We present the results of a technological analysis of Howiesons Poort (HP) and post-Howiesons Poort assemblages from three South African sites: Rose Cottage, Sibudu and Klasies River Mouth. Often discussed, the HP blade technology remained undefined; blade making was described as indicating indirect percussion (H.Deacon), soft hammer (S.Wurz), or hard hammer (L.Winter). Our analysis, supported by experimental replication, shows that soft stone hammer was used at Rose Cottage and Klasies, while soft organic hammer was probably used at Sibudu. In all cases the method, based on abrading the core margin and striking it in a tangential motion, was directed to the production of straight blades with thin platforms, to be used as such or transformed into backed segments. Gradual evolution of debitage techniques within the HP is especially clear at Rose Cottage and Klasies; at both sites the final HP levels are characterized by a change from the use of soft hammer toward a classic hard hammer technique with production of flakes with a thicker platforms and more irregular blades. At Rose Cottage this change in the debitage style is accompanied by a decline of the production of backed pieces and an increase in the making of classic MSA types such as scrapers and unifacial points, as well as a reappearance of the Levallois technique. The HP industry, with a very high proportion of blades and a tool kit dominated by backed pieces, is extremely original for its time and could almost be compared to Epipaleolithic assemblages of Western Europe. Yet by about 60-55 ka the internal evolution of the industry is completed, backed pieces are no longer a common element of the tool kit, blades are no longer predominant in the blank production, and formal tools are very similar to the classic Middle Paleolithic forms. Our three sites, all with an important series of late MSA levels directly above the HP assemblages, clearly show a total lack of continuity between the HP and the LSA assemblages.