The people of Stone Age Kruger National Park emerged about 1.5 million years ago.
These people were ancestors of modern day humans and were probably members of the Homo erectus species.
Homo erectus means standing man and these people used tools, made fires and were probably the first human ancestors to live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. These people were attracted to the land around Kruger National Park because it had good materials for making early Stone Age tools.
The Limpopo River was the cause of the availability of good materials. It ran through the area and left plenty of rock deposits. The people then quarried the stones that they found and made them into tools.Hundreds of thousands of stone implements have been found in the region including some beautifully made hand axes.
The middle Stone Age started about 250,000 years ago.
Lots of tools were found on the tops of hills and mountains in the Pafuri region in the very north of present day Kruger National Park.
The people probably used these high places as lookouts and to spot game for hunting, so their tools needed to be on hand to catch game or deter predators or enemies. Some of the tools which have been found in these places are:
- Knives
- Scrapers
- Spear points
The latest Stone Age period began around 25-35 thousand years ago. The people at this time lived a hunter-gatherer life. This age merged with the Iron Age about 1,500-2,000 years ago and so we end our brief Stone Age history!
There aren’t any Stone Age sites in Kruger National Park open to the public, but if you want to see some of the artefacts which have been found in Kruger National Park, don’t miss the small, but engaging collection on display at the Skukuza Rest Camp museum.