Heritage Cases

Dr Daniela Rosso, an expert in chemical analysis, will perform SEM-EDS and u-Raman on 5 Border Cave sediments from Member 5WA and also on some micro-fragments of putative ochre that might be found in these sediments. We want to see whether the micro-fragments are ochre. From their morphology, we shall then decide whether they are natural inclusions or whether they have been deliberately ground. SAHRA motivation for export of sediment from Border Cave Border Cave layer Dark Brown Kevin in Member 5WA has a large number of micro-fragments of orange, red and yellow (putative) ochre. Some of these are rounded as though they may have been deliberately ground for use as ochre powder. There seem to be more such putative ochre micro-fragments in Layer Dark Brown Kevin than in the layers either above or below layer Dark Brown Kevin. The layer above is called John and the layers below are Kim and Brown Lad. Dr Daniela Rosso, Dr Francesco d’Errico and Prof. Lyn Wadley have sampled sediment from all these layers. Dr Daniela Rosso is an expert on SEM-EDS analysis of ochre and she needs to test whether the fragments in the sediment are ochre (iron-rich) pieces. In order to demonstrate that the pieces are iron-rich ochre, they can be analysed by non-destructive SEM-EDS and µ-Raman spectroscopy, but we do not have such an instrument that is currently operational at Wits. We therefore request a permit to export a few grams of sediments in which the micro-fragments are visible. The archaeological putative “ochre” sample will then be analysed by non-destructive SEM-EDS and µ-Raman spectroscopy, while the remaining sediment samples will be ground for EDX analysis with ATR. The significance of the putative ochre micro-fragments in layer Dark Brown Kevin is that people may have been grinding the ochre and using it on their skin, but before we can claim this, we need to be sure that the micro-fragments are indeed ochre and that they do not derive naturally from the sediment and the cave roof rock. To check whether the roof rock could be a source of the “ochre” we set up a tray to catch decomposing roof fall at Border Cave (over a period of two years) and we shall analyse the roof fall in the same way as the archaeological sediments. We therefore also include a sample of roof fall in our permit application. It is geological, not archaeological. The samples will be exported to Dr Daniela Rosso and analysed by her Physical address where the samples will be sent: Université Côte d’Azur Pôle Universitaire Saint Jean d’Angély SJA 3 – CEPAM UMR7264 – CNRS – UNS 24, avenue des Diables Bleus F – 06357 Nice Cedex 4 France Telephone number: 33 (0)4 89 15 23 76 List of samples for export: Sediment samples Border Cave Layer Dark Brown Kevin: 7,79 grams Border Cave Layer Kim: 2,05 grams Border Cave Layer Brown Lad: 3,05 grams Border Cave Roof Fall: 3,29 grams