[1] In 1997 it was described in the Government Gazette as:[citation needed] The Florisbad fossil site consists of a sequence of Quaternary deposits associated with a thermal spring, situated 45 km NNW of Bloemfontein in central South Africa (28°46’S, 26°04’E).
These land surfaces are, to a greater or lesser degree, disturbed by post-depositional spring action and saturation during times of a higher water table...The Florisbad fossil locality is internationally known for producing a pre-modern human skull, Middle Pleistocene fossil vertebrates and Middle Stone Age artefacts...The stratigraphic nature of the site is characterized by distinct sand and peat layers, with the latter allowing for increased preservation of organic materials.
[4] This is consistent with a faunal assemblage that accumulated naturally, as opposed to being deposited by human hunting, butchery, or scavenging activities.
[4] The Middle Stone Age industry assemblage is mostly composed of robust cores and thick flakes without rounded edges.
[4] The Late Stone Age Lockshoek Industry is characterized by large diagnostic convex scrapers, and the assemblage at Florisbad is made mostly of hornfels.
[5] This fragment has been classified as a Middle Stone Age artifact, and the wood from which it is made has been identified as the kundanyoka knobwood (Zanthoxylum chalybeum).