Stone antiquities found in Africa.

Date:
[between 1860 and 1869?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Stone antiquities found in Africa. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    {Reprinted from the Transactions of the. International Archeeology, Third <S('ssww.] >* STONE ANTIQUITEES FOUND IN AFRICA. Mr. George Busk, F.R.S., exhibited some stone imple- ments from the Cape of Good Hope, and made some remarks respecting’ their discovery. He stated that the larger number of the stone implements which he exhibited were sent to him by his brother, Mr. C. J. Busk, in 1867 ; while a smaller series had been kindly forwarded to him by Dr. Langham Dale in the present year. The latter had been accompanied by a letter from Dr. Dale, dated April 16, 1868, of which the following is an extract:— ‘ I have sent yon a small collection of specimens of stone implements found by me, from time to time, dnring the last few years, on the flats near Cape Town. ‘ In the box you will find a few arrow-heads, spear-heads, and scrapers, a piece of native pottery, and one perforated stone. The flakes correspond with what is usually said of those found elsewhere, having a smooth underside, with a bulb at one end. I have also some stone cores, or nuclei, from which implements have been chipped, and a grain crusher; but these I have not put into the box ; they shall be sent at a later opportnnity. ‘ All the implements have been found on those poidions of the great flat between Table Bay and False Bay, which lie on the north side of the main road, about two miles from the shore of Table Bay. The soil is sandy, overlying a shallow stratum of iron-stone gravel, beneath which is a considerable stratum of stiff white clay, resting on hard blue stone. Wherever the iron-stone crops up, so as to be above the reach of the shifting sand, these specimens have been found. Here and there I have noticed handfuls of splinters and bits of the cores which have been used. All the specimens are rough; A