Heritage Cases

Few archaeological sites in South Africa have such an extensive and successive occupations by hominins over millennia. The earlier radiocarbon dates (Mason 1969) vastly underestimated the time depth of the occupations, and these dates are no longer accepted (cf. Wadley 2015). The imprecise dating of the CoH beds remains a serious constraint. Despite the site’s importance in earlier discussions on the evolution of hominins in South Africa, it has largely been excluded from archaeological debates on the ESA and MSA in particular due to the imprecise dating (Wadley 2015). At many other sites, each time period show variation in terms of material culture, and without more precise dates, the artefacts (fauna, lithics, human remains, ceramics, bone tools, etc) from the CoH remain limited in their study-potential. Moreover, due to the lack of precise dating, little remains known about the palaeoenvironment of the Makapan Valley. For example, there are indications that the rainfall was higher during certain times in the past. The presence of lechwe (Kobus leche) in Beds 7 and 9 indicate that during the MSA, much higher rainfall were experienced in the region (Maloka 2021). Bed 5 also contains waterworn lithics, which may suggest a wetter time (Mason 1988). However, it is currently impossible to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment in more detail due to the lack of precise dates. With my collaborators from the University of York (UK), we have already been given permission to sample zebra teeth from each bed for amino-acid racemization dating. We are waiting for the results of this analysis. This is a new method that are being applied, and with this proposal, I am proposing to obtain additional dates for the CoH, and do a thorough investigation of the available soil samples. The additional dates will be used to verify the other dates from the site, and to establish the chronology beyond any doubt. Soils from archaeological and fossils sites can potentially yield important information (Holliday 2004). In particular, a study of the soils can inform about site formation processes and paleoclimates, specifically wetter and dryer cycles in climates over long periods. For this project, I am requesting to sample breccia that Mason collected for OSL dating. All the material is stored at the ESI. The breccias contain small traces of fragmentary fossils. It is possible to use breccias for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. In total, I am requesting to subject 6 blocks of breccia for OSL dating. Only 100 grams of sediments will be extracted per block from inside the breccias, collected in a light-safe tube. This process involve breaking open breccias, and sampling the sediments that have not been exposed to light from the inside of a block. The OSL dating facilities at Wits, headed by Dr. Mary Evans, will be used for this purpose. The collection contain no breccias from Bed 2. However, many fossils in the CoH collection are from the adjacent Hyena Cave, and their provenience are usually recorded in the catalogue book as ‘loose breccia.’ These were collected just before Mason started his excavations. The remaining blocks will be returned to the collection after sampling.