New Excavations at Border Cave: Preliminary Reflections on Stratigraphy and Site Formation Processes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Border Cave rock shelter, formed in Early Jurassic fragmental rocks of the Jozini Formation on the western scarp of the Lebombo Mountains, KwaZulu-Natal, has a long history of archaeological investigation starting with Raymond Dart in 1934. Phases of informal and formal excavations have yielded remarkable archaeological assemblages including five hominin specimens and spanning MIS 4, 5 and 6. BC1 and 2 have unsecure provenances. BC3 and BC4 are claimed to have been excavated from burial contexts, while BC5 was excavated from strata 3WA during Peter Beaumont’s extensive excavation of the site in the 1970’s. The ages and stratigraphic associations of these specimens have been debated. Beaumont’s excavations revealed a long lithostratigraphic sequence documenting perhaps 200,000 years of sedimentation and anthropogenic occupation until the Iron Age. Remarkable preservation of organic matter has provided a wealth of data on the anthropogenic activities and environmental context through the Border Cave sequence, which is divided into BS (Brown Sand) and WA (White Ash) Members. New investigations, started in 2015, aim to develop greater contextual and chronological resolution to this sequence and its rich archaeological record. Here, we present some preliminary geoarchaeological observations of the Border Cave stratigraphy made during these new excavations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26210