Heritage Cases

THIS IS THE ARCHIVE FOR SAHRIS 1.0


THIS SITE IS NOW AN ARCHIVE AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR MAKING APPLICATIONS

Please be aware that no content and application creation or changes to information on this version of SAHRIS will be retained.

To make applications or utilise SAHRIS for the creation of information, please use the new site:

https://sahris.org.za

Changes to SAHRIS!

The South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) has undergone a generational upgrade and restructure. These changes to the site include, but are not limited to:

  • A new & modernised look and layout
  • Improved site usage flows with respect to applications and content creation
  • Improved site performance and stability

Launch for the new version of SAHRIS occurred on Monday the 30th of October 2023.

The new site can be found here:

SAHRIS | SAHRIS

SAHRA Application Closure

Please note the following concerning applications submitted to the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) during the December 2023 to January 2024 period.

The full notice is available here: Notice

Special Notice

Following comments received on the proposed Revised Schedule of Fees for applications made to the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), made in terms of Section 25(2)(l) of the National Heritage Resources Act No. 25 of 1999 (NHRA) and published in the Government Gazette of 22 July 2022, SAHRA hereby publishes the final Revised Schedule of Fees for Applications made to SAHRA. Applications for provision of services submitted to the South African Heritage Resources Authority (SAHRA), in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999 (NHRA) must be accompanied by a payment of the appropriate fee, taking effect from 1 January 2023

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

Refining the dating for the Member 1 Lower Bank of the Swartkrans Formation

  • Log in to post comments
  • 77 reads

CaseViews

CaseHeader

Status: 

HeritageAuthority(s): 

Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

We will produce a more precise age for the Member 1 Lower Bank (Swartkrans Formation) using the isochron method for cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. In 2014, two cosmogenic dates for the Lower Bank were published although the error ranges of these dates do not overlap, which questions the validity of sampling methods used for this study. We have obtained samples of natural chert clasts from M. Sutton's excavations from the Lower Bank that we would like to submit for cosmogenic dating to refine the ages currently calculated for the portion of Member 1 from Swartkrans (Gauteng Province).

Expanded_Motivation: 

Estimates for the age of Member 1 were originally based on fauna and broadly placed the member ca. 1.8–1.6 Ma (Vrba, 1975), which has been generally referred to in the literature as ca. 1.7 Ma. More recently, Gibbon et al. (2014) applied cosmogenic burial dating with 26Al and 10Be to the LB, arriving at dates of 2.19 ± 0.08 and 1.80 ± 0.09 Ma. The older date is on a manuport provided by the Ditsong Museum from C.K. Brain’s excavations in the Lower Bank of Member 1, and the younger is on sediment taken by our team from the area of Brain’s excavation and at a higher level than the manuport. Member 1 is a sloped talus deposit that can contain younger material at greater depth as accumulations build up on the outer part of a talus cone. In an effort to explain the two non-overlapping dates, Gibbon et al. (2014) ruled out analytic uncertainty with 99% confidence. They also considered that an inherited burial age for the manuport is possible, but unlikely, in this particular cave landscape. As the two dates do not overlap in their error ranges, it is possible that they may relate to the duration of time the sediments took to accumulate. However, they apply only to the area of the talus excavated by Brain through 1986. Our own SPRP excavation is to the east of Brain’s area and at a higher level. There is currently a paper in press on the archaeology of the SPRP assemblage (Kuman et al. In Press) which provides a full description of the Oldowan technology from this new excavation. It is therefore important for us to resolve the dating issue for the Lower Bank of Member 1, and to provide a more definitive age for the hominid fossils we have published from this deposit. Funds have now been raised from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation for eight dating samples using the isochron method for cosmogenic burial dating. All samples consist of natural chert clasts that were washed into the cave deposit and buried with the artefacts and fossils. Chert has proven to be a suitable cosmogenic dating material in these cave sites.

ApplicationDate: 

Monday, July 9, 2018 - 12:46

CaseID: 

12689

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceType
Gibbon, R.J., Pickering, T.R., Sutton, M.B., Heaton, J.L., Kuman, K., Clarke, R.J., Granger, D.E. (2014). Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating of hominin-bearing Pleistocene cave deposits at Swartkrans, South Africa. Quaternary Geochronology 24: 10–15.
Kuman, K., Sutton, M.B., Pickering, T.R., & Heaton, J.L. In Press. The Oldowan industry from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution.
Vrba, E.S. 1975. Some evidence of chronology and palaeoecology of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai from the fossil Bovidae. Nature 254: 301.
 
 

Search form