An introduction to the formal tools from the acheulean site of penhill farm, lower sundays river valley, South Africa

This study provides a preliminary description of the formal tools from Penhill Farm, a site located along the lower Sundays River near the town of Addo. It contains a large and well-preserved assemblage within a secondary context colluvial deposit. Some detail has already been provided on the production of the large cutting tools, which collectively form only a minor component of the total tool sample. Here, the considerably larger collection of retouched tools are examined by employing a techno-typological analysis. Data are presented that provide clarity on overall tool morphology and on the strategies employed in tool edge modification. Overall, the results suggest a level of expediency in tool production where edges are minimally altered by retouch, and a preference for the production of a wide range of scrapers, which presumably had some functional importance in the palaeolandscape of the lower Sundays River Valley during the Acheulean.