Preliminary investigation of matjhabeng, a pliocene fossil locality in the free state of South Africa

Palaeontologia Africana

Volumn 45, Issue , 2010, Pages 11-22

  De Ruiter, Darryl J ^a,b   Brophy, Juliet K ^a   Lewis, Patrick J ^c   Kennedy, Alicia M ^c   Stidham, Thomas A ^a   Carlson, Keely B ^a   Hancox, P John ^b  

^a TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

^c Sam Houston State University   (United States)

Author keywords

Earliest grasslands; Faunal assemblage; Isotopes; Mammuthus subplanifrons; Megalotragus

Indexed keywords

AMPHIBIA; ANCYLOTHERIUM; ARTIODACTYLA; AVES; MAMMALIA; MAMMUTHUS; REPTILIA; RODENTIA;

EID: 84992435630     PISSN: 00788554     EISSN: 24104418     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. BERGER, L.R., LACRUZ, R.S.&DE RUITER, D.J. 2002. Brief communication: revised age estimates of Australopithecus-bearing deposits at Sterkfontein, South Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119, 192-197.
2. BONE, E.L. & SINGER, R. 1965. Hipparion from Langebaanweg, Cape Province, and a revision of the genus in South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 48, 273-397.
3. BRAIN, C.K. 1981. The Hunters or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
4. BRINK, J.S. 2005. The evolution of the black wildebeest, Connochaetes gnou, and modern large mammal faunas in central southern Africa. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch.
5. BROMAGE, T.G., SCHRENK, F. & JUWAYEYI, Y.M. 1995. Paleobiogeography of the Malawi Rift: Age and vertebrate paleontology of the Chiwondo Beds, northern Malawi. Journal of Human Evolution 28, 37-57.
6. BROOM, R. 1951. Finding the Missing Link. London, Watts.
7. BRUNET, M., GUY, F., PILBEAM, D., MACKAYE, H.T., LIKIUS, A., AHOUNTA, D., BEAUVILAIN, A., BLONDEL, C., BOCHERENS, H., BOISSERIE, J.-R., DE BONIS, L., COPPENS, Y., DEJAX, J., DENYS, C., DURINGER, P., EISENMANN, V., FANONE, G., FRONTY, P., GERAADS, D., LEHMANN, T., LIHOREAU, F., LOUCHART, A., MAHAMAT, A., MERCERON, G., MOUCHELIN, G., OTERO, O., CAMPOMANES, P.P., PONCE DE LEON, M., RAGE, J.C., SAPANET, M., SCHUSTER, M., SUDRE, J., TASSY, P., VALENTIN, X., VIGNAUD, P., VIRIOT, L., ZAZZO, A. & ZOLLIKOFER, C. 2002. A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, CentralAfrica. Nature 418, 145-151.
8. BUTLER, P.M. 1978. Chalicotheriidae. In: Maglio, V. & Cooke, H.B.S. (eds), Evolution of African Mammals, 368-370. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
9. BUTZER, K.W. 1973. On the geology of a late Pliocene Mammuthus site, Virginia, Orange Free State. Navorsinge van die Nasional Museum, Bloemfontein 2, 386-393.
10. BUTZER, K.W., HELGREN, D.M., FOCK, G.J. & STUCKENRATH, R. 1973. Alluvial terraces of the lower Vaal River, South Africa: A reappraisal and reinvestigation. Journal of Geology 81, 341-362.
11. CERLING, T.E. 1992. Development of grasslands and savannas in East Africa during the Neogene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 97, 241-247.
12. CERLING, T.E., HARRIS, J.M., MACFADDEN, B.J., LEAKEY, M.G., QUADE, J., EISENMANN, V. & EHLERINGER, J.R. 1997. Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389, 153-158.
13. CHURCHER, C.S. 1978. Giraffidae. In: Maglio, V.J.&Cooke, H.B.S. (eds), Evolution of African Mammals, 509-535. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
14. CLARKE, R.J. 1998. First ever discovery of a well-preserved skull and associated skeleton of Australopithecus. South African Journal of Science 94, 460-463.
15. COOKE, H.B.S. 1991. Dinofelis barlowi (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) cranial material from Bolt's Farm, collected by the University of California African Expedition. Palaeontologia africana 28, 9-21.
16. COOKE, H.B.S. & MAGLIO, Q.B. 1972. Plio-Pleistocene stratigraphy in East Africa in relation to proboscidean and suid evolution. In: Bishop, W.W.&Miller, J.A. (eds), Calibration of Hominoid Evolution. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, pp. 303-329.
17. COPPENS, Y., MAGLIO, V.J., MADDEN, C.T. & BEDEN, M. 1978. Proboscidea. In: Maglio, V.J. & Cooke, H.B.S. (eds), Evolution of African Mammals, 336-367. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
18. DART, R.A. 1925. Australopithecus africanus: The man-Ape of South Africa. Nature 115, 195-199.
19. DELSON, E. 1984. Cercopithecid biochronology of the African Plio- Pleistocene: correlation among eastern and southern hominidbearing localities. Courier Forschrung Institut Senckenberg 69, 199-218.
20. DELSON, E. 1988. Chronology of South African Australopith site units. In: Grine, F.E. (ed.), Evolutionary History of the Robust Australopithecines, 317-325. New York, Aldine de Gruyter.
21. DERUITER, D.J., COPELAND, S.R., LEE-THORP, J.A.&SPONHEIMER, M. 2010. Investigating the role of eagles as accumulating agents in the dolomitic cave infills of South Africa. Journal of Taphonomy 8: 129-154.
22. EWER, R.F. 1956. Some fossil carnivores from the Makapansgat Valley. Palaeontologia africana 4, 57-67.
23. EWER, R.F. 1958. The fossil Suidae of Makapansgat. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London 130, 329-372.
24. FRANZ-ODENDAAL, T.A., LEE-THORP, J.A. & CHINSAMY, A. 2002. Newevidence for the lack ofC4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa. Paleobiology 28, 378-388.
25. GENTRY, A.W. 1974. A new genus and species of Pliocene boselaphine (Bovidae, Mammalia) from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 65, 145-188.
26. GENTRY, A.W. 1980. Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia) from Langebaanweg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 79, 213-337.
27. GRINE, F.E. & HENDEY, Q.B. 1981. Earliest primate remains from South Africa. South African Journal of Science 77, 374-376.
28. HAILE-SELASSIE, Y., SUWA, G.&WHITE, T.D. 2004. Late Miocene teeth from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and early hominid dental evolution. Science 303, 1503-1505.
29. HARRIS, J.M. 1991. Koobi Fora Research Project Volume 3: The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
30. HELGREN, D. 1977. Geological context of the Vaal River faunas. South African Journal of Science 73, 303-307.
31. HELGREN, D. 1979. Rivers of diamonds: An alluvial history of the lower Vaal Basin, South Africa. Research Papers of the University of Chicago, Department of Geography 185, 1-389.
32. HENDEY, Q.B. 1970. A review of the geology and palaeontology of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits at Langebaanweg, Cape Province. (With an appendix on the Langebaanweg Bovidae by A.W. Gentry.) Annals of the South African Museum 56, 75-117.
33. HENDEY, Q.B. 1972. A Pliocene ursid from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 9, 115-132.
34. HENDEY, Q.B. 1973. Fossil occurrences at Langebaanweg, Cape Province. Nature 224, 13-14.
35. HENDEY, Q.B. 1974. The late Cenozoic Carnivora of the southwestern Cape Province. Annals of the South African Museum 63, 1-369.
36. HENDEY, Q.B. 1976a. The Pliocene fossil occurrences in 'E' Quarry, Langebaanweg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 69, 215-247.
37. HENDEY, Q.B. 1976b. Fossil peccary from the Pliocene of South Africa. Science 192, 787-789.
38. HENDEY, Q.B. 1978a. Late Tertiary Hyaenidae from Langebaanweg, South Africa, and their relevance to the phylogeny of the family. Annals of the South African Museum 76, 265-297.
39. HENDEY, Q.B. 1978b. Late Tertiary Mustelidae from (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Langebaanweg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 76, 329-357.
40. HENDEY, Q.B. 1978c. The age of the fossils from Baard's Quarry, Langebaanweg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 75, 1-24.
41. HENDEY, Q.B. 1981a. Paleoecology of the late Tertiary fossil occurrences in 'E' Quarry, Langebaanweg, South Africa, and a reinterpretation of their geological context. Annals of the South African Museum 84, 1-104.
42. HENDEY, Q.B. 1981b Geological succession at Langebaanweg, Cape Province, and global events of the late Tertiary. South African Journal of Science 77, 33-38.
43. HENDEY, Q.B. 1982. Langebaanweg: A Record of Past Life. Cape Town, South African Museum.
44. HOPLEY, P.J., LATHAM, A., KUYKENDALL, K. & WEEDON, G. 2007. Orbital forcing and the spread of C4 grasses in the late Neogene: stable isotope evidence from South African speleothems. Journal of Human Evolution 53, 620-634.
45. HOWELL, F.C. 1972. Pliocene/Pleistocene Hominidae in eastern Africa -Absolute and relative ages. In: Bishop, W.W.&Miller, J.A. (eds), Calibration of Hominoid Evolution, 331-368. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.
46. HRDLIKA, A. 1925. The Taungs ape. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 8, 379-392.
47. KALB, J.E. & MEBRATE, A. 1993. Fossil elephantoids from the hominid-bearing Awash Group, Middle Awash Valley, Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 83, 1-114.
48. KIBII, J.M. 2007. Comparative taxonomic, taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental analysis of 4-2.3 million year old australopithecine cave infills at Sterkfontein. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
49. KUMAN, K., & CLARKE, R.J. 2000. Stratigraphy, artefact industries and hominid associations for Sterkfontein, Member 5. Journal of Human Evolution 38, 827-847.
50. LATHAM, A.G., McKee, J.K. & TOBIAS, P.V. 2007. Bone breccias, bone dumps, and sedimentary sequences of the western Limeworks, Makapansgat, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 52, 388-400.
51. LEAKEY, M.G., FEIBEL, C.S., McDOUGALL, I.&WALKER, A. 1995.New four-million-year-old hominid species from Kanapoi and Allia Bay, Kenya. Nature 376, 565-571.
52. LEAKEY, M.G., FEIBEL, C.S., McDOUGALL, I., WARD, C. & WALKER, A. 1998. New specimens and confirmation of an early age for Australopithecus anamensis. Nature 393, 62-66.
53. LEE-THORP, J.A.&VAN DER MERWE, N.J. 1991. Aspects of the chemistry of modern and fossil biological apatites. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 343-354.
54. LOCKWOOD, C.A. & TOBIAS, P.V. 1999. A large male hominin cranium from Sterkfontein, South Africa, and the status of Australopithecus africanus. Journal of Human Evolution 36, 637-685.
55. LOCKWOOD, C.A. & TOBIAS, P.V. 2002. Morphology and affinities of new hominin cranial remains from Member 4 of the Sterkfontein Formation, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 42, 389-450.
56. MAGLIO, V.J. 1973. Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 63, 1-149.
57. MAGLIO, V.J. & HENDEY, Q.B. 1970. New evidence relating to the supposed stegolophodont ancestry of the Elephantidae. South African Archaeological Bulletin 25, 85-87.
58. McKEE, J.K. 1993. Faunal dating of the Taung hominid fossil deposit. Journal of Human Evolution 25, 363-376.
59. McKEE, J.K. & TOBIAS, P.V. 1990. New fieldwork at the Taung hominid site: 1988-1989. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 81, 266-267.
60. MEIRING, A.J.D. 1955. Fossil Proboscidean teeth and ulna fromVirginia, O.F.S. Navorsinge van die Nasional Museum, Bloemfontein 1, 187-201.
61. OSBORN, H.F. 1928. Mammoths and man in the Transvaal. Nature 71, 672-673.
62. MOGGI-CECCHI, J., GRINE, F.E. & TOBIAS, P.V. 2006. Early hominid dental remains from Members 4 and 5 of the Sterkfontein Formation (1966-1996 excavations): catalogue, individual associations, morphological descriptions and initial metrical analyses. Journal of Human Evolution 50, 239-328.
63. PARTRIDGE, T.C., SHAW, J., HESLOP, D. & CLARKE, R.J. 1999. The new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein, South Africa: Age and preliminary assessment. Journal of Quaternary Science 14, 293-298.
64. PARTRIDGE, T.C., SHAW, J. & HESLOP, D. 2000. Note on recent magnetostratigraphic analyses in Member 2 of the Sterkfontein Formation. In: Partridge, T.C. & Maud R.R. (eds), The Cenozoic of Southern Africa, 129-130. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
65. PARTRIDGE, T.C., GRANGER, D.E., CAFFEE, M.W. & CLARKE, R.J. 2003. Lower Pliocene hominid remains from Sterkfontein. Science 300, 607-612.
66. PICKERING, R.& KRAMERS, J.D. 2010. Re-Appraisal of the stratigraphy and determination of new U-Pb dates for the Sterkfontein hominin site, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 59: 70-86.
67. PICKERING, T.R. 1999. Taphonomic interpretations of the Sterkfontein early hominid site (Gauteng, South Africa) reconsidered in light of recent evidence. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
68. PICKERING, T.R., CLARKE, R.J. & HEATON, J.L. 2004. The context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Taphonomy and paleoenvironment. Journal of Human Evolution 46, 279-297.
69. QUADE, J., CERLING, T.E., BARRY, J.C., MORGAN, M.M., PILBEAM, D.R., CHIVAS, A.R. & LEE-THORP, J.A. 1992, A 16 million year record of paleodiet from Pakistan using carbon isotopes in fossil teeth. Chemical Geology 94, 183-192.
70. REED, K.E. 1996. The paleoecology of Makapansgat and other African Plio-Pleistocene hominid localities. Unpublished PhD dissertation, State University of New York, Stony Brook.
71. SCHWARCZ, H.P., GRUN, R. & TOBIAS, P.V. 1994. ESR dating studies of the australopithecine site of Sterkfontein, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 26, 175-181.
72. SEGALEN, L., LEE-THORP, J.A. & CERLING, T. 2007. Timing of C4 grass expansion across sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 53, 549-559.
73. SÉNÉGAS, F. & AVERY, D.M. 1998. New evidence for the murine origins of the Otomyinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) and the age of Bolt's Farm (South Africa). South African Journal of Science 94, 503-507.
74. SINGER, R. & HOOIJER, D.A. 1958.Astegolophodon from SouthAfrica. Nature 182, 101-102.
75. SPONHEIMER, M. & LEE-THORP, J.A. 2009. Biogeochemical evidence for the environments of early Homo in South Africa. In: Grine, F.E., Fleagle, J.G. & Leakey, R.E.F. (eds), The First Humans: Origin and Early Evolution of the Genus Homo. Springer, Dordrecht.
76. SPONHEIMER, M., LEE-THORP, J.A. & DE RUITER, D.J. 2006. Icarus, isotopes, and australopith diets. In: Ungar, P. (ed.), Evolution of the Human Diet, 132-149. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
77. SPONHEIMER, M, LEE-THORP, J., DE RUITER, D.J., CODRON, D., CODRON, J., BAUGH, A.&THACKERAY, J.F. 2005. Hominins, sedges, and termites: new carbon isotope data from the Sterkfontein Valley and Kruger National Park. Journal of Human Evolution 48, 301-312.
78. SPONHEIMER, M., PASSEY, B.H., DE RUITER, D.J., GUATELLISTEINBERG, D., CERLING, T.E.&LEE-THORP, J.A. 2006a. Isotopic evidence for dietary variability in the early hominin Paranthropus robustus. Science 314, 980-982.
79. SPONHEIMER, M., LOUDON, J.E., CODRON, D., HOWELLS, M.E., PRUETZ, J.D., CODRON, J., DE RUITER, D.J. & LEE-THORP, J.A. 2006b. Do 'savanna' chimpanzees consume C4 resources? Journal of Human Evolution 51, 128-133.
80. STROMER, E. 1931. Reste susswasser- und land bewohnender wirbeltiere aus den diamante-feldern Klein-Namaqualandes (Sudwest- Afrika). Sber. BayernAkademieWissenschaften 1931, 17-47 (from Hendey 1970).
81. TURNER, A. 1987. New fossil carnivore remains from the Sterkfontein hominid site (Mammalia: Carnivora). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 34, 319-347.
82. TURNER, A. 1997. Further remains of Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Sterkfontein hominid site. Palaeontologia africana 34, 115-126.
83. VRBA, E.S. 1976. The fossil Bovidae of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai. Pretoria. Transvaal Museum Memoir No. 21.
84. VRBA, E.S. 1987. A revision of the Bovini (Bovidae) and a preliminary checklist of Bovidae from Makapansgat. Palaeontologia africana 26, 33-46.
85. WALKER, J., CLIFF, R.A.&LATHAM, A.G. 2006. U-Pb isotopic age of the Stw 573 hominid from Sterkfontein, South Africa. Science 314, 1592-1594.
86. WEBB, G.L. 1965. Notes on some chalicothere remains from Makapansgat. Palaeontologia africana 9, 49-73.
87. WELLS, L.H.&COOKE, H.B.S. 1956. Fossil Bovidae from the Limeworks Quarry, Makapansgat, Potgietersrus. Palaeontologia africana 4, 1-55.
88. WHITE, T.D. & HARRIS, J.M. 1977. Suid evolution and correlation of African hominid localities. Science 198, 13-21.
89. WHITE, T.D., SUWA, G. & ASFAW, B. 1994. Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 371, 306-312.
90. WHITE, T.D., SUWA, G. & ASFAW, B. 1995. Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia: Corrigendum. Nature 375, 88.
91. WHITE, T.D., ASFAW, B., BEYENE, Y., HAILE-SELASSIE, Y., LOVEJOY, C.O., SUWA, G.&WOLDEGABRIEL, G. 2009. Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids. Science 326, 75-86.
92. YASUI, K., KUNIMATSU, Y., KUGA, N., BAJOPE, B. & ISHIDA, H. 1992. Fossil mammals from the Neogene strata in the Sinda Basin, eastern Zaire. African Study Monographs, Supplemental 17, 87-107.