Early Human History
From about 1.5 million years ago, human ancestors, who were probably members of the species Homo erectus, were attracted to the area as a source of raw material for making early stone age tools. The raw materials they were seeking are still visible today in the form of rocks and cobbles of non-native materials brought from the West and in abundance in channel lag deposits left by the ancient Limpopo. Homo erectus clearly found this raw material provided by the rivers of great importance and used these abundant gravel deposits as quarry sites – there are quite literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of stone tools, and the byproducts of their manufacturing process, which can be seen throughout the area. Beautifully crafted hand axes – which are common – are evidence that this early stone tool culture represents the Acheulean industry and lasted from around 1.7 million years ago until around 250,000 years ago when it gave way to a slightly more advanced stone tool culture known as the Middle Stone Age. The vast numbers of Acheulean aged stone tools in the region are not only testimony of the large numbers of human ancestors that occupied the area, but also the vast amount of time in which this occupation occurred – more than 1.4 million years of continuous occupation.
Tools of the Middle Stone Age are also in abundance in the area, particularly on top of hills and mountains in the region where these humans were apparently using overlooks and high spots to scout for game. On top of many hills, at particularly good outlooks, can be found quite literally thousands of Middle Stone age knives, scrapers and spear-points. The Middle Stone Age begins around 250,000 years ago and ends around 25 – 35 thousand years ago. It holds within this temporal period not only the origins of a new and more complex toolkit used by humans, but the origin in Africa of modernity itself – it is during the middle part of this period that we see not only the emergence of the modern human brain and physical features but modern human culture – our infinite toolkit, artwork and burial of the dead.
The Middle Stone age is followed in this region by the Latest Stone Age and most places have evidence of the micro-lithic cultures that characterize this hunter-gather lifestyle of modern humans. The Latest Stone Age merges with the culture of Iron-aged Bantu speaking pastoralists who moved into the region around 1500 to 2000 years ago. Rock art from this period is abundant in the region, particularly South of the Luvuvhu, but good examples have recently been discovered in the Pafuri region itself.
Read more about this topic: Makuleke
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