Diamonds are an early 20th century archaeologist’s best friend: on the interactions between diamond mining and Acheulean archaeology

Abstract

A review of the interaction of South African diamond-mining with Stone Age archaeology shows that the occurrence of rich Acheulean stone tool assemblages in diamond-bearing river gravels has been instrumental in shaping the early understanding of the South African archaeological chrono-cultural sequence. Current relations between the heritage sector and diamond mining are more ambiguous and sometimes adversarial, focused on the mitigation of destruction of cultural heritage. However, the co-occurrence of handaxes and diamonds in river gravels appears to be an artefact of taphonomy, rather than rooted in early hominin behaviours focused on diamond-bearing gravels.