A New Pleistocene Hominin Tracksite from the Cape South Coast, South Africa

Charles W Helm,Richard T Mccrea,Guy H H Thesen,Hayley C Cawthra,Richard M Cowling,Curtis W Marean,Sinèad Hattingh,Tammy S Pigeon,Martin G Lockley

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22059-5

Abstract

A Late Pleistocene hominin tracksite has been identified in coastal aeolianite rocks on the Cape south coast of South Africa, an area of great significance for the emergence of modern humans. The tracks are in the form of natural casts and occur on the ceiling and side walls of a ten-metre long cave. Preservation of tracks is of variable quality. Up to forty hominin tracks are evident. Up to thirty-five hominin tracks occur on a single bedding plane, with potential for the exposure of further tracks. Five tracks are apparent on a second hominin track-bearing bedding plane. A number of individuals made the tracks while moving down a dune surface. A geological investigation at the site and stratigraphic comparison to published geochronological studies from this area suggest that the tracks are ~90 ka in age. If this is the case, the shoreline at the time would have been approximately 2 km distant. This is the first reported hominin tracksite from this time period. It adds to the relatively sparse global record of early hominin tracks, and represents the largest and best preserved archive of Late Pleistocene hominin tracks found to date. The tracks were probably made by Homo sapiens.

Highlights

The potential for ichnology to contribute to such research has been limited by the sparse record of early hominin tracksites
Published research on South African Pleistocene trackways has largely centred on the two above-mentioned hominin tracksites (Nahoon and Langebaan) and nearby associated vertebrate tracks[18,19], plus on elephant trackways[20,21]
The sedimentary clasts are bound by calcium carbonate cement, which dominates the grain boundaries

Summary

Introduction

The potential for ichnology to contribute to such research has been limited by the sparse record of early hominin tracksites. Published research on South African Pleistocene trackways has largely centred on the two above-mentioned hominin tracksites (Nahoon and Langebaan) and nearby associated vertebrate tracks[18,19], plus on elephant trackways[20,21]. They have been thought to represent the first known tracks made by our own subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens This assumption was made prior to the description of a second southern African hominin species (Homo naledi) from skeletal material from the Rising Star Cave[25] (more than 750 km north of these sites, and a linear distance of more than 1000 km from the site we describe) and its subsequent dating, which provides an estimated minimum age of 236 ka[26]. The focus of this paper is to describe these tracks and to briefly place them in their sedimentary and palaeoecological context

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion