Klasies RiverDr Sarah Wurz

Evolutionary Studies Institute,University of Witwatersrand,

South Africa

University of BergenNorway

KLASIES RIVER

EXCAVATED SINCE THE 1960’S (SINGER & WYMER, DEACON, WURZ)

MIDDEN OF 21 METRES, REMNANTS IN FOUR CAVES

CAVE 1

CAVE 1

Layer 14

(SASR)

Layer 15

(SASW)

Layer 16 (SASU)

Layer 17 (SASL)Layer 37

(RBS)

Layer 38-40 (LBS)

CAVE 1 Witness Baulk

CAVE 1ACAVE 1A , CAVE 2

KLASIES RIVER ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND MODERN HUMAN EVOLUTION

MORE THAN 40 F0SSILS

Royer et al 2009

WELL PRESERVED, SHELL, BONE, STONE, FIRE PLACES

EARLIEST SYSTEMATIC EXPLOITATION OF SHELL FISH

Turbo sarmarticus (alikreukel)

Perna perna (brown mussel)Scutellastra tabularis (limpet)

Turbo operculum

120 000 YEAR OLD MIDDEN

SAS3 SH

SAS4 SHB

SAS5 S

SAS4 SH

SAS4 S

bone

PELOROVIS (EXTINCT)

Scientific illustrator, Iziko SA Museum: Cedric Hunter

Blue buck(Hippotragus leucophaeus)

First historically recorded African animal to go extinct

Scientific illustrator, Iziko SA Museum: Cedric Hunter

STONE TOOLS – CULTURAL CHANGE, INNOVATION

POINTS, 120-65 000 YEARS AGO, MOUNTED ON SPEARS

17

spiese

Expert hunters

Howiesons poort, ~65 000 years ago

Innovation of bow and arrow technology?

OCHRE

OCHRE PROCESSING

Together with Blombos Cave, Pinnacle Point, Diepkloof, Sibudu, Border Cave

crucial to understanding the history of all modern people.

outstanding evidence for palaeoenvironmental conditions

significant social, behavioral and technical innovations

Nomination for world heritage status: The Emergence of Modern Humans: The Pleistocene occupation sites of South

Africa

Fossil evidence for the origins of modern humans

Earliest ‘seafood restaurant’ in the world

Largest sediment pile, well preserved bone and shell

KLASIES RIVER

Klasies River, the ultimate home of the ancients from southern AfricaSarah.wurz@wits.ac.za