Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI)

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    Hominin tracks in southern Africa: a review and an approach to identification
    (Evolutionary Studies Institute, 2019-01) Helm, Charles W.; Lockley, Martin G.; Cole, Kevin; Noakes, Timothy D.; McCrea, Richard T.
    Three Late Pleistocene hominin tracksites have been reported from coastal aelioanites in South Africa. Two have been dated to 124 ka and 117 ka , and the third is inferred to be 90 ka. There are no other globally reported sites for probable Homo sapiens tracks older than 46 ka. Given this documented record, a search for further hominin tracksites in southern Africa may well yield additional positive results. However, this is a field that demands scientific rigour, as false positive tracksites (pseudotracks) may occur. Criteria have been developed for the identification of fossil vertebrate tracks and hominin tracks, but these are specific neither to southern Africa nor to aeolianites.An important caveat is that the tracks of shod humans would not fulfil these criteria. Preservation of tracks varies with facies and is known to be suboptimal in aeolianites. An analysis of the tracks from the three documented South African sites, along with pseudotracks and tracks of questionable provenance, allows for the proposal and development of guidelines for fossil hominin track identification that are of specific relevance to southern Africa. Such guidelines have broader implications for understanding the constraints that track preservation and substrate have on identifying diagnostic morphological features.
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    Biofilm assists recognition of avian trackways in Late Pleistocene coastal aeolianites, South Africa
    (Evolutionary Studies Institute, 2017-12) Helm, Charles W.; Anderson, Robert J.; Buckley, Lisa G.; Cawthra, Hayley C.; de Vynck, Jan C.
    Fourteen fossil avian tracksites have been identified in Late Pleistocene aeolianite deposits on the Cape south coast of SouthAfrica. One of these sites is unusual because of the preferential adherence of organic material (biofilm) to the natural cast tracks. This has enabled the recognition and identification of two ~6 m long, approximately parallel trackways that would otherwise not have been noticed. The trackways are visible from a distance of over 100 metres and contain 20 and 14 individual tracks, respectively. Up to 50 avian tracks are evident at this site. As the biofilm layer continues to thicken, the trackways become increasingly visible. Avian trackways of this length are globally rare.We propose that the biofilm adheres to sections with higher relief on a sedimentary surface, and that an understanding of this mode of preservation can be useful to more easily identify trackways in areas of comparable geological setting.
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    Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa
    (eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2017-05) Berger, L.R.; Hawks, J.; Dirks, P.H.G.M.; Elliott, M.; Roberts, E.M.
    New discoveries and dating of fossil remains from the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, have strong implications for our understanding of Pleistocene human evolution in Africa. Direct dating of Homo naledi fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber (Berger et al., 2015) shows that they were deposited between about 236 ka and 335 ka (Dirks et al., 2017), placing H. naledi in the later Middle Pleistocene. Hawks and colleagues (Hawks et al., 2017) report the discovery of a second chamber within the Rising Star system (Dirks et al., 2015) that contains H. naledi remains. Previously, only large-brained modern humans or their close relatives had been demonstrated to exist at this late time in Africa, but the fossil evidence for any hominins in subequatorial Africa was very sparse. It is now evident that a diversity of hominin lineages existed in this region, with some divergent lineages contributing DNA to living humans and at least H. naledi representing a survivor from the earliest stages of diversification within Homo. The existence of a diverse array of hominins in subequatorial comports with our present knowledge of diversity across other savanna-adapted species, as well as with palaeoclimate and paleoenvironmental data. H. naledi casts the fossil and archaeological records into a new light, as we cannot exclude that this lineage was responsible for the production of Acheulean or Middle Stone Age tool industries.
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    Taphonomic analysis of the faunal assemblage associated with the hominins (Australopithecus sediba) from the early pleistocene cave deposits of Malapa, South Africa.
    (Public Library of Science, 2015-06-10) Val, A.; Dirks, P.H.G.M.; Backwell, L.R.; Berger, L.R.; D'Errico, F.
    Here we present the results of a taphonomic study of the faunal assemblage associated with the hominin fossils (Australopithecus sediba) from the Malapa site. Results include estimation of body part representation, mortality profiles, type of fragmentation, identification of breakage patterns, and microscopic analysis of bone surfaces. The diversity of the faunal spectrum, presence of animals with climbing proclivities, abundance of complete and/or articulated specimens, occurrence of antimeric sets of elements, and lack of carnivore-modified bones, indicate that animals accumulated via a natural death trap leading to an area of the cave system with no access to mammalian scavengers. The co-occurrence of well preserved fossils, carnivore coprolites, deciduous teeth of brown hyaena, and some highly fragmented and poorly preserved remains supports the hypothesis of a mixing of sediments coming from distinct chambers, which collected at the bottom of the cave system through the action of periodic water flow. This combination of taphonomic features explains the remarkable state of preservation of the hominin fossils as well as some of the associated faunal material.
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    Papio cranium from the hominin-bearing site of Malapa: Implications for the evolution of modern baboon cranial morphology and South African Plio-Pleistocene biochronology.
    (Public Library of Science, 2015-08-19) Gilbert, C.C.; Steininger, C.M.; Kibii, J.M.; Berger, L.R.
    A new partial cranium (UW 88-886) of the Plio-Pleistocene baboon Papio angusticeps from Malapa is identified, described and discussed. UW 88-886 represents the only non-hominin primate yet recovered from Malapa and is important both in the context of baboon evolution as well as South African hominin site biochronology. The new specimen may represent the first appearance of modern baboon anatomy and coincides almost perfectly with molecular divergence date estimates for the origin of the modern P. hamadryas radiation. The fact that the Malapa specimen is dated between ~2.026–2.36 million years ago (Ma) also has implications for the biochronology of other South African Plio-Pleistocene sites where P. angusticeps is found.
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    Notes on the systematics of micromammals from Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 2000) Avery, D M
    The micromammalian fauna from Sterkfontein Members 4 , 5E and 6 comprises 34 species. These include six insectivores, three bats, three elephant shrews and 22 rodents. Most of these taxa, or their equivalents, have been previously recorded. Four or five new additions were recovered from deposits probably belonging to Late Pleistocene Member 6, which have previously received little or no attention. Some previously recorded taxa were not found, but this was probably due to differences in identification rather than to the absence of these forms from the sample.
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    Equus capensis (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Elandsfontein
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 2000) Eisenmann, Vera
    The skull and limb bones collected at Elandsfontein, Cape indicate that E. capensis was different from a Grevy's zebra. The body proportions were similar to those of an extant draft horse (E. caballus) and the skull resembled those of true Cape quaggas and a fossil Algerian plains zebra, E. mauritanicus.
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    Catalogue of fossil sites at the Buxton Limeworks, Taung
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1994) McKee, Jeffrey K
    The Buxton Limeworks, in the Taung district at the southeastern margin of the Kalahari Desert, harbours fossil deposits in the calcareous tufas spanning a time period from the late Pliocene to the present. Many such fossil sites, including the type site of Australopithecus africanus, have been exposed by quarrying and noted by various researchers since 1919. As many of the site locations have been lost in the past due to inadequate records and continued quarrying, an effort was made to relocate previously known sites and to discover new sites. There are now 17 preserved and recognized fossil sites in the Buxton Limeworks, the location and nature of which are documented here for future researchers.
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    Dinofelis barlowi (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) cranial material from Bolt's Farm, collected by the University of California African expedition
    (BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1991) Cooke, H B S
    The collections made by the University of California African Expedition in 1947-48 at Bolt's Farm, near Sterkfontein, included some fine cranial and postcranial material of Dinofelis barlowi, associated with baboon skeletons and crania suggestive of a natural trap situation. The Dinofelis crania are described and compared with other species of this genus, generally lending support to Hemmer's view of a lineage D. diastemata, D. harlowi, D. piveteaui. The age of the deposit is estimated to be in the vicinity of 2 Ma.
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    Carnivore activity at Klasies River Mouth: a response to Binford
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Thackeray, J Francis
    Environmental and behavioural factors contributed to variability in the relative abundance of Raphicerus (grysbok/steenbok) represented in Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits at the complex of caves at Klasies River Mouth and at Nelson Bay Cave in the southern Cape Province, South Africa. Binford has used the relative abundance of Raphicerus in an index assumed to measure the degree of hunting by Middle Stone Age hominids. However, the occurrence of relatively high numbers of Raphicerus with leopards and baboons in some layers is likely to have been associated, at least in part, with leopard activity, particularly at times when relatively large ungulates were not common in the palaeoenvironment and when the cave sites were not frequently occupied by hominids with control over fire. Binford's indices are re-assessed in the light of other indices which are designed to identify assemblages that have a relatively high probability of having been accumulated by leopards and/or other carnivores.