Dating the Pleistocene hominin ichnosites on South Africa’s Cape south coast

Abstract

Seven hominin ichnosites in aeolianites on the Cape south coast of South Africa have been dated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence, yielding age estimates from Marine Isotope 6 through Marine Isotope Stage 4. All rock outcrops containing these sites are situated on the modern coastline. The new ages are consistent with geomorphological expectations, and with other numerical dating results from the wider southern Cape coastline. Seen in a global ichnological context, the cluster of South African sites (including two previously dated sites) contains nine of the twenty-one sites older than 70 ka that have been attributed to hominins. With a single exception they are also the only sites older than 40 ka that have been attributed to Homo sapiens, and include the oldest tracks (153 ± 10 ka) thus far attributed to our species. The South African coastline contains an archaeological and paleoanthropological record of global significance, to which the hominin ichnological record, preserved on aeolianite palaeosurfaces and now chronologically constrained, can make a substantial contribution.

A Purported Pleistocene Sand Sculpture From South Africa

“…Consequently, the term 'ammoglyph' was coined to represent an anthropogenic pattern registered in unconsolidated sand, which is now evident on a palaeosurface of rock. These reports complement the identification of several Pleistocene hominin tracksites on this coastline (Helm et al 2018a(Helm et al , 2020a(Helm et al , 2023a. To date, ammoglyphs have not been reported from any other region.…”

“…• through the regional abundance of track-sites, the capacity of these palaeosurfaces to preserve events that transpired on them when they were composed of unconsolidated sand is evident; • hominins moved across these surfaces, as shown through the presence of hominin track-sites (Helm et al 2018a(Helm et al , 2020a(Helm et al , 2023a); • part of the extensive southern African archive of Pleistocene palaeoart (Bednarik 2013) includes sites on the Cape south coast (Henshilwood et al 2002(Henshilwood et al , 2014(Henshilwood et al , 2018Watts 2010); • the palaeosurfaces containing the possible ammoglyphs and the previously documented palaeoart are from approximately the same time period; • assumptions that only the footprints of humans travelling on these surfaces are preserved, to the exclusion of other activities, are untenable. Roberts and Cole (2003) contended that the plentiful occurrence of tracks and traces (and, by implication, ammoglyphs, although they had not yet been identified) in these aeolianites reflected a combination of:…”

A Late Pleistocene hominin footprint site on the North African coast of Morocco

“…They are, therefore, the oldest human footprints in this region and among the oldest footprints attributed to Homo sapiens worldwide. Only two other regions have yielded older Homo sapiens footprints: South Africa, with several coastal sites, the oldest of which is dated to 150 ka ago 15 , 23 , and the Arabian Peninsula, where footprints dated to 120–110 ka ago were discovered at Alathar 16 . The site of Larache is also important for the number of footprints that have been discovered.…”

“…Despite an increase in the number of findings, their spatiotemporal distribution is still highly heterogeneous. For instance, in Africa they are mainly concentrated in the east 1 – 3 , 7 , 12 , 20 and south of the continent 15 , 21 – 23 . In contrast, evidence from North Africa found in Holocene deposits is sparse 4 , 24 .…”

The power of contemporary African DNA: Exploring models of human evolution and health in Africa

“…Marlo Möller 1 Eileen Hoal 1 Brenna M. Henn 2,3 AFFILIATIoNS: It is often stated that "All models are wrong, but some are useful" (quote attributed to the statistician George Box). This quote highlights how constructing detailed models of human history is challenging, as model misspecification is inherent in such studies.…”