Applying for a permit for the destructive analysis of 20 stone tool artifacts from Witberg 1 and Sonstraal, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, Northern Cape

This application seeks a permit for the destructive analysis of twenty quartzite stone tool artifacts from the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve—ten from the Witberg 1 Middle Stone Age (MSA) site and ten from the Sonstraal Earlier Stone Age (ESA) site—currently curated at the McGregor Museum in Kimberley. The analysis will focus on ICP-MS trace element analysis at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Geological Sciences to compare raw material use patterns between the ESA and MSA. Only flakes and manuports with no technological information have been selected for analysis. Permission has been granted by the landowner in Tswalu and the McGregor Museum.