Matt Lotter, a University of the Witwatersrand Archaeology PhD student, is currently staying at the Kudu Ridge Game Ranch. He has found several archaeological sites, in both the Addo and Kirkwood regions, where he is excavating for stone tools. His sites of interest date back to between 1.4 million to 650 thousand years ago, falling within the Early Stone Age and more specifically the Acheulean period. Once the artefacts obtained from these excavations have been analysed this research will assist with the overall completion of his PhD.
Matt has also found the Kudu Ridge Game Ranch to be extremely rich in both these early stone artefacts and additional (and much older) fossils which significantly predate the Early Stone Age. As a result the guided game drives and bush walks that Kudu Ridge offers are extremely informative and intriguing from a historical perspective; guests are given a unique opportunity to engage with a landscape of the past and see what remnants were left behind by those whom frequented the Addo area.
Matt has opened up a small surface test trench excavation on Kudu Ridge. Here guests have the opportunity to see what an excavation trench looks like and also, how an excavation is conducted.
