28— CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE 

 STONE AGE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



By J. P. Johnson. 



Most of the material described in the following notes was 

 obtained during a recent journey, as the guest of Professor R. B. 

 Young, through Griqualand West. It is of the highest interest, 

 throwing considerable light on the long, obscure succession in South 

 Africa, and on the vexed question of the origin of the Eoliths, as well 

 as introducing some types of implements which have not been pre- 

 viously described from the sub-continent. 



Primitive Group from Leijfontein, Herbert. 



In several places on this farm there are patches of gravel lying 

 at the foot of the dolomite escarpment. This gravel consists of sub- 

 angular fragments of chert and jasper, and is probably derived from 

 patches of very ancient drift that formerly existed on the top of 

 the escarpment. 



The chert comes from the dolomite, and is the grey translucent 

 variety of cryptocrystalline silica usually met with in that formation. 

 The opaque jasper is brown inside, but externally has changed to a 

 yellowish-brown, and acquired a high glaze or polish. 



While the chert may have been supplied entirely locally, the 

 jasper, on the other hand, has travelled a long way, the nearest 

 source being the Asbestos Hills, some thirty miles to the west. 



Mixed with the gravel are quantities of much-worn and highly- 

 glazed jasper Eoliths. A few of these are a little more advanced 

 than the true Eoliths, being made from artificially -produced flakes, 

 but they are a very small minority. Otherwise the group is in every 

 way identical with the typical assemblage met with in the early 

 plateau drifts of southern Britain. 



Although attention was drawn to the hacked or rudely chipped 

 stones, which are now termed Eoliths, as far back as 1889, their 

 origin — whether artificial or natural — is still the subject of contro- 

 versy. While some authorities unreservedly accept them as the work 

 •of man, others are equally emphatic in denying their artificial charac- 

 ter. The specimens from Leijfontein throw considerable light on 

 this matter, and their testimony, in my opinion, is only capable of 

 one interpretation, namely, that they really are primitive man's first 

 attempts to trim pieces of stone to a useful shape. 



The Leijfontein Eoliths and flake-Eoliths may be sub-divided 

 in the same way as Prestwich divided the typical Eoliths, that is, into 

 two sub-groups, * (i) those in which the pieces of stone have been 

 subjected to little modification, and (2) those in which they have 

 been chipped into definite shape. 



It would be difficult to recognise the artificial character of the 

 implements of the first sub-group if found alone. Their great 

 abundance, and the haphazard appearance of the chipping immedi- 

 ately suggests that they have been shaped by the blind forces of 

 nature. Both circumstances have been brought forward as evidence 



* The "Reutelian" and "Mesvinian " of Rutot. 



