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Speleology and magnetobiostratigraphic chronology of the Buffalo Cave fossil site, Makapansgat, South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Andy I.R. Herries ,
Kaye E. Reed ,
Kevin L. Kuykendall  and
Alf G. Latham
Andy I.R. Herries*
Affiliation:
Geomagnetism Laboratory, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZE, UK Palaeoanthropology Research Group, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052, Australia
Kaye E. Reed
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
Kevin L. Kuykendall
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK
Alf G. Latham
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Hartley Building, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK
*
⁎Corresponding author. Palaeoanthropology Research Group, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052, Australia. E-mail addresses:andyherries@yahoo.co.uk (A.I.R. Herries), kreed.iho@asu.edu (K.E. Reed).
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Abstract

Speleological, stratigraphic, paleomagnetic and faunal data is presented for the Buffalo Cave fossil site in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Speleothems and clastic deposits were sampled for paleomagnetic and mineral magnetic analysis from the northern part of the site, where stratigraphic relationships could be more easily defined and a magnetostratigraphy could therefore be developed for the site. This is also where excavations recovered the fossil material described. A comparison of the east and South African first and last appearance data with the Buffalo Cave fauna was then used to constrain the magnetostratigraphy to produce a more secure age for the site. The magnetostratigraphy showed a change from normal to reversed polarity in the basal speleothems followed by a short normal polarity period in the base of the clastic deposits and a slow change to reversed directions for the remainder of the sequence. The biochronology suggested an optimal age range of between 1.0 Ma and 600,000 yr based on faunal correlation with eastern and southern Africa. A comparison of the magnetobiostratigraphy with the GPTS suggests that the sequence covers the time period from the Olduvai event between 1.95 and 1.78 Ma, through the Jaramillo event at 1.07 Ma to 990,000 yr, until the Bruhnes–Matuyama boundary at 780,000 yr. The faunal-bearing clastic deposits are thus dated between 1.07 Ma and 780,000 yr with the main faunal remains occurring in sediments dated to just after the end of the Jaramillo Event at 990,000 yr.

Keywords

PaleomagnetismJaramillo eventBiochronologyLate early Pleistocene faunaMakapansgatSouth Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , September 2006 , pp. 233 - 245
Copyright
University of Washington

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