A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER: LATE PLEISTOCENE ENVIRONMENTS AND BEHAVIOURAL ADAPTATIONS AT BLOMBOS CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA

2013 ◽  
pp. 31-64
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Blombos Cave ◽  
Behavioural Adaptations

scholarly journals Calibration of Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Pleistocene Using U/Th Dates on Stalagmites

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Vogel ◽  
Joel Kronfeld
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Magnetic Dipole ◽  
Satisfactory Agreement ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Calibration Curve ◽  
Dipole Field ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Magnetic Dipole Field

Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the initial apparent 14C ages, the age-pairs between 7 ka and 20 ka show satisfactory agreement with the coral data of Bard et al. (1990, 1993). The results for the Cango stalagmite between 25 ka and 50 ka show the 14C dates to be substantially younger than the U/Th dates except at 49 ka and 29 ka, where near correspondence occurs. The discrepancies may be explained by variations in 14C production caused by changes in the magnetic dipole field of the Earth. A tentative calibration curve for this period is offered.

The role of ostrich in shaping the landscape use patterns of humans and hyenas on the southern coast of South Africa during the late Pleistocene

2018 ◽  
pp. 333-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Hodgkins ◽  
Petrus le Roux ◽  
Curtis W. Marean ◽  
Kirsty Penkman ◽  
Molly Crisp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Southern Coast ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Landscape Use

The Organisation of Late Pleistocene Robberg Blade Technology in the Doring River Catchment, South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Low ◽  
Alex Mackay
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Technological Characteristic ◽  
Spatial Organisation ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
River Catchment ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Provisioning Strategies

AbstractEmphasis on the production of small unretouched blades is the strongest defining technological characteristic of southern African assemblages referred to as the Robberg – a ‘technologically uniform’ technocomplex identified across the sub-continent. This paper explores the spatial organisation of Robberg blade technology from three rockshelter sites in the Doring River catchment of the eastern Cederberg Mountains. The Doring is both a key source of water and toolstone, and the three sites are located at varying distances from it. Blades and blade cores from these sites are used to explore the influence of distance to source on the abundance of raw materials, staging of production and maintenance/reduction of transported artefacts. Results suggest key differences in procurement and provisioning strategies for different materials. Hunter-gatherers ‘geared up’ with hornfels and silcrete blades at the river before moving up the tributaries where toolkits were supplemented by small numbers of blades made from transported silcrete cores and the situational use of local rock types such as quartz. Results demonstrate the importance of understanding local-scale controls on technological organisation before inferring patterns of broader behavioural import.

scholarly journals Palaeoecology of giraffe tracks in Late Pleistocene aeolianites on the Cape south coast

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Helm ◽  
Hayley Cawthra ◽  
Richard Cowling ◽  
Jan De Vynck ◽  
Curtis Marean ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Pleistocene Climate ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Fossil Records ◽  
Glacial Periods ◽  
Still Bay

Until now there have been no reliable historical or skeletal fossil records for the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) south of the Orange River or northern Namaqualand. The recent discovery of fossil giraffe tracks in coastal aeolianites east of Still Bay, South Africa, significantly increases the geographical range for this species, and has implications for Late Pleistocene climate and vegetation in the southern Cape. Giraffe populations have specialised needs, and require a savanna ecosystem. Marine geophysical and geological evidence suggests that the broad, currently submerged floodplains of the Gouritz and Breede Rivers likely supported a productive savanna of Vachellia karroo during Pleistocene glacial conditions, which would have provided a suitable habitat for this species. We show evidence for the hypothesis that the opening of the submerged shelf during glacial periods acted as a pathway for mammals to migrate along the southern coastal plain.

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