Stillbay industry, assemblage of Late Paleolithic stone tools, found first in Cape Province, S.Af., and dating from about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago. The stone flake culture reached from Ethiopia in the north to South Africa along the eastern coast and produced a variety of stone tools that are likened to the Mousterian industry of North Africa and Europe, which lay midway between the earliest stone tools and the highly complex ones of Cro-Magnon man.
Tools were made generally by the Levallois stone-flaking technique, that is, by shaping a prepared core in order to produce pointed flakes probably used as lance heads or skinning knives. In addition, the Stillbay industry contains leaf-shaped bifacial points.