Book contents
- African Paleoecology and Human Evolution
- African Paleoecology and Human Evolution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Modern Africa and Overview of Late Cenozoic Paleoenvironments
- Part II Southern Africa
- 6 The Southern African Sites
- 7 Geology, Fauna, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions of the Makapansgat Limeworks Australopithecus africanus-Bearing Paleo-Cave
- 8 Paleoenvironments and the Context of Plio-Pleistocene Hominins at Kromdraai, South Africa
- 9 Using the Faunal Community to Determine the Local Ecology for Early Hominins at Cooper’s Cave at 1.5 Ma
- 10 The Paleoenvironments of Sterkfontein
- 11 Swartkrans: A Record of Paleoenvironmental Change in the Cradle of Humankind
- 12 Cornelia-Uitzoek: Paleoecology, Archeology, and Geochronology
- 13 The Paleoecology of the Australopithecus africanus Type Site at Taung, South Africa
- 14 Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province: An Early–Middle Pleistocene Paleoenvironmental Sequence for the Interior of South Africa
- Part III Eastern and Central Africa
- Part IV Northern Africa
- Volume References
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
7 - Geology, Fauna, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions of the Makapansgat Limeworks Australopithecus africanus-Bearing Paleo-Cave
from Part II - Southern Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 May 2022
- African Paleoecology and Human Evolution
- African Paleoecology and Human Evolution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Modern Africa and Overview of Late Cenozoic Paleoenvironments
- Part II Southern Africa
- 6 The Southern African Sites
- 7 Geology, Fauna, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions of the Makapansgat Limeworks Australopithecus africanus-Bearing Paleo-Cave
- 8 Paleoenvironments and the Context of Plio-Pleistocene Hominins at Kromdraai, South Africa
- 9 Using the Faunal Community to Determine the Local Ecology for Early Hominins at Cooper’s Cave at 1.5 Ma
- 10 The Paleoenvironments of Sterkfontein
- 11 Swartkrans: A Record of Paleoenvironmental Change in the Cradle of Humankind
- 12 Cornelia-Uitzoek: Paleoecology, Archeology, and Geochronology
- 13 The Paleoecology of the Australopithecus africanus Type Site at Taung, South Africa
- 14 Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province: An Early–Middle Pleistocene Paleoenvironmental Sequence for the Interior of South Africa
- Part III Eastern and Central Africa
- Part IV Northern Africa
- Volume References
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Summary
The Makapansgat Valley is located in Limpopo Province, South Africa (Figure 7.1), and is the northernmost of the South African australopithecine fossil sites. Hominin fossils were first recovered there in 1947, but the history and significance of the valley dates to the nineteenth century. The name of the site and valley derives from the Historic, or Gwasa, Cave at the head of the valley, which was the location of a siege in 1854 (Naidoo, 1987; Esterhuysen et al., 2008) on local Ndebele tribespeople by a Boer Commando in retaliation for two massacres – themselves retaliation for raids for ivory and slave labor by the Boer on Ndebele villages. The chief was Mokopane, and the cave became known as “Makapan’s Cave” or -gat in Afrikaans.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Paleoecology and Human Evolution , pp. 66 - 81Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022