A PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION OF LITHIC TECHNOLOGY AT HOLKRANS ROCK SHELTER, VREDEFORT DOME, SOUTH AFRICA.

Lithic material recovered from excavations at Holkrans rock shelter, a late Holocene, Later Stone Age site in the Vredefort Dome, South Africa, indicates forager occupation from at least 2000 years ago, and culture contact with farmer groups in the centuries around 1500 AD. A technological analysis of cryptocrystalline silicate (CCS) cores and bladelets indicates marked change in knapping strategy between the pre-ceramic (PC) and ceramic (C) phases, with bipolar knapping of opaline prevalent in the C phase compared to a predominance of freehand knapping on dolomitic chert in the PC phase. The study demonstrates the usefulness of the technological approach as a tool in the study of contact-period LSA lithic assemblages in southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]