Hayley C. Cawthra

Archaeological Reconnaissance for Middle Stone Age Sites Along the Pondoland Coast, South Africa

Part of the phytolith analysis was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (HAR2010-15967 to Albert). The field survey was funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society / Waitt Foundation (W160-11 to Fisher)

A new research strategy for integrating studies of paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and paleoanthropology.

Paleoanthropologists (scientists studying human origins) universally recognize the evolutionary significance of ancient climates and environments for understanding human origins. Even those scientists working in recent phases of human evolution, when modern humans evolved, agree that hunter‐gatherer adaptations are tied to the way that climate and environment shape the food and technological resource base. The result is a long tradition of paleoanthropologists engaging with climate and environmental scientists in an effort to understand if and how hominin bio‐behavioral evolution responded to climate and environmental change. Despite this unusual consonance, the anticipated rewards of this synergy are unrealized and, in our opinion, will not reach potential until there are some fundamental changes in the way the research model is constructed. Discovering the relation between climate and environmental change to human origins must be grounded in a theoretical framework and a causal understanding of the connection between climate, environment, resource patterning, behavior, and morphology, then move beyond the strict correlative research that continues to dominate the field.

Dynamics of late Cenozoic aeolian deposition along the South African coast: a record of evolving climate and ecosystems

Abstract Dune systems along the South African coast are sensitive barometers of fluctuations in palaeoenvironments, as archived in their orientation, geometry, internal architecture, composition, granulometry, diagenesis, palaeontology and archaeological content. Presently, the pronounced climatic/oceanographic gradients around the southern African coastline, including the west coast Mediterranean climate type, with cold upwelling to progressively warmer in terms of climate and sea temperatures eastwards, are mirrored by variations in these parameters. Here, we review and contribute new information concerning their fluctuations from the Miocene to the present to track changes in the bio-, hydro- and geospheres through time. West coast dunes take the form of dune plumes, which have an orientation since the Miocene that mirrors the southerlies of the South Atlantic Anticyclone (SAA), muted during the warm Pliocene, as reflected by intense bioturbation. Shoreline-parallel, vertically aggraded dune cordons dominate along the southern and eastern coasts, formed by (winter) polar westerlies since the Miocene. The contrasting dunefield morphologies relate to seasonality of wind strength and precipitation. Subtropical east coast dunes are profoundly weathered – on the shelf, glacial-period dunes indicate different atmospheric circulations. The long-term stability of the warm Agulhas Current contrasts with variability in the Benguela. The aeolianites host a rich human and faunal archive, including human ichnofossils. Supplementary material: Tables S1 and S2, which provide details of the data and data sources for Figure 9 in the text, are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18711.

A New Pleistocene Hominin Tracksite from the Cape South Coast, South Africa

A Late Pleistocene hominin tracksite has been identified in coastal aeolianite rocks on the Cape south coast of South Africa, an area of great significance for the emergence of modern humans. The tracks are in the form of natural casts and occur on the ceiling and side walls of a ten-metre long cave. Preservation of tracks is of variable quality. Up to forty hominin tracks are evident. Up to thirty-five hominin tracks occur on a single bedding plane, with potential for the exposure of further tracks. Five tracks are apparent on a second hominin track-bearing bedding plane. A number of individuals made the tracks while moving down a dune surface. A geological investigation at the site and stratigraphic comparison to published geochronological studies from this area suggest that the tracks are ~90 ka in age. If this is the case, the shoreline at the time would have been approximately 2 km distant. This is the first reported hominin tracksite from this time period. It adds to the relatively sparse global record of early hominin tracks, and represents the largest and best preserved archive of Late Pleistocene hominin tracks found to date. The tracks were probably made by Homo sapiens.