ABSTRACT
In a collection of 520 lithic samples from the combined excavations at the Castle of Good Hope and Oudepost I, 196 have been identified as being complete enough for cataloging as intact or fragmentary gunflints. The earliest production of gunflints is poorly documented and little is known of their production centers. Witthoft published an early history of gunflint manufacture and distribution in which he proposed a four-stage chronology of European gunflint production. The Cape collections include gunflints from three sites. The majority of the gunflints recovered from the Cape sites fit into Witthoft’s ‘Dutch, wedge shaped’ category, commonly referred to as ‘spall-type’. The blade-and spall-type gunflints recovered from the two South Africa sites were produced from different source materials. The gunflints recovered from the Castle and Oudepost I provide a unique opportunity to examine the sources for gunflints used by the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie to provision their outposts in South Africa.
