Papers by Dominic Stratford
Journal of Human Evolution, 2019
The Sterkfontein Caves is currently the world's richest Australopithecus-bearing site. Included ... more The Sterkfontein Caves is currently the world's richest Australopithecus-bearing site. Included in Sterk- fontein's hominin assemblage is StW 573 (‘Little Foot’), a near-complete Australopithecus skeleton discovered in Member 2 in the Silberberg Grotto. Because of its importance to the fossil hominin record, the geological age of StW 573 has been the subject of significant debate. Three main hypotheses have been proposed regarding the formation and age of Member 2 and by association StW 573. The first proposes that Member 2 (as originally defined in the type section in the Silberberg Grotto) started to accumulate at around 2.58 Ma and that the unit is contained within the Silberberg Grotto. The second proposes that Member 2 started forming before 3.67 ± 0.16 Ma and that the deposit extends into the Milner Hall and close to the base of the cave system. The third proposes a ‘two-stage burial scenario’, in which some sediments and StW 573 represent a secondary and mixed-age accumulation reworked from a higher cave. The stratigraphic and sedimentological implications of these hypotheses are tested here through the application of a multiscale investigation of Member 2, with reference to the taphonomy of the StW 573 skeleton. The complete infilling sequence of Member 2 is described across all exposures of the deposit in the Silberberg Grotto and into the Milner Hall. Sediments are generally stratified and conformably deposited in a sequence of silty sands eroded from well-developed lateritic soils on the landscape surface. Voids, clasts and bioclasts are organized consistently across and through Member 2 conforming with the underlying deposit geometry, indicating gradual deposit accretion with no distinct collapse facies evident and only localized intra-unit postdepositional modification. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of Member 2 support a simple single-stage accumulation process of Member 2 and a primary association between the sediments of Member 2 and the StW 573 ‘Little Foot’ skeleton.
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2018
In this paper, we present a revised stratigraphy and results of preliminary analyses of the archa... more In this paper, we present a revised stratigraphy and results of preliminary analyses of the archaeological material from Mwulu's Cave. This arises from two excavation campaigns conducted in 2017, 71 years after the site was initially investigated by P.V. Tobias. This cave, located in Limpopo Province (South Africa), preserves one of the few known Middle Stone Age sequences in the northeastern part of the country. Here, we revisit the stratigraphic sequence of the site and provide new analyses of sediments, palynomorphs, phytoliths, ochre and lithics. The renewed excavations and reappraisal of the archaeological material from Mwulu's Cave form part of a larger research project exploring Middle Stone Age variability in the northeastern part of South Africa, with a specific focus on the so-called Pietersburg industries.
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The Sterkfontein Caves, located in the south-west of the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng is the wo... more The Sterkfontein Caves, located in the south-west of the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng is the world’s richest Australopithecus-bearing locality. The fossil-bearing cave deposits represent a more recent instalment of a history spanning 2.6 Ga, from the deposition of the karst-hosting dolomites, to the commercial exploitation of the caves by lime miners in the early twentieth century. The location and morphology of the caves is a result of lithological variation within the two host dolomite formations, multiple and complex phases of karstification and infilling of the resultant solution cavities over the two billion years since the dolomite deposition, and consistently active local tensional joint and fault systems. Where vadose collapse has opened the caves to the landscape, a broad range of geomorphological processes has created dynamic sedimentary environments with complex stratigraphic histories.
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This research presents the stratigraphic analysis of the fossil and
artefact-bearing Name Chambe... more This research presents the stratigraphic analysis of the fossil and
artefact-bearing Name Chamber deposits at Sterkfontein, in the
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa. Two
allogenic deposits have filled into the Name Chamber and formed four talus slopes documenting a long history of sediment movement through the Sterkfontein cave system. The depositional regime of the allogenic deposits can be described as a multi-phase, multi-destination redeposition of sediments through a long, narrow and vertical articulating shaft from the now surface-exposed Member 5 deposits in the upper gallery into the lower gallery Name Chamber, during and after the formation of the Member 5 Oldowan-bearing deposit. This regime has resulted in a proportion of the <20 mm component of the Sterkfontein Oldowan assemblage being disassociated from its original depositional context and redistributed much deeper into the cave system. Filtration processes active in the Feeding Shaft have further influenced the resultant faunal and archaeological assemblage
profiles. The complex depositional processes influencing the movement of sediments from Member 5 into the Name Chamber are typical of cave sites and illustrate the value of detailed stratigraphic work in sourcing, tracking and understanding faunal and archaeological assemblages from these challenging contexts.
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Caves potentially afford excellent levels of preservation for buried sediments, artefacts and fau... more Caves potentially afford excellent levels of preservation for buried sediments, artefacts and faunal remains but, through depositional, post-depositional and diagenetic processes, material can be disassociated from its primary context. As well as the established archaeological or palaeontological research questions, the priorities of excavations in cave sediments include: identifying distinct stratigraphical units, clarifying the site formation processes responsible for the accumulation and distribution of the assemblages, and identifying any preserved primary contextual information. A wide variety of sediments that are “typically missing or masked” (Goldberg and Sherwood, 2006, p.20) in open-air sites can be encountered during cave excavation. This, combined with the stratigraphical complications inherent to cave sites makes every site different and warrants a site-specific, multi-disciplinary approach to its excavation. Stratigraphically sensitive and flexible methods of excavation and documentation are required when approaching cave excavation. A site-specific combination of techniques and practices helps ensure the stratigraphical integrity of the excavation material, successful adaptation to the cave environment and changing sedimentological conditions, and the restriction of information loss. This paper presents some important considerations needed when planning and conducting excavations of artefact and bone-bearing cave sediments as well as some of the interpretive issues surrounding the material once it is removed.
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Geobios, Jan 1, 2010
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... South Africa. Stratford, Dominic Justin. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/11470. Date: 2012-0... more ... South Africa. Stratford, Dominic Justin. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/11470. Date: 2012-05-21. Abstract: Work on Sterkfontein cave deposits has generally focussed on clarifying the life histories of interned hominin remains. ...
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... Stratford, Dominic Justin. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/6884. Date: 2009-04-09. Abstract:... more ... Stratford, Dominic Justin. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/6884. Date: 2009-04-09. Abstract: The need to expand the current lithic Plio-Pleistocene assemblages at Sterkfontein and to understand how these assemblages have been incorporated into the cave deposits is of key ...
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Papers by Dominic Stratford
artefact-bearing Name Chamber deposits at Sterkfontein, in the
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa. Two
allogenic deposits have filled into the Name Chamber and formed four talus slopes documenting a long history of sediment movement through the Sterkfontein cave system. The depositional regime of the allogenic deposits can be described as a multi-phase, multi-destination redeposition of sediments through a long, narrow and vertical articulating shaft from the now surface-exposed Member 5 deposits in the upper gallery into the lower gallery Name Chamber, during and after the formation of the Member 5 Oldowan-bearing deposit. This regime has resulted in a proportion of the <20 mm component of the Sterkfontein Oldowan assemblage being disassociated from its original depositional context and redistributed much deeper into the cave system. Filtration processes active in the Feeding Shaft have further influenced the resultant faunal and archaeological assemblage
profiles. The complex depositional processes influencing the movement of sediments from Member 5 into the Name Chamber are typical of cave sites and illustrate the value of detailed stratigraphic work in sourcing, tracking and understanding faunal and archaeological assemblages from these challenging contexts.
artefact-bearing Name Chamber deposits at Sterkfontein, in the
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa. Two
allogenic deposits have filled into the Name Chamber and formed four talus slopes documenting a long history of sediment movement through the Sterkfontein cave system. The depositional regime of the allogenic deposits can be described as a multi-phase, multi-destination redeposition of sediments through a long, narrow and vertical articulating shaft from the now surface-exposed Member 5 deposits in the upper gallery into the lower gallery Name Chamber, during and after the formation of the Member 5 Oldowan-bearing deposit. This regime has resulted in a proportion of the <20 mm component of the Sterkfontein Oldowan assemblage being disassociated from its original depositional context and redistributed much deeper into the cave system. Filtration processes active in the Feeding Shaft have further influenced the resultant faunal and archaeological assemblage
profiles. The complex depositional processes influencing the movement of sediments from Member 5 into the Name Chamber are typical of cave sites and illustrate the value of detailed stratigraphic work in sourcing, tracking and understanding faunal and archaeological assemblages from these challenging contexts.