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1. Varsche Rivier 003: A Middle and Later Stone Age Site with Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Assemblages in Southern Namaqualand, South Africa

   Steele, Teresa E ; Mackay, Alex ; Fitzsimmons, Kathryn E. ; Igreja, Marina ; Marwick, Ben ; Orton, Jayson ; Schwortz, Steve ; Stahlschmidt, Mareike C. ( October 2016 , Paleoanthropology)

   Southern Africa presents the best-documented Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA and LSA) records in Africa, and yet signi cant uncertainties still exist concerning the sequence and timing of behavioral and occupational changes in the region. A recent surge in research has provided a suite of new results that indicate more intricate and complex pa erns than those previously considered. This paper describes recent excavations at the archaeological site of Varsche Rivier (VR) 003 located in the poorly-researched southern Namaqualand (Knersvlakte) region of South Africa (Western Cape Province). Two seasons of excavations have revealed a long sequence of MSA and LSA cultural materials, including lithics, fauna, ostrich eggshell, marine mollusks, beads, and pigments; bedrock has yet to be reached anywhere in our excavations. Within the shelter, we have uncovered probable Howiesons Poort material, with overlying late MSA and capped by late Holocene LSA. On the slope, the deepest materials are earlier MSA, overlain by assemblages with a nities to the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort. In addition to provid- ing descriptions of the lithic, faunal, and pigment assemblages, we report on the results of micromorphological analysis of the sediments and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating of the sequence. Based on the analysis of single-grain samples from both parts of the excavation, OSL age estimates suggest that the putative Howiesons Poort assemblages at VR003 were deposited 45.7–41.7 kya. While our results are stratigraphi- cally consistent, they are substantially younger than any previously published Howiesons Poort chronologies. We discuss the implications of these results in detail. When presenting the results of our analyses, we compare the VR003 assemblages to those from other sites in the region to address questions concerning lithic technology, stone material exploitation, chronology, ecology, and the signi cance of “complex” behaviors, such as early bead production and long distance transport of marine mollusks. 

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2. Early, intensive marine resource exploitation by Middle Stone Age humans at Ysterfontein 1 rockshelter, South Africa

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020042118  

   Niespolo, Elizabeth M. ; Sharp, Warren D. ; Avery, Graham ; Dawson, Todd E. ( April 2021 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Modern human behavioral innovations from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) include the earliest indicators of full coastal adaptation evidenced by shell middens, yet many MSA middens remain poorly dated. We apply²³⁰Th/U burial dating to ostrich eggshells (OES) from Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1, Western Cape, South Africa), a stratified MSA shell midden.²³⁰Th/U burial ages of YFT1 OES are relatively precise (median ± 2.7%), consistent with other age constraints, and preserve stratigraphic principles. Bayesian age–depth modeling indicates YFT1 was deposited between 119.9 to 113.1 thousand years ago (ka) (95% CI of model ages), and the entire 3.8 m thick midden may have accumulated within ∼2,300 y. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes of OES indicate that during occupation the local environment was dominated by C₃vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES²³⁰Th/U ages and stable isotopes shows the following: 1) YFT1 is the oldest shell midden known, providing minimum constraints on full coastal adaptation by ∼120 ka; 2) despite rapid sea-level drop and other climatic changes during occupation, relative shellfish proportions and sizes remain similar, suggesting adaptive foraging along a changing coastline; 3) the YFT1 lithic technocomplex is similar to other west coast assemblages but distinct from potentially synchronous industries along the southern African coast, suggesting human populations were fragmented between seasonal rainfall zones; and 4) accumulation rates (up to 1.8 m/ka) are much higher than previously observed for dated, stratified MSA middens, implying more intense site occupation akin to Later Stone Age middens.

    

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3. Integrated uplift, subsidence, erosion and deposition in a tightly coupled source‐to‐sink system, Pagliara basin, northeastern Sicily, Italy

   https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12845  

   Pavano, F. ; Pazzaglia, F. J. ; Rittenour, T. M. ; Catalano, S. ; Corbett, L. B. ; Bierman, P. ( January 2024 , Basin Research)

   How tectonic forcing, expressed as base level change, is encoded in the stratigraphic and geomorphic records of coupled source‐to‐sink systems remains uncertain. Using sedimentological, geochronological and geomorphic approaches, we describe the relationship between transient topographic change and sediment deposition for a low‐storage system forced by rapid rock uplift. We present five new luminescence ages and two terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide paleo‐erosion rates for the late Pleistocene Pagliara fan‐delta complex and we model corresponding base level fall history and erosion of the source catchment located on the Ionian flank of the Peloritani Mountains (NE‐Sicily, Italy). The Pagliara delta complex is part of the broader Messina Gravel‐and‐Sands lithostratigraphic unit that outcrops along the Peloritani coastal belt as extensional basins have been recently inverted by both normal faults and regional uplift at the Messina Straits. The deltas exposed at the mouth of the Pagliara River have constructional tops at ca. 300 m a.s.l. and onlap steeply east‐dipping bedrock at the coast to thickness between ca. 100 and 200 m. Five infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages collected from the delta range in age from ca. 327 to 208 ka and indicate a vertical long‐term sediment accumulation rate as rapid as ca. 2.2 cm/yr during MIS 7. Two cosmogenic¹⁰Be concentrations measured in samples of delta sediment indicate paleo‐erosion rates during MIS 8–7 near or slightly higher than the modern rates of ca. 1 mm/yr. Linear inversion of Pagliara fluvial topography indicates an unsteady base level fall history in phase with eustasy that is superimposed on a longer, tectonically driven trend that doubled in rate from ca. 0.95 to 1.8 mm/yr in the past 150 ky. The combination of footwall uplift rate and eustasy determines the accommodation space history to trap the fan‐deltas at the Peloritani coast in hanging wall basins, which are now inverted, uplifted and exposed hundreds of metres above the sea level.

    

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4. Discovery of the Youngest Toba Tuff in South Africa; Challenges of Extremely Low Abundance Cryptotephra

   Smith, E ; Johnsen, R ; Ren, M ; Hirniak, J ; Fisher, E ; Campisano, C ; Marean, C. ( July 2021 , Annual VM Goldschmidt Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   The 74 ka Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) was discovered as cryptotephra in South African archaeological sites at Pinnacle Point (PP) 5-6N, Vleesbaai [1] and Klasies River on the Indian Ocean, and the Diepkloof Rock Shelter on the Atlantic coast nearly 750 km west of PP. The YTT eruption distributed tephra across eastern and southern Africa and provides a widespread isochron useful for dating archaeological deposits, testing age models, and precisely determining the timing of changes in human behavior. At PP, we demonstrated that the MIS 4-5 transition began just before the YTT eruption. Humans thrived both through the YTT event and the changing climate, and important changes in technology occurred just after the Toba eruption [1]. Controversy related to trapped charge age models at the Diepkloof rock shelter [2,3] were resolved by identifying YTT at a location in the stratigraphic section that confirmed the Jacobs et al. [2] model for the site, confirming that technological changes similar to those observed at PP occurred synchronously to those at Diepkloof, not substantially before as suggested by a prior published age model [3]. Processing samples with very low abundance cryptotephra, such as that found in South Africa, is a challenge and requires revision of standard laboratory techniques. Samples with high organic or clay content benefit by being treated with 10% HCl and 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). This step does not degrade shard integrity or affect chemistry and is useful in separating shards from clay and organic particles allowing better recovery in heavy liquids. We also modified the heavy liquid density range from 1.95 - 2.55 to 2.2 - 2.5 g/cm3 to more effectively remove quartz and feldspar as well as biogenic silica. This density range captures shards ranging from rhyolite to dacite in composition. [1] Smith, E. I. et al. Nature 555, 511, 2018 [2] Jacobs, Z. & Roberts, R. G. Journal of Archaeological Science 63, 175-192, 2015. [3] Tribolo, C. et al. Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 3401-3411 2013. 

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5. Coastal occupation and foraging during the last glacial maximum and early Holocene at Waterfall Bluff, eastern Pondoland, South Africa

   https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2020.26  

   Fisher, Erich C. ; Cawthra, Hayley C. ; Esteban, Irene ; Jerardino, Antonieta ; Neumann, Frank H. ; Oertle, Annette ; Pargeter, Justin ; Saktura, Rosaria B. ; Szabó, Katherine ; Winkler, Stephan ; et al ( September 2020 , Quaternary Research)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Waterfall Bluff is a rock shelter in eastern Pondoland, South Africa, adjacent to a narrow continental shelf that limited coastline movements across glacial/interglacial cycles. The archaeological deposits are characterized by well-preserved stratigraphy, faunal, and botanical remains alongside abundant stone artifacts and other materials. A comprehensive dating protocol consisting of 5 optically stimulated luminescence ages and 51 accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C ages shows that the record of hunter-gatherer occupations at Waterfall Bluff persisted from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene, spanning the last glacial maximum and the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Here, we provide detailed descriptions about the sedimentary sequence, chronology, and characteristics of the archaeological deposits at Waterfall Bluff. Remains of marine mollusks and marine fish also show, for the first time, that coastal foraging was a component of some hunter-gatherer groups’ subsistence practices during glacial phases in the late Pleistocene. The presence of marine fish and shellfish further demonstrates that hunter-gatherers selectively targeted coastal resources from intertidal and estuarine habitats. Our results therefore underscore the idea that Pondoland's coastline remained a stable and predictable point on the landscape over the last glacial/interglacial transition being well positioned for hunter-gatherers to access resources from the nearby coastline, narrow continental shelf, and inland areas. 

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