Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:38:08.111Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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:[email protected] (A.I.R. Herries), [email protected] (K.E. Reed).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, J.W., and Conroy, G.C. Plio-Pleistocene faunal remains from the Gondolin GD 2 in situ assemblage, North West Province, South Africa. Lieberman, D. Interpreting the Past: Essays on Human, Primate and Mammal Evolution. (2005). Brill Academic Publishers, Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A.K., Todd, N.E., Potts, R., and McBrinn, G.E. Late Pliocene faunal turnover in the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Science 278, (1997). 1589–1594.Google Scholar
Bosák, P., Pruner, P., and Kalec, J. Magnetostratigraphy of cave sediments: applications and limits. Studia Geophysica and Geodaetica 47, (2003). 301–330.Google Scholar
Brennan, W.J. Origin and modification of magnetic fabric in fine-grained detrital sediment by depositional and post-depositional processes. (SEPM Special Publication No. 49) Applications of Paleomagnetism to Sedimentary Geology (1993). 17–27.Google Scholar
Brink, J.S. Human fossil material discovered at Cornelia-Uitzoek. Culna 57, (2002). 4–7.Google Scholar
Broom, R. Some South African Pliocene and Pleistocene mammals. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 21, (1948). 1–38.Google Scholar
Curnoe, D., Grun, R., Taylor, L., and Thackeray, J.F. Direct ESR dating of a Pliocene hominin from Swartkrans. Journal of Human Evolution 40, (2001). 379–391.Google Scholar
De Ruiter, D.J. Revised faunal lists of members 1–3 of Swartkrans, South Africa. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 40, (2003). 29–41.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. Dispersion on a sphere. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A vol. 306, (1953). 295–305.Google Scholar
Grun, R., Brink, J.S., Spooner, N.A., Taylor, L., Stringer, C.B., Franciscus, R.G., and Murray, A.S. Direct dating of the Florisbad hominid. Nature 382, (1996). 500–501.Google Scholar
Herries, A.I.R., (2003). Magnetostratigraphic seriation of South African hominin palaeocaves. Ph.D Thesis, Geomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Herries, A.I.R, Latham, A.G., and Kuykendall, K.L. The use of ‘SRT’ in sampling the Makapansgat Limeworks hominid palaeocave, South Africa. Antiquity 75, (2001). 251–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herries, A.I.R., Adams, J.W., Kuykendall, K.L., Shaw, J., in Press. Speleology and magnetobiostratigraphic chronology of the Gondolin hominin palaeocave, S. Africa. J. Human Evolution.Google Scholar
Hopley, P., (2004). Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of South African hominin-bearing cave deposits using stable isotope geochemistry. PhD Thesis. Department of Earth Sciences and Archaeology, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Kirschvink, J.L. The least-square line and plane and the analysis of palaeomagnetic data. Geophysics. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 62, (1980). 699–718.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. The ecology of early man in South Africa. Science 197, (1977). 115–126.Google Scholar
Kuykendall, K.L., Toich, C.A., and McKee, J.K. Preliminary analysis of the fauna from Buffalo Cave, Northern Transvaal, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 32, (1995). 27–31.Google Scholar
Lacruz, R.S, Brink, J.S., Hancox, J., Skinner, A.S., Herries, A., Schmidt, P., and Berger, L.R. Palaeontology and geological context of a middle Pleistocene faunal assemblage from the Gladysvale Cave, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 38, (2002). 99–114.Google Scholar
Latham, A.G., and Ford, D. The palaeomagnetism and rock magnetism of cave and karst deposits. (SEPM Special Publication No. 49) Applications of Paleomagnetism to Sedimentary Geology (1993). 149–155.Google Scholar
Maguire, J. Makapansgat: a guide to the palaeontological and archaeological sites of the Makapansgat Valley. The Dual Congress of the International Association for the Study of Human Palaeontology and International Association of Human Biologists. Sun City, Republic of South Africa (1998). Google Scholar
Ogg, J.G., and Smith, A.G. The geomagnetic polarity timescale. Gradstein, F., Ogg, J., and Smith, A. A Geologic Time Scale. (2004). Cambridge University, 63–86.Google Scholar
Schoenwetter, J. Makapansgat and Buffalo Cave Palynology: a brief assessment of studies during Spring 1999. Kuykendall, K.L. Palaeoecological Investigations in the Makapansgat Valley, Northern Province, South Africa. (2000). Report submitted to the Makapansgat Research Advisory Committee, BPI Google Scholar
Thackeray, J.F., and Watson, V. A preliminary account of faunal remains from Plovers Lake. South African Journal of Science 90, (1994). 231–232.Google Scholar
Thackeray, J.F., Kirschvink, J.L, and Raub, T.D. Palaeomagnetic analysis of calcified deposits from the Plio-Pleistocene hominid site of Kromdraai, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 98, (2002). 537–540.Google Scholar
Tobias, P.V. Human skeletal remains from the Cave of Hearths, Makapansgat, Northern Transvaal. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 34, (1971). 335–367.Google Scholar
Tobias, P.V. Some little known chapters in the early history of the Makapansgat fossil hominid site. Palaeontologia Africana 33, (1997). 67–79.Google Scholar
Vrba, E.S. The fossil record of African antelopes (Mammalia, Bovidae) in relations to human evolution and paleoclimate. Vrba, E.S., Denton, G.H., Partridge, T.C., and Burckle, L.H. Paleoclimate and Evolution with Emphasis on Human Origins. (1995). Yale University Press, New Haven. 385–424.Google Scholar
Wood, B. Plio-Pleistocene hominins from the Baringo Region, Kenya. Andrews, P., and Banham, P. Late Cenozoic Environments and Hominid Evolution: A Tribute to Bill Bishop. (1999). Geological Society, London. 113–122.Google Scholar