Canteen Kopje is best known for its long and exceptionally rich Earlier Stone Age sequence, spanning circa >0.5 to 1.7 million years, occurring within gravels exposed in late nineteenth and early twentieth century mining pits.

The importance of Canteen Kopje as a heritage site was recognized, and a 9 hectares (22 acres) area known as Erf 91 was proclaimed as a protected reserve in 1948.

Gideon Retief, Mining Commissioner of Barkly West from 1942 to 1951, was instrumental in preserving the site and creating the first open air exhibit here.

An urgent interdicted was granted by the Northern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa on 19 March, being made final on 19 April 2016.

For their part, as noted by Jerome Babe in his 1872 book, The South African Diamond Fields, "Natives would form themselves in long lines, joined hand in hand, and walk slowly over the ground and look for diamonds, especially after rain; and if they found one they would take it to a trader...[Finds were exchanged for] horses, wagons, cows, sheep, cash, goods, etc at a deuce of a pace".

[2] In January 1870 diggers from KwaZulu-Natal were working their way along the Vaal River, finding diamonds at Klipdrift, on the "Old Koppie", upslope from Canteen Kopje.

A popular early cradle sieve for recovery of diamonds was the so-called "Long Tom", which was reliant on large quantities of water.

An improved version less dependent on water was developed by the American digger, author of The South African Diamond Fields, Jerome Babe.

Around 90-120 million years ago, a swarm of volcanic pipes, centred on Kimberley to the east, brought diamond-bearing kimberlite to a higher surface formed of Karoo Sequence sediments.

Subsequent erosion has lowered the entire regional landscape by over 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) and in the process the diamonds were released from their host rock.

Earlier Stone Age artefacts were noted in the area by Colonel James Henry Bowker and Mary Elizabeth Barber at the time of the earliest diamond diggings.

On account both of the mining history as well as the finding of Acheulean artefacts at this spot, a 10 morgen portion of Canteen Kopje was declared a National Monument (since 2000 known as a provincial heritage site) in 1948.

The current active programme of research has yielded an as yet unpublished basal date of some 2.3 million years, while excavations involving students from the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley investigate the most recent circa 19th century contact period archaeology showing interaction between local communities and colonial diggers.

There is a marked 'Victoria West' Acheulean horizon (named for the town in the Karoo where these stone tools were first described) in the upper part of the gravels, subject to a current Southampton PhD project.