[en] Mantle xenoliths and minerals, including diamonds, found in the mainly Cretaceous kimberlites on the Kalahari craton provide evidence for the stabilization of a thick pool predominantly peridotitic continental nucleus in the Archaean. This was followed by widespread formation of lesser amounts of eclogite added to the lithosphere throughout the Proterozoic. Most diamonds were derived from the Archaean peridotite and Proterozoic eclogite and were liberated into kimberlite by xenolith disaggregation. The mantle lithosphere is heterogeneous and has undergone considerable modification by such processes as intrusive igneous activity, metasomatism of different styles, subsolidus metamorphism, deformation and probably the recycling of oceanic crust throughout much of its history. Diamond formation and preservation is similarly complex. The kimberlite-borne mantle sample provides a unique window of information about continental evolution in which the diamonds and their occasional encapsulated inclusions play a key role. 88 refs., 16 figs., 1 tab