scholarly journals Palaeomagnetic results and new dates of sedimentary deposits from Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol Volume 112 (Number 11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo G. Nami ◽  
Paloma de la Peña ◽  
Carlos A. Vásquez ◽  
James Feathers ◽  
Paloma de la Peña ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Magnetism ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Main Site ◽  
White Sand ◽  
Remanent Magnetisation ◽  
Field Excursion

Abstract Palaeomagnetic data from Klasies River main site Cave 1 (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) are reported. Natural remanent magnetisation directions obtained from 77 oriented samples were determined by progressive alternating field demagnetisation methodology. Three palaeomagnetic samplings from the Witness Baulk from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) Late Pleistocene White Sand member and the Holocene Later Stone Age (LSA) middens in Cave 1 were dated and analysed to obtain the palaeomagnetic directions recorded in the sediments. Here we provide new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates for the White Sand Member, and new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates for the LSA midden of areas not previously dated. The palaeomagnetic analysis took into account rock magnetism and directional analysis. The former reveals that the main magnetic carrier was magnetite; the latter shows that characteristic remanent magnetisation of normal and anomalous directions was observed in the lower portion of the White Sand Member and LSA midden. Normal directions correspond to the palaeosecular variation record for South Africa during the Late Pleistocene. On the other hand, the anomalous directions recorded in the LSA midden might represent the likely Sterno-Etrussia geomagnetic field excursion which occurred during the Late Holocene and is observed in other places on the planet. Finally, the directional data obtained are a potential tool for discussing the age of deposits corresponding to those periods.

Human manual distal phalanges from the Middle Stone Age deposits of Klasies River Main Site, Western Cape Province, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 146 ◽  
pp. 102849
Author(s):  
Frederick E. Grine ◽  
Carrie S. Mongle ◽  
Shelley L. Smith ◽  
Wendy Black ◽  
Anton du Plessis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Western Cape Province ◽  
Main Site

scholarly journals Late Pleistocene age and archaeological context for the hominin calvaria from GvJm-22 (Lukenya Hill, Kenya)

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 2682-2687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Isabelle Crevecoeur ◽  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Ravid Ekshtain ◽  
Joelle Nivens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Middle And Late Pleistocene ◽  
Age Range

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576–22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.

Uncovering the Late Pleistocene LSA of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa: Early Results from Iron Pig Rock Shelter

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor D. Bader ◽  
Jörg Linstädter ◽  
Maria H. Schoeman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Lithic Analysis ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Mpumalanga Province ◽  
Early Results ◽  
Comparative Review

Abstract South Africa is one of the best-studied regions in terms of Stone Age research in the last few decades. Considerable progress has been made, especially for the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Recently the late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA) has come back into focus. However, there are still large understudied areas such as northeastern South Africa. Here we present the first data from an archaeological site containing late Pleistocene occupations associated with the Robberg techno-complex in this region. Iron Pig rock shelter provides a well-dated sequence spanning from >16000 cal BP to <9000 cal BP. A lithic analysis of the Robberg occupations of the lowermost layers 5 and 6 provided here implies gradual temporal shifts in technology indicating short-term changing traditions. A comparative review of other LSA sites in the wider region suggests considerable research gaps and the necessity of intensified work in this area.

Paleoenvironmental and Human Behavioral Implications of the Boegoeberg 1 Late Pleistocene Hyena Den, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Klein ◽  
Kathryn Cruz-Uribe ◽  
David Halkett ◽  
Tim Hart ◽  
John E. Parkington
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
River Mouth ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Cape Fur Seal ◽  
Brown Hyena ◽  
Average Size

Boegoeberg 1 (BOG1) is located on the Atlantic coast of South Africa, 850 km north of Cape Town. The site is a shallow rock shelter in the side of a sand-choked gully that was emptied by diamond miners. Abundant coprolites, chewed bones, and partially digested bones implicate hyenas as the bone accumulators. The location of the site, quantity of bones, and composition of the fauna imply it was a brown hyena nursery den. The abundance of Cape fur seal bones shows that the hyenas had ready access to the coast. Radiocarbon dates place the site before 37,000 14C yr ago, while the large average size of the black-backed jackals and the presence of extralimital ungulates imply cool, moist conditions, probably during the early part of the last glaciation (isotope stage 4 or stage 3 before 37,000 14C yr ago) or perhaps during one of the cooler phases (isotope substages 5d or 5b) within the last interglaciation. Comparisons of the BOG1 seal bones to those from regional Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) archeological sites suggest (1) that hyena and human seal accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for vertebrae to be much more common in a hyena accumulation and (2) that hyena and LSA accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for hyena-accumulated seals to represent a much wider range of individual seal ages. Differences in the way hyenas and people dismember, transport, and consume seal carcasses probably explain the contrast in skeletal part representation, while differences in season of occupation explain the contrast in seal age representation. Like modern brown hyenas, the BOG1 hyenas probably occupied the coast year-round, while the LSA people focused their coastal visits on the August–October interval when nine-to-eleven-month-old seals were abundant. The MSA sample from Klasies River Mouth Cave 1 resembles BOG1 in seal age composition, suggesting that unlike LSA people, MSA people obtained seals more or less throughout the year.

scholarly journals Calibration of Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Pleistocene Using U/Th Dates on Stalagmites

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Vogel ◽  
Joel Kronfeld
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Magnetic Dipole ◽  
Satisfactory Agreement ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Calibration Curve ◽  
Dipole Field ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Magnetic Dipole Field

Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the initial apparent 14C ages, the age-pairs between 7 ka and 20 ka show satisfactory agreement with the coral data of Bard et al. (1990, 1993). The results for the Cango stalagmite between 25 ka and 50 ka show the 14C dates to be substantially younger than the U/Th dates except at 49 ka and 29 ka, where near correspondence occurs. The discrepancies may be explained by variations in 14C production caused by changes in the magnetic dipole field of the Earth. A tentative calibration curve for this period is offered.

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