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The prehistoric record of southern Africa extends back some 2 million years. The oldest cultural artefacts are stone tools such as hand axes, cleavers, and choppers. In more recent centuries, archaeologists have found an extensive repertoire of artefacts including not only stone tools, but tools of bone, wood and shell as well as beads, jewellery, grinding stones, clothing, fishing equipment, burials and southern Africa's enigmatic rock art.
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Southern Africa is without equal in terms of geology, a treasure trove of valuable minerals with a geological history dating back some 3 600 million years. In addition, the evolution of plants and animals, especially mammals and dinosaurs, is well preserved in the region, which also has among the best records of the origin of modern man.