A microstratigraphic reevaluation of the Florisbad spring site, Free State Province, South Africa: Formation processes and paleoenvironment

Abstract

The Florisbad spring site has produced a large collection of fossil bones dating to the Middle Pleistocene and several assemblages of Middle Stone Age (MSA) artifacts. The species featured in the faunal collection define the Florisian Land Mammal Age, characterized mainly by grazing ungulates that reflect an open grassland environment. Early MSA artifacts found within the basal layers represent the earliest evidence of human presence at Florisbad, followed by an intact MSA occupation horizon characterized by stone tools and animal bones, in direct association and primary context. These fossils and artifacts were found embedded within sand and peat layers. Previous studies investigated the genesis of such deposits using field descriptions and bulk sedimentological analyses. However, sediments were never studied within their original context, thus leading to difficulties in determining the formation processes of the deposits. Using a multianalytical micro‐geoarchaeological approach including sediment micromorphology, FTIR and XRD, we were able to show that the site is characterized by alternating aeolian sand layers reworked by lacustrine water during the wet phases of the Pleistocene, and peat layers formed in marshes during dry phases. The results confirm most of the previous paleoenvironmental reconstructions and provide a refined stratigraphic sequence of the site.

The palaeoecological context of the Oldowan–Acheulean in southern Africa

“…2, Fig. 3) 14 . Unlike in earlier periods, C 3 grasses do not feature significantly in the ecosystem at Wonderwerk Cave at that time, suggesting that it is not a simple glacial-interglacial dichotomy that establishes these large-scale changes.…”

Plant taphonomy, flora exploitation and palaeoenvironments at the Middle Stone Age site of Mwulu’s Cave (Limpopo, South Africa): an archaeobotanical and mineralogical approach

“…The Mwulu's deposits correspond temporally most closely to unit 4 at Florisbad and KP1 and KP6 at Kathu Pan (Lukich et al 2020) where recent sedimentological studies provide a window for palaeoenvironmental interpretation. In the Free State, at Florisbad, the presence of a large lake covering the region from~100 ka to the end of the Pleistocene has been reconstructed through sediment analysis, indicating wet conditions (Toffolo et al 2017). At~95 ka, marshy environments are also present in the southern Kalahari, at Kathu Pan, depicting cyclic wet and dry phases under general moisture availability (Lukich et al 2020).…”

“…Although the interior regions of South Africa present an archaeological record less studied than that recovered from the western and southern coasts, the number of sites with MSA deposits is considerable. Some examples come from ongoing or recently excavated sites such as Kathu Pan (Wilkins and Chazan 2012;Lukich et al 2019Lukich et al , 2020, Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter (Wilkins et al 2020) and Wonderwerk (Chazan et al 2020) in the southern Kalahari Basin; Florisbad (Toffolo et al 2017) and Baden-Baden (van Aardt et al 2015) in the Free State or Wonderkrater (Backwell et al 2014), Bushman Rock Shelter (Porraz et al 2015), Cave of Hearths (McNabb et al 2009) and Mwulu's Cave (de la Peña et al 2019) in Limpopo.…”

Formation processes at the early Late Pleistocene archaic human site of Lingjing, China

“…Grain size is a commonly used indicator in sedimentological analysis, since changes in grain size respond directly to a change in the dynamics of hydraulic flow (Xiao et al, 2013). Coarse grain sizes correspond with stronger flow, while finer grain sizes, such as silt and clay, are associated with relatively weak flow that will have Table 1.…”

“…Several geoarchaeological techniques are key when implementing a detailed analysis of Palaeolithic site formation and modification. For example, sediments are frequently analyzed for grain size, magnetic susceptibility, micromorphology, geochemical components, and mineral elements (e.g., Goldberg, 1979;Schiffer, 1983;Stein, 1987;Catt, 1999;French, 2003;Garrison, 2003;Morton, 2004;Ellwood et al, 2004;Goldberg and Macphail, 2006;Stahlschmidt et al, 2015;Toffolo et al, 2016;Campaña et al, 2016). Artefact properties, such as size profiles, abrasion, rounding, spatial distributions, and orientations, are commonly used as proxies of preservation for archaeological assemblages (e.g., Isaac, 1967;Schick, 1984Schick, , 1986Bertran and Texier, 1995;Shea, 1999;Lenoble and Bertran, 2004;McPherron, 2005;Kuman and Field, 2009;Bernatchez, 2010;Braun et al, 2013;Hovers et al, 2014;Lotter et al, 2016).…”