368 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H, 



JOHANNESBURG. 

 Wednesday, July 31. 



Mr. L. S. B. Leakey. — An Outline of the Stone Age in East Africa. 



Mr. C. VAN RiET Lowe. — Archceology of Sheppard Island with Addendum 

 on Associated Fauna. 



Prof. Raymond A. Dart. — Mammoths and other Fossil Elephants of the 

 Transvaal. 



An exhibition will be arranged of mammoth and other elephant teeth secured from 

 the Vaal River gravels and from other sites in the Transvaal. 



The mammoth teeth form a four-stage evolutionary series from (a) four Pliocene 

 types, e.g. Archidiskodon subplanifrons Osborn through (6) two advancing types, e.g. 

 Atchidiskodon broomi Osborn and (c) two penultimate types, e.g. A. transvaalensis Dart 

 to (d) an ultimate hypsidont type, e.g. A. Lanekomi (sp. nov.) Dart. 



In addition, three new primitive Pilgrimid types will be announced as well as a 

 Loxodont from the Pilandsberg, ancestral to the modern African elephant, and a 

 fossil modern African elephant from a depth of 17 feet in the Steelpoort River Valley. 



Dr. li. Frobenius. — Investigations in Southern Rhodesia. 



Thursday, August 1. 



Presidential Address by Mr. H. Balfour, F.R.S., on South Africa's 

 Contribution to Prehistoric Archceology. (See p. 153.) 



Rev. Neville Jones, Mr. J. Hewitt. 



Mr. A. L. Armstrong. — Excavations at Bambata Cave, Matoppo Hills. 



Friday, August 2. 



Miss G. Caton-Thompson. — Excavations in the Rhodesian Ruins. 



In accordance with the wish of the Council of the British Association to undertake 

 a fresh inquiry into the ruins of Zimbabwe, ' or any monument or monuments of the 

 kind in Rhodesia which seem most likely to reveal the character, date and source 

 of culture of their builders,' excavations have been carried out at various sites from 

 April to September 1929. Detailed plans and sections have been made of unpublished 

 ruins. 



The main work has been concentrated at Zimbabwe. The Maund ruins in the 

 Valley of Ruins provided undisturbed ground which was horizontally cleared over a 

 considerable area down to virgin soil. The stratification was well defined, and showed 

 that the objects from the oldest stratum, beneath granite -cement floors contemporary 

 with the waUs, resemble those known to be of Bantu origin. The site seems to have 

 been re-adapted by later occupants (whose material culture differed little from that 

 of the original inhabitants), who raised the floor level, burying or cutting away the 

 old granite -cement pavements. 



Test excavations were next transferred to the north-west slope of the Zimbabwe 

 Acropolis hUl. These touched bedrock at 18 and 24 feet respectively. The midden 

 deposit of the old Acropolis dwellers was located at the base of these shafts, and yielded 

 imported glass beads, native iron, sherds and pottery phalli. The terracing system, 

 with massive retaining walls, which is a feature of the Acropolis hfll, is found to 

 belong to the latest local phase of building activities. 



In order to test the possibility that an older and different culture might be 

 associated with the Elliptical Temple, extensive trenches were cut to bedrock 

 (1) outside the girdle wall; (2) in an adjacent set of buildings named the Mauch 

 Ruins ; and (3) a tunnel was driven, with the assistance of a mining engineer, vertically 



