The Stillbay or Still Bay industry was named by archaeologists A. J. H. Goodwin and C. van Riet Lowe in 1929,[1] and is a Middle Stone Age stone tool manufacturing style after the site of Stilbaai (also called Still Bay) in South Africa where it was first described.
However, available data are consistent with a duration of less than 1 ky.[2] Sampson in 1974 questioned its existence on the grounds that sites were not properly described and they lacked stratigraphic integrity[3] However, more recent work from sites such as Blombos Cave[4] and Sibudu Cave[5] attest to its existence.
Thermoluminescence confirmed that all stones analysed (limited to 26 in number due this being a destructive process) had been heated to this temperature.
[7] Kyle Brown, one of the scientists responsible for this research has been quoted as making a link with the existence of language: "These people were extremely smart ...
This paper details the history of excavations at the site of Sibudu Cave, linking the levels of artifacts found beneath the higher level, the Howiesons Poort Industry, to sites in South Africa, such as Blombos Cave and Hollow Rock Shelter, establishing a wider geographic range to an industry that was once thought to be limited to the western areas of South Africa.