The project involved the excavation of a number of rock shelters in the Grahamstown area, including Wilton Large Rockshelter and Cave, Glen Craig, Roodekrantz, and Spitzkop.

Hewitt himself was also involved in excavations at Melkhoutboom, as well as Middelkop, Tefelburg Hall, and several sites near the Kabeljous River Mouth.

[3] One of the main focuses of the “Prehistory of the Eastern Cape” research project was analysing the subsistence ecology of human populations of the early Holocene era in southern Africa.

The information gained from Hewitt's work, specifically the excavations at Melkhoutboom Cave in 1967 and 1969, were an important factor in steering the program's focus in this direction.

There is little vegetation, and subsistence in this area during the Later Stone Age likely consisted mainly of shellfish – as evidenced by the abundance of shell middens dating to within the last 12,000 years – as well as fish, crustaceans, great white sharks, and birds.

This area contains grassland, shrubland, fynbos, and scree forest, all with a variety of vegetation; the fauna is equally varied, consisting of antelope (including grysbok, duiker, and bushbuck), wild pigs, and other small- to medium-sized mammals.

[3] The Karoo-Cape Midlands is located inland of the Cape Folded Mountain Belt, sloping upward toward the Great Escarpment at the southern end of the Karoo Basin.

[3] Melkhoutboom Cave is located about 35 km (21.7 mi) from the coast in the Cape Folded Mountain Belt, inside a steep, forested ravine that runs north to south along the northernmost ridge of the Suurberg Range and ends at the Beans River.

[3] Melkhoutboom Cave was first excavated in 1930 by John Hewitt, whose findings prompted it to be included in the Albany Museum's “Prehistory of the Eastern Cape” project, initiated in 1963.

[3] The excavated area of Melkhoutboom Cave was divided into stratigraphic units based on soil composition and cultural content.

This burial was associated with several grave goods: three notched shells and 14 baked earthen beads, which are thought to be part of a necklace.

[3] The wooden artefacts in the Melkhoutboom sequence are comparable to those from Gwisho sites in Zambia, dating to 4000 BP, as well as to those made by present-day Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.

Only a single ornamental item made of bone was found – a lynx vertebra with holes drilled in it, possibly for cord to be strung through, and colouration from red ochre.

Only one fully reconstructible garment was found: a pull-through made of grysbok (antelope) leather, similar to those worn by present-day hunter-gatherer groups in South Africa.

Wood sorrel is thought likely to have been used for medicinal purposes, and boophone leaves possibly as wrapping material or for arrow poison.

[3] The 1967 and 1969 excavations were intended to investigate the ways artefact styles and methods of production changed through time in the Eastern Cape, with special attention paid to the hafted tools of the Wilson Industry.

The research was also more broadly intended to shed light on the prehistory of the Eastern Cape region, specifically on the changes that occurred – climatic, environmental, social, and technological – during the transition from the late Upper Pleistocene to the Holocene.

The plant and animal remains in the Melkhoutboom sequence have been used to make inferences about the environment of the Eastern Cape region during the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene occupations of the cave.

In the lower levels, the primary species represented in the faunal record are zebra, hartebeest, and wildebeest, which are all diurnal herd animals and grazers preferring a grassland environment.

In the Wilton Base Marker and overlying units, the faunal remains are primarily of nocturnal, non-herding animals that generally prefer a more vegetated environment.

This change is thought to represent and correspond to a decrease in grassland and increase in scrub and brush that began in the terminal Pleistocene and continued into the Holocene.

This conclusion is supported by the fact that similar sequences representing alternating periods of occupation and non-occupation occur at a number of other caves in the area.