Abstract
Three new Pleistocene hominin tracksites have been identified on the Cape south coast of South Africa, one in the Garden Route National Park and two in the Goukamma Nature Reserve, probably dating to Marine Isotope Stage 5. As a result, southern Africa now boasts six hominin tracksites, which are collectively the oldest sites in the world that are attributed to Homo sapiens. The tracks were registered on dune surfaces, now preserved in aeolianites. Tracks of varying size were present at two sites, indicating the presence of more than one trackmaker, and raising the possibility of family groups. A total of 18 and 32 tracks were recorded at these two sites, respectively. Ammoglyphs were present at one site. Although track quality was not optimal, and large aeolianite surface exposures are rare in the region, these sites prove the capacity of coastal aeolianites to yield such discoveries, and they contribute to what remains a sparse global hominin track record. It is evident that hominin tracks are more common in southern Africa than was previously supposed.
 Significance:
 
 Three new Pleistocene hominin trackways have been identified on the Cape south coast, bringing thenumber of known fossil hominin tracksites in southern Africa to six.
 The tracks were all registered on dune surfaces, now preserved as aeolianites.
 These are the six oldest tracksites in the world that are attributed to Homo sapiens.
 Hominin tracks are more common in southern Africa than was previously supposed.
Highlights
The Cape south coast of South Africa has been shown to be of pivotal importance in the origin of cognitively modern humans in the Middle Stone Age, with sites such as Blombos Cave[1], Pinnacle Point[2], and Klasies River[3] achieving international renown
While the southern African sites all occur on aeolianite surfaces, this is not a common phenomenon from a global perspective
The tracksites we describe here need to be considered in the broader context of features related to human activity on Pleistocene aeolianite surfaces on the Cape south coast, including ammoglyphs and Middle Stone Age tools, and the possibility of shod human tracks
Summary
The Cape south coast of South Africa has been shown to be of pivotal importance in the origin of cognitively modern humans in the Middle Stone Age, with sites such as Blombos Cave[1], Pinnacle Point[2], and Klasies River[3] achieving international renown. Our Cape south coast ichnology project has documented more than 250 vertebrate tracksites in our study area (Figure 1), which extends for 350 km from the town of Arniston in the west to the Robberg peninsula in the east.[12] For example, the presence of giraffe[13], crocodiles[14], and breeding sea turtles[15] was not suspected from the skeletal record, and has only been established through the presence of their tracks. Southern Africa has to date proven to be the region in which to search for Middle Stone Age tracks of our species.
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