.

Key references:   Beaumont PB, Vogel JC (2006) On a timescale for the past million years of human history in central South Africa; Chazan, M., Ron, H., Matmon, A., Porat, N., Goldberg, P., Yates, R., et al. (2008). Radiometric dating of the Earlier Stone Age sequence in excavation I at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa: preliminary results. Journal of Human Evolution, 55(1), 1-11