DEAR Editor,-
I am truly surprised that academics have not let their voices be heard in the (renewed) case for Xolobeni.
Footage on the TV program ‘Shoreline’ showed Xolobeni dunes engulfing a multitude of stone artefacts on the leeward side, whilst exposing them on the windward side.
ALSO READ : NPO welcomes mining in Xolobeni
Like the Red Desert, Xolobeni represents a rare Sangoan tool site.
The Sangoan era represents that critical time when prehistoric people abandoned one of the oldest archaeological traditions – the manufacture of carefully ‘sculpted’ symmetrical, impractical hand axes.
A completely new approach to tool-making was adopted: practicality above aesthetics. (Was this the birth of modern thought?)
This Sangoan site will not survive the pillage – it is not merely of local archaeological significance, but should be declared a World Heritage Site in order to protect it – and to generate much-needed tourism for local people.
GLENDA FLETCHER
Sunwich Port
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