KLASIES RIVER MOUTH
Lo CATION
Series of wave-cut and -washed caves and shelters on
the southern coast of South Africa, some 40 km W of
Cape St Francis and about the same distance SW of
Humansdorp.
DISCOVERY
Excavations led by J. Wymer and R. Singer in
1967-1968, and by H. Deacon in 1984-1989.MATERIAL
About 30 fragmentary hominid fossils of interest
here have been recovered from this site, scattered
throughout deposits ranging in age from Middle
Stone Age (MSA) I through MSA 111 to Late Stone
Age (LSA). The oldest of these are two maxillary
fragments. Other MSA skull parts include several
mandibular rami in varying stages of completeness
and containing from zero to three teeth, some includ-
ing symphysis; most of a mandible with defective
rami and missing most teeth; several parietal frag-
ments; and a piece of frontal including glabella. See
lists in Singer and Wymer (1982) and Rightmire and
Deacon (1991).
DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The KFW deposits form a noncontinuous sequence,
from MSA I to LSA, that is represented in several
closely grouped cavities at the base of a cliff face. Theoriginal numbering of layers adopted by Singer and
Wymer (1982) has been partly superseded by Deacon
and Geleijnse’s (1988) identification of a series of
members. The oldest of these, LBS, represents the ini-
tial period of occupation during a high marine stand
believed to correspond to the last glacial period (stage
5e, ca. 120 Ka), based on oxygen isotope analyses on
shells by Shackleton (in Singer and Wymer, 1982).
LBS contains an MSA I assemblage, as does the bot-
tom part of the overlying SAS member, deposited
about 100-80 ka (Deacon and Geleijnse, 1988). This
dating is corroborated by U-series and amino acid
racemization results (Deacon, Talma, and Vogel, 1988;
Bada and Deems, 1975), and is also is supported by
ESR dates on a tooth from the lower SAS (Griin,
Shackleton, and Deacon, 1990); linear uptake ages of
94 and 88 Ka confirm the remarkable antiquity of the
underlying deposits. Both the LBS and SAS contain
hominids: the two partial maxillae noted above occur
in the former, while most of the 1967/8 hominids
come from two MSA I1 SAS strata in cave 1. A
mostly sterile sand overlies the SAS member, and
above this lies the Upper member (Howieson’s Poort
industry below, MSA 111 above), with a couple of
hominid cranial fragments and isolated teeth. The bot-
tom of the Upper member probably dates from about
60 ka, based both on the presence of Howieson’s
Poort and on linear uptake ESR dates published by
Griin, Shackleton, and Deacon (1990). In view of the
foregoing, the two LBS maxillary fragments are at the
very least 90 Ka old, and may well date from about117