Journal of Archaeological Science 1974,1, 1-25 Geo-Archeological Interpretation of Ache&an Calc-Pan Sites at Doornlaagte and Rooidam (Kimberley, South Africa) Karl W. Butzer Departments of Anthropology and Geography, The University of Chicago Two Acheulian occupation sites of the Kimberley District, Doorniaagte and Rooidam,are found geologically sealed and in semi-primary context within complex sequences of calcareous and arenaceous sediments. The sedimentary columns are analyzed and interpreted in terms of sedimentology and stratigraphy, indicating major occupation along the marginsof shallow, seasonal lakes; sporadicvisits to the fluctuating shoreline are also indicated thereafter, until the Doomlaagte playa beganto dry out, and at Rooidam until the whole depression was submerged. The evolution of the related calcareous pans is discussed and attributed to cycles of alternating erosion (aeolian, chemical and fluvial) and deposition (lacustrine and colluvial, including reworked aeolian components). In addition to pedogenetic “calcretes,” most of the limestones of the pan sedimentary sequences arelacustrine in origin. Palaeosols also include fersiallitic soils. The various geomorphologic events indicate repeatedand appreciable environmental changes during the mid- Pleistocene. The detailed climatic oscillations recorded at Doornlaagteand Rooidam cannot be correlated, and the latter site is appreciablyyounger, with a provisional Th/U date of 115,000 BP for the late Acheulian (“Fauresmith”) occupation. Introduction Hand-axes of Acheulian type were first discovered in the northern Cape Province during the course of diamond workings of the late 19th century. Destined to become best known in the international literature were the Acheulian occurrences of the Vaal gravels (see Cole, 1961,pp. 28-159, for a comprehensive analysis of the existing collections). However, hand-axes were also recovered in the Kimberley diggings, and the McGregor Memorial Museum at Kimberley hasmore recent records of such artifacts from nearby Kamfersdam and Klipjies Pan, as well as from the road to Barkly West and the Modder-Riet river confluence (Fock, 1965, 1972; also Clark, 1967, p. 48). The contextual significance of these incidental finds around Kimberley could not be envisaged prior to the scientific excavation of two newly-discovered sites at Doomlaagte, by Mason in 1963, and at Rooidam, by Fock in 1964. Doornlaagte and Rooidam provided a new perspective on Acheulian (“Earlier Stone Age”-“Fauresmith”) settlement in the Northern Cape. Previous associations had been with the abandoned channels of the Vaal River and their cover deposits (see Butzer et al., 1973). Now it was clear that Acheulian occupancy had also extended to the closed depressions or pans of the broken, upland plains between the Vaal and Riet Rivers. 1