Prehistoric Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula has a long and interesting history. The first people in the area have been traced back to the Prehistoric times, more than 600,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found- in a depression near the Cape of Good Hope - traces of the tools these Early Stone Age hunter-gatherers would have used. The Mid Stone Age inhabitants, dating from 200,000 to 40,000 years ago, also left evidence of life on the Cape Peninsula. There are many sites where artefacts dating from this period have been found and more than a 100 sites where signs of Late Stone Age habitation are evident.
The San hunter-gatherers or Bushmen relied on the sea for most of their food and are known as the strandlopers (beach walkers). Prehistoric rubbish heaps produced by the strandlopers are found in a number of caves in and tell a great deal about the San peoples lifestyle. About 2000 years ago the Khoikhoi migrated south, displacing the San, and bringing with them herds of livestock. It was the Khoikhoi who were the main tribe when the Europeans sailed into Table Bay .
Informative Books of the Western Cape of South Africa
| 
