TY - JOUR
T1 - A targeted drilling and dating campaign to identify Stone Age archaeological sites before excavation in west coast southern Africa
AU - Colarossi, D.
AU - Fewlass, H.
AU - Stahlschmidt, M.C.
AU - Presnyakova, D.
AU - Matembo, J.
AU - Hein, M.
AU - Talamo, S.
AU - Archer, W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Prof. Jean-Jacques Hublin and the Max Planck Society, as well as the National Museum, Bloemfontein, for supporting this research. The authors wish to thank Herman, Kitta, Albert and Carol Burger for facilitating our fieldwork and providing access to the site; Louisa Hutten and Prof. John Parkington from the University of Cape Town for on-site support; Dr Thomas Kasper for conducting the core splitting and photography; Steffi Hesse, Katharina Schilling and Victoria Krippner for laboratory preparation of the OSL samples; and Lysann Klausnitzer for preparation of the bone samples for 14C dating. The authors also wish to thank an anonymous reviewer and guest editor for their comments which helped to improve this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - Here we present the results of a targeted drilling campaign that facilitated a geochronological study with coarse sampling resolution inside a new cave site, Simons Cave, on the west coast of southern Africa. A combination of radiocarbon (14C) dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was used as a range-finder. Results confirmed preservation of Holocene and late Pleistocene sediments up to 133 ± 35 ka, overlapping with the ages of Middle Stone Age (MSA) occupations of the broader west coast region. A subsequent, systematic test-excavation at the site then embarked on a second geochronological study with a higher sampling resolution. Ultimately, the comparative study confirmed the potential of Simons Cave as a new site for the exploration of hominin occupation through the later Pleistocene and Holocene, yet raised several issues concerning the direct comparability of information deriving from drilled sediment cores and actual archaeological excavation.
AB - Here we present the results of a targeted drilling campaign that facilitated a geochronological study with coarse sampling resolution inside a new cave site, Simons Cave, on the west coast of southern Africa. A combination of radiocarbon (14C) dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was used as a range-finder. Results confirmed preservation of Holocene and late Pleistocene sediments up to 133 ± 35 ka, overlapping with the ages of Middle Stone Age (MSA) occupations of the broader west coast region. A subsequent, systematic test-excavation at the site then embarked on a second geochronological study with a higher sampling resolution. Ultimately, the comparative study confirmed the potential of Simons Cave as a new site for the exploration of hominin occupation through the later Pleistocene and Holocene, yet raised several issues concerning the direct comparability of information deriving from drilled sediment cores and actual archaeological excavation.
KW - OSL dating
KW - Radiocarbon dating
KW - Percussion coring
KW - Archaeological excavation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129663829&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quageo.2022.101314
DO - 10.1016/j.quageo.2022.101314
M3 - Article
SN - 1871-1014
VL - 71
JO - Quaternary Geochronology
JF - Quaternary Geochronology
M1 - 101314
ER -