Faculty Bibliography

THE FOSSIL POTENTIAL OF MOTSETSE WAS first noted in 1999. This fossil-bearing breccia deposit is located about 16 km northeast of the Sterkfontein caves in the dolomites of the Eccles Formation. The site has been provisionally divided into Upper, Lower, and Middle deposits. Two short field seasons of excavation have been conducted at the site, focusing on the decalcified areas which have yielded more than 2000 macromammal specimens, most of which derived from the Lower deposit. No hominin or other primate remains have yet been recovered. Bovids and carnivores are abundant and equids are represented. Isolated teeth of an extinct felid have been attributed to Dinofelis cf. piveteaui. Preliminary descriptions of the fossil material excavated so far are presented here. Based on the presence of the Dinofelis species and its chronological correlation with East African records(11,16) a provisional palaeontological age of the excavated material is estimated between c. 1.64 and 1.0 Myr. At this stage, no palaeoenvironmental or taphonomic interpretations of the faunal assemblage are suggested pending increased sample sizes and greater stratigraphic resolution of the site.

The Sterkfontein fossil site in South Africa has produced the largest concentration of early hominin fossils from a single locality. Recent reports suggest that Australopithecus from this site is found within a broad paleontological age of between 2.5-3.5 Ma (Partridge [2000] The Cenozoic of Southern Africa, Oxford: Oxford Monographs, p. 100-125; Partridge et al. [2000a], The Cenozoic of Southern Africa, Oxford: Oxford Monographs, p. 129-130; Kuman and Clarke [2000] J Hum Evol 38:827-847). Specifically, the hominin fossil commonly referred to as the "Little Foot" skeleton from Member 2, which is arguably the most complete early hominin skeleton yet discovered, has been magnetostratigraphically dated to 3.30-3.33 Ma (Partridge [2000] The Cenozoic of Southern Africa, Oxford: Oxford Monographs, p. 100-125; Partridge et al. [2000a], The Cenozoic of Southern Africa, Oxford: Oxford Monographs, p. 129-130). More recent claims suggest that hominin fossils from the Jacovec Cavern are even older, being dated to approximately 3.5 Ma. Our interpretation of the fauna, the archeometric results, and the magnetostratigraphy of Sterkfontein indicate that it is unlikely that any Members yet described from Sterkfontein are in excess of 3.04 Ma in age. We estimate that Member 2, including the Little Foot skeleton, is younger than 3.0 Ma, and that Member 4, previously dated to between 2.4-2.8 Ma, is more likely to fall between 1.5-2.5 Ma. Our results suggest that Australopithecus africanus should not be considered as a temporal contemporary of Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus bahrelghazali, and Kenyanthropus platyops.

Palaeontological and geological research at the Gladysvale Cave during the last decade has concentrated on de-roofed deposits located outside the Main Chamber. This area has been termed the Gladysvale External Deposit (GVED) and consists of fossil-rich calcified and decalcified sediments. Here we report on the recent analysis of both the faunal material and the geological context of this deposit. The faunal assemblage, excavated from the decalcified sediments contains 29 mammal species including taxa rare or absent in the Witwatersrand Plio-Pleistocene fossil record (e.g. Pelorovis and Kobus leche). Carnivores and porcupines are identified as accumulating agents of the bones. No new hominin findings can be reported from this deposit, and no cultural remains have been recovered. Geologically the calcified and decalcified breccias represent part of a large talus cone that is relatively unexposed. Uniquely for a cave fill in the Witwatersrand hominin-bearing sites, the sediments are horizontally stratified and form a number of flowstone bound sequences. The dating of the in situ cemented sediments is based on electron spin resonance (ESR) and palaeomagnetism. Recent results indicate that the deposits are of Middle-Pleistocene age