The points from Primrose Ridge: A possible Still Bay workshop on the Gauteng Grassland of South Africa

Abstract

With this contribution we re-introduce a Middle Stone Age point assemblage from the Gauteng Grassland. Whilst the open-air site can no longer be excavated or dated, an updated interpretation of the Primrose Ridge points has the potential to shed new light on the Middle Stone Age occupation of the Witwatersrand. We apply a fine-grained approach, developed for compiling intra- and inter-assemblage comparative data, to assess how the Primrose Ridge points compare to some other Middle Stone Age point assemblages. We demonstrate that most of the points from Primrose Ridge conform to what can be expected from Still Bay point assemblages in terms of invasive bifacial retouch, lenticular cross sections and semi-circular or pointed butts as originally defined. In situ anvil boulders surrounded by fresh quartz chips recorded in the 1940s, and knapping mistakes provide reasons to think of Primrose Ridge as a workshop or production site for Still Bay-like quartz points. If our interpretation is correct, Primrose Ridge could have been used during the Still Bay phase – in terms of relative chronology – representing the first tentative record of this technocomplex on the Grassland Biome of interior South Africa.