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Revised Schedule of Fees for Applications made to the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA)

Gladysvale Cave excavation

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CaseHeader

HeritageAuthority(s): 

Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

The goals of this project are a re-opening of work at the important fossil bearing site of Gladysvale, situated in the heart of the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage site in order to utilize modern methods of exploration, geological and geochronological analyses, mapping and preparation to test hypothesis generated by previous work at the site conducted during the 1940’s and 50’s as well as more extensive work by the junior applicant conducted during the 1990’s and early 21st Century (Berger, 1992; Berger et al., 1993; Berger & Tobias, 1994). Gladysvale is well documented in the literature and its importance, history, key issues etc. are well documented in several SAHRA Management Reports, so these aspects of the site will not be repeated in this application. This application will deal with the proposed research to be conducted, methods, a proposed plan of work and with Key Management Issues brought up in various Management Reports that remain unresolved. This application proposes solutions to issues and problems so that work can continue at the site and contribute to greater scientific knowledge of these deposits as well as greater understanding of the region. What is important to note about Gladysvale though, and of importance to regional science, is that our present understanding of the dates of the various in-situ deposits at the site indicate that it dominantly covers a temporal range under 1.3 million years with significant fossil bearing deposits in the Middle and Later Pleistocene (Berger, 1993; Lacruz et al., 2002).

Expanded_Motivation: 

What is important to note about Gladysvale though, and of importance to regional science, is that our present understanding of the dates of the various in-situ deposits at the site indicate that it dominantly covers a temporal range under 1.3 million years with significant fossil bearing deposits in the Middle and Later Pleistocene (Berger, 1993; Lacruz et al., 2002). These deposits in the last million years are perhaps the most under-represented from sites presently excavated in the greater Cradle. Nevertheless, they promise to hold potential answers to a number of significant questions that are important to modern palaeoanthropology (Berger & Tobias, 1994; Lacruz et al., 2003; Häusler et al., 2004). These include: • The Climate and Environment in the Middle Pleistocene of central southern Africa. • What hominid and faunal species were present on the landscape through time? • What were the associated faunal communities and floral communities associated with the Middle and Late Middle Pleistocene of this region? • Are artefactual transitions recorded in the sediments and can they be associated with specific hominid species. • More particular to our personal research are questions of whether additional Homo naledi material might be discovered at Gladysvale and can we use the above data to reconstruct the palaeo-environment that H. naledi would have lived within, given the absence of comparable faunal and floral communities in the Rising Star deposits. • It is also well published that there are unusual and significant horizontally bedded layers at Gladysvale and with modern dating methods and our ability to associate ex-situ material with this in-situ layering, the potential for building a long continuous record of climate and life over the last million or so years is great. Thus, we consider this proposed work important. • This work will also contribute to the test of previous hypotheses of site formation. The proposed work will be confined to the outer deposits, the Main Chamber and Lower Chamber 1 (or the cave system reported in SAHRIS Site Inspection reports as “American Cave” or “Melanie’s Cave”). No work will be conducted in Chamber 2, also known as “Long One”, the purported bat hibernaculum.

ApplicationDate: 

Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - 10:48

CaseID: 

16991

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceType
Berger, L.R., 1992. Early hominid fossils discovered at Gladysvale Cave, South Africa: news and views. South African Journal of Science, 88(7), pp.362-365.
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