The Jeppe High School for Boys "Koppie" - A Stone Age Site

Two years ago I noticed stones on the "Koppie" that looked like they were modified.  I asked a Professor  to have a look at photographs of the tools and of the "Koppie" (I sent her a Power Point presentation with 600 slides😊).  This was her response:

Dear Jean,

Thank you for the PowerPoint, it was really interesting to follow your thoughts.

First, as I said over the phone, hominins and humans have been on the Gauteng landscape for more than 2 million years leaving aspects of their material culture. It is therefore not surprising to see such evidence anywhere in Gauteng, or in Southern Africa.

1. From some of the stone tool images (some are real tools, but some are just broken rocks) it is clear that Thabana Koppie was used between about 500 000 and 50 000 years ago by Stone Age populations. First probably Homo Heidelbergensis during the Earlier Stone Age, and then since about 300 000 years ago Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers during the Middle Stone Age.
2. None of the bona fide tools have human-made images carved or painted on them, even though some might see such images in the staining or shapes of the rocks.
3. On slide 422 you show a parallel row of stones, which is human made. This may be the remnants of an Iron Age kraal that could date to between 1000 and 200 years ago. Alternatively it could be historical, i.e., built by people of European decent as a foundation for a home or kraal.
4. Some of the ‘cement’ images look like deteriorating quartzite, and others are clearly modern cement/concrete, which is to be expected in an area surrounded by urban building activities.

I hope this helps to clarify things somewhat.

I understand that you are anxious about the koppie being ‘lost’, but it has been used by humans for hundreds of thousands of years. Nothing of what I see is unusual compared to what we see or know about the use of the Gauteng landscape throughout the millennia.

But, of course you are welcome to contact any other specialists that you may think can help your dilemma.

With best regards,

Marlize  

 

 

Prof Marlize Lombard
Research Chair
Palaeo-Research Institute

 

Most fossils now known as Homo heidelbergensis were previously known as either Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or 'archaic' Homo sapiens.

These amazing ancient people were actually living where the school is built now and they left behind their tools and their art.

Sources:

https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-heidelbergensis/#:~:text=Most%20fossils%20now%20known%20as,or%20'archaic'%20Homo%20sapiens.