Hoedjiespunt Middle Stone Age Dataset, Western Cape, South Africa

This Middle Stone Age archaeological dataset from Hoedjiespunt 1 was collected in 2011 by a team from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology of the University of Tübingen (Germany) headed by Nicholas J. Conard. South African and European researchers collaborated on this project, with John E. Parkington, Katherine Kyriacou, Deano Stynder, Graham Avery, and Chantal Tribolo making substantial contributions. The site is located within the property of Transnet National Ports Authority in the municipality of Saldanha, Western Cape, South Africa.

The locality of Hoedjiespunt 1 was well known as a paleontological site since at least the 1990s, when the site yielded several important Middle Pleistocene hominin remains dated between 200,000 and 350,000 years. The paleontological site also yielded a well preserved assemblage of fauna, including terrestrial and marine mammals, shellfish and ostrich eggshell. The excavators interpreted the accumulation of these finds as the remains of a hyena den. Cultural remains such as lithic artifacts were absent from the paleontological site, which is situated immediately below the archaeological site.

The 2011 field work at the archaeological site of Hoedjiespunt 1 took place with the help of students from the universities of Tübingen and Cape Town. The datasets are predominantly in English (with some parts in German) and include field data in the MAIN table. Further analytical data for several classes of artifacts include: LITHICS, FAUNA, OCHRE, and BUCKETS.

All of the archaeological materials collected in 2011 are curated by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Cape Town in Rondebosch, South Africa. Funding for this research came mainly from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the University of Tübingen. Significant support was provided by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Cape Town and the Iziko South African Museums.

Importnat references for the paleontological excavations are listed here, while the main publications associated with the 2011 excavations are presented below in the reference section: 

Berger, L.R. & Parkington, J.E. (1995). A new Pleistocene hominid-bearing locality at Hoedjiespunt, South Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 98: 601-609. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330980415

Churchill, S.E., Berger, L.E. & Parkington, J.E. (2000). A Middle Pleistocene human tibia from Hoedjiespunt, Western Cape, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 96: 367-368. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA00382353_8943  

Stynder, D.D., Moggi-Cecchi, J. Berger, R.L. & Parkington, J.E. (2001). Human mandibular incisors from the late Middle Pleistocene locality of Hoedjiespunt 1, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 41: 369-383. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2001.0488