Peter Bernhard Beaumont (November 1935

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

- 31 August 2016

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

) was a South African archaeologist noted for his excavation and finds at

Wonderwerk Cave Wonderwerk Cave is an archaeological site, formed originally as an ancient solution cavity in dolomite rocks of the Kuruman Hills, situated between Danielskuil and Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It is a National Heritage S ...

, Kathu,

Canteen Kopje Canteen Kopje is an archaeological site, formally protected as a grade 2 provincial heritage site, and approved in 2017 for re-grading to national status, situated outside Barkly West in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The place was previously ...

and

Border Cave Border Cave is a rock shelter on the western scarp of the Lebombo Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal near the border between South Africa and Eswatini. Border Cave has a remarkably continuous stratigraphic record of occupation spanning about 200 ka. ...

, all in South Africa. His work led to the conviction that, rather than trailing Europe and Asia, Southern Africa's

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

technology and culture had set the pace.

Education and career

Beaumont matriculated at

Rondebosch Boys' High School Rondebosch Boys' High School is a public English medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the topmost academic schools in South Africa and one of th ...

before studying archaeology at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

under Astley John Hilary Goodwin (1900–59), graduating with a B.Sc. in 1956 having taken geology as a major. His first appointment was that of Research Officer (1958–64) at the Archaeological Research Unit at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

and after that under

Raymond Dart Raymond Arthur Dart (4 February 1893 – 22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist, best known for his involvement in the 1924 discovery of the first fossil ever found of ''Australopithecus africanus'', an extinct homi ...

of the

Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research The Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) is a paleontological, paleoanthropological and archeological research institute operated through the Faculty of Science of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Previously kn ...

(1965–77). Finally he became Head of Archaeology (1978-2000) at the

McGregor Museum The McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa, originally known as the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, is a multidisciplinary museum which serves Kimberley and the Northern Cape, established in 1907. Overview Housed at first in a purpos ...

Kimberley, Northern Cape Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to it ...

. His name is associated with, among others,

Kathu Kathu is a town in South Africa, and the iron ore capital of the Northern Cape province. Its name means "town under the trees", after the Camel Thorn forest it is situated in. The phrase "the town under the trees" was coined by an engineer wo ...

and

, all highly significant sites in determining a new Southern African chronology of

hominins The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas). The t ...

. Border Cave was also the focus of Beaumont's dissertation which led to an

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

with distinction in 1978. In the 1960s Beaumont, while working under Dart, investigated the

haematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

mining activities at Bomvu Ridge in

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. He determined that mining for the pigment specularite or specular hematite, pre-dated mining for ore, and extended back into the

Middle Stone Age The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of pa ...

. Work by the field team uncovered an

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits ...

in the hematite excavated to gain access to a lode of specularite. The site of Lion Cavern within the Bomvu Ridge site yielded more than 30 000 artefacts in rubble older than 41 000 years. Returning in 1971 from a season of fieldwork at Border Cave, Beaumont prepared to challenge the then prevailing view that modern humans had an Asian origin. In an article published by

the Rand Daily Mail ''The Rand Daily Mail'' was a South African newspaper published from 1902 until it was controversially closed in 1985 after adopting an outspoken anti-apartheid stance in the midst of a massive clampdown on activists by the security forces. The ...

he stated his conviction that Africa would eventually prove to be the "source of modern man's beginning". Finds which he had made at Border Cave when subjected to radiocarbon dating by John Vogel would support his views. Beaumont and Vogel's articles appeared in ''African Studies'' and ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' in 1972. The articles included a comprehensive and formal tabulation of radiocarbon dates available at that time. Beaumont & Vogel's dates were corroborated by a team led by Paolo Villa and Francesco d'Errico. Their findings were published in the journal of

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

in 2012 with Beaumont as co-author. Beaumont lived during a period when archaeology was turning into a multi-disciplinary science, and utilising the expertise of

palynologists Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and '' -logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...

sedimentologists Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, silt, and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transport, deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of mo ...

and

radiometric dating Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares t ...

specialists became part of his own set of skills. In 1978 he also relocated to Kimberley and the rich archaeology of the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

. His earlier interest in ancient mining at Bomvu Ridge had first brought him to the region where he examined ancient ochre mines near

Postmasburg Postmasburg is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Location The Town is located approximately 170 km east of Upington. The town is north of Griquatown and west-south-west of Daniëlskuil. History Originally a station o ...

. Once settled at the McGregor Museum he started a number of excavation projects at Wonderwerk Cave, Kathu, the ancient hyaena maternity den at Equus Cave near Taung, and sites along the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

which included Pniel, and Canteen Kopje near

Barkly West Barkly West is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the north bank of the Vaal River west of Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley. Establishment and naming Barkly West was the site of the first major diamond rush, in 18 ...

. Beaumont's views on the status and dating of the Stone Age in Southern Africa ran counter to the prevailing views, and, until incontrovertible evidence had been produced, led to a marked split in the ranks of archaeology. He was elected president of the South African Society for Quaternary Research in 1995, and vice-president of the

International Union for Quaternary Research The International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) was founded in 1928. It has members from a number of scientific disciplines who study the environmental changes that occurred during the glacial ages, the last 2.6 million years. One goa ...

Congress hosted by South Africa in 1999.

Personal life

Peter Beaumont was married to Mavis, the union producing two children, Bruce and Megan. Mavis, who predeceased her husband, shunned public appearances and was known only to family and close friends. He has two brothers.

References

External links

Papers authored or co-authored by Peter BeaumontSouth African Archaeological Society article on John Vogel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont, Peter South African archaeologists 1935 births 2016 deaths University of Cape Town alumni Alumni of Rondebosch Boys' High School