Gondolin Cave

Last updated
Gondolin Cave
Composite view GD 2 fossil site.jpg
Composite view
South Africa relief location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
location in South Africa
Location Northwest Province
Region South Africa
Coordinates 25°49′37″S27°50′49″E / 25.82694°S 27.84694°E / -25.82694; 27.84694 Coordinates: 25°49′37″S27°50′49″E / 25.82694°S 27.84694°E / -25.82694; 27.84694
GD 1 deposit region excavated in 2003/2004 View of the GD 1 Excavations In Progress.jpg
GD 1 deposit region excavated in 2003/2004

Gondolin Cave is a fossiliferous dolomitic paleocave system in the Northwest Province, South Africa. The paleocave formed in the Eccles Formation dolomites (Malmani Subgroup, Chuniespoort Group carbonate-banded iron formation marine platform). Gondolin is currently the only described hominin-bearing fossil site in the Northwest Province-portion of the designated Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cave is located on privately owned land and is not accessible to the public. As is the case with other South African Paleo-cave systems with Pliocene and/or Pleistocene fossil deposits, the system was mined for lime during the early 20th century. As a result, the system has been heavily disturbed and consists of only a small active cave, a series of in situ remnant cave deposits, and extensive dumpsites of ex situ calcified sediments produced during mining activities. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Site history and excavations

No records of the date of lime mining activities at Gondolin, maps or photographs of the cave prior to mining are known to exist. Long-term residents near Gondolin report that the system was mined prior to the 1950s. The cave was named after J.R.R. Tolkien's Gondolin by the early 1970s. [5] [lower-alpha 1] Exposed fossils in the cave system were noted at least as early as the 1970s [6] and brought to the attention of Elisabeth Vrba and David Panagos at the (then) Transvaal Museum (now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History), who initiated excavations in early 1979. [1] [7] [3] The first phase of excavation addressed the extremely fossiliferous in situ remnant deposits adhering to the northern wall of the cave system (the GD 2 deposits sensu [2] [8] [3] ). The three-week 1979 excavation removed approximately 2 m3 (71 cu ft) of calcified sediments from the northern cave wall. While two distinct sediment phases were recognized during the original excavation, [7] later work with the fossil fauna and geology of the GD 2 deposits did not find any basis for multiple depositional phases within the sampled sequence. [4] [3] The removed sediment blocks were organised into 43 blocks/trays and processed using acetic acid at the Transvaal Museum. A significant gap in research at Gondolin occurred in the 1980s, during which time all of the excavated blocks were processed (but no further in situ or ex situ sampling is known to have occurred). The first description of the result fossil assemblage in 1993 only partially described 4,344 individual specimens that could be assigned to a specific taxonomic levels (out of the 90,663 total specimens recovered from acetic acid processing of the 43 trays/blocks). [9]

In 1997 a survey of the sediments at Gondolin included the first sampling of the extensive ex situ dumpsite deposits at the locality via a test trench (Trench A). [2] Materials removed from Trench A included fossiliferous breccia blocks from most, if not all, of the stratigraphic units present at the site (as well as loose fossil specimens sifted from decalcified sediments). [4] [2] [3] [10] From this sampled material (the GD A faunal assemblage), two isolated hominin teeth (representing two different individuals) were recovered. The first, GA 1, is a worn and fractured left molar that has not been confidently attributed to either genus or species (but resembles Homo in some features. [2] In contrast, GA 2 is a complete left m2[ clarification needed ] that has been recently analysed and attributed to Paranthropus robustus (if from a large individual). [2] [11] [12] [lower-alpha 2]

The most recent excavations at Gondolin were undertaken in 2003 and 2004 to explore the largely decalcified GD 1 deposits along the northwestern rim of the Gondolin locality. [3] [10] A four-week excavation season produced a sample of 4,863 fossil specimens from approximately 50 m3 (1,800 cu ft) of soil overburden and naturally decalcified sediments that were screened with 1mm mesh. Critically, integration of taphonomic and geologic data from the GD 1 excavations indicated that fundamentally different processes of fossil record formation were occurring at Gondolin during the formation of the GD 1 and GD 2 fossil assemblages. This result highlighted the complex, heterogenous geologic processes that can influence fossil deposition and assemblage composition in South African cave systems during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. [4] [3] [10] [9]

A 180 degree panorama of the Gondolin cave system taken in 2004.jpg
A 180 degree panorama of the Gondolin Cave system

Fossil fauna

The original description of fossil specimens from the GD 2 deposits only addressed a small portion of the assemblage. [1] A single hominin tooth that was originally thought to have been derived from the GD 2 sampling was later determined to be an intrusive modern Homo tooth. [1] A comprehensive reanalysis of the Gondolin GD 2 assemblage undertaken from 2002 to 2004 led to the identification of 95,549 total individual specimens (in contrast to the 90,663 specimens originally noted in 1993), of which 16,477 are identifiable craniodental (3,484) or postcranial (12,993) specimens; with the remaining 79,076 specimens being unidentifiable (primarily long bone diaphysis) fragments. [8] [9] [3]

The assemblage composition described from this reanalysis differs in key respects from that of the initial 1993 description, including significant shifts in the specimen counts attributed to individual taxonomic categories (both numbers of individual specimens and minimum numbers of individuals) and the removal of several species (Hippopotamus sp., Antidorcas australis/marsupialis, Procavia transvaalensis). The revised description of the GD 2 assemblage also reinforced several unique features of the collection compared to other South African late Pliocene and Pleistocene:

Age of the deposits

The Gondolin Palaeo-cave deposits have been dated using a combination of biostratigraphy and palaeomagnetism which indicate an age of around 1.8 million years. [4] [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Paranthropus</i> Contested extinct genus of hominins

Paranthropus is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: P. robustus and P. boisei. However, the validity of Paranthropus is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Australopithecus. They are also referred to as the robust australopithecines. They lived between approximately 2.9 and 1.2 million years ago (mya) from the end of the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cradle of Humankind</span> Paleoanthropological site near Johannesburg, South Africa

The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site and is located about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world. The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (180 sq mi) and contains a complex system of limestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterkfontein</span> Archaeological site in South Africa

Sterkfontein is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of Krugersdorp. The archaeological sites of Swartkrans and Kromdraai are in the same area. Sterkfontein is a South African National Heritage Site and was also declared a World Heritage Site in 2000. The area in which it is situated is known as the Cradle of Humankind. The Sterkfontein Caves are also home to numerous wild African species including Belonogaster petiolata, a wasp species of which there is a large nesting presence.

<i>Australopithecus africanus</i> Extinct hominid from South Africa

Australopithecus africanus is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. The first specimen, the Taung child, was described by anatomist Raymond Dart in 1924, and was the first early hominin found. However, its closer relations to humans than to other apes would not become widely accepted until the middle of the century because most had believed humans evolved outside of Africa. It is unclear how A. africanus relates to other hominins, being variously placed as ancestral to Homo and Paranthropus, to just Paranthropus, or to just P. robustus. The specimen "Little Foot" is the most completely preserved early hominin, with 90% of the skeleton intact, and the oldest South African australopith. However, it is controversially suggested that it and similar specimens be split off into "A. prometheus".

<i>Paranthropus aethiopicus</i> Extinct species of hominin of East Africa

Paranthropus aethiopicus is an extinct species of robust australopithecine from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.7–2.3 million years ago. However, it is much debated whether or not Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and is synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus aethiopicus. Whatever the case, it is considered to have been the ancestor of the much more robust P. boisei. It is debated if P. aethiopicus should be subsumed under P. boisei, and the terms P. boisei sensu lato and P. boisei sensu stricto can be used to respectively include and exclude P. aethiopicus from P. boisei.

<i>Paranthropus robustus</i> Extinct species of hominin of South Africa

Paranthropus robustus is a species of robust australopithecine from the Early and possibly Middle Pleistocene of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, about 2.27 to 0.87 million years ago. It has been identified in Kromdraai, Swartkrans, Sterkfontein, Gondolin, Cooper's, and Drimolen Caves. Discovered in 1938, it was among the first early hominins described, and became the type species for the genus Paranthropus. However, it has been argued by some that Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus robustus.

<i>Paranthropus boisei</i> Extinct species of hominin of East Africa

Paranthropus boisei is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959, and described by her husband Louis a month later. It was originally placed into its own genus as "Zinjanthropus boisei", but is now relegated to Paranthropus along with other robust australopithecines. However, it is also argued that Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus boisei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swartkrans</span> Fossil-bearing cave in South Africa

Swartkrans is a fossil-bearing cave designated as a South African National Heritage Site, located about 32 km (20 mi) from Johannesburg. It is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominin remains. Fossils discovered in the limestone of Swartkrans include Homo ergaster, Paranthropus and Homo habilis. The oldest deposits present at the site are believed to be between 1.9 and 2.1 million years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omo Kibish Formation</span> Geological formation in the Low Omo Valley of southwestern Ethiopia

The Omo Kibish Formation or simply Kibish Formation is a geological formation in the Lower Omo Valley of southwestern Ethiopia. It is named after the nearby Omo River and is subdivided into four members known as Members I-IV. The members are numbered in the order in which they were deposited and date between 196 ka ~ 13-4 ka. Omo Kibish and the neighboring formations have produced a rich paleoanthropological record with many hominin and stone tool finds. The Kibish formation, in particular, is most notable for Richard Leakey's work there in 1967 during which he and his team found one of the oldest remains of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Known as Omo Kibish 1, the fossil was dated to 196 ± 5 ka old and is among two other Omo remains that were found in Member I. The Omo fossils were more recently re-dated to approximately 233 ± 22 ka old. In the early 2000s a research boom enriched the knowledge base about the Kibish Formation. Study of the faunal remains and stone tools provided insight into the archeological associations of Homo sapiens and thereby their behaviors and the complex environmental contexts in which they lived and evolved.

The Klasies River Caves are a series of caves located to the east of the Klasies River mouth on the Tsitsikamma coast in the Humansdorp district of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The three main caves and two shelters at the base of a high cliff have revealed evidence of middle stone age-associated human habitation from approximately 125,000 years ago. The 20 metres (66 ft) thick deposits were accumulated from 125,000 years ago. Around 75,000 years ago, during cave remodelling, the stratigraphic sediments were moved out into external middens.

Kromdraai is a fossil-bearing breccia-filled cave located about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the well-known South African hominid-bearing site of Sterkfontein and about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is situated within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is itself a South African National Heritage Site.

Makapansgat is an archaeological location within the Makapansgat and Zwartkrans Valleys, northeast of Mokopane in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is an important palaeontological site, with the local limeworks containing Australopithecus-bearing deposits dating to between 3.0 and 2.6 million years BP. The whole Makapan Valley has been declared a South African Heritage Site. Makapansgat belongs to the Cradle of Humankind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bouri Formation</span>

The Bouri Formation is a sequence of sedimentary deposits that is the source of australopithecine and Homo fossils, artifacts, and bones of large mammals with cut marks from butchery with tools by early hominins. It is located in the Middle Awash Valley, in Ethiopia, East Africa, and is a part of the Afar Depression that has provided rich human fossil sites such as Gona and Hadar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drimolen</span>

The Drimolen Palaeocave System consists of a series of terminal Pliocene to early Pleistocene hominin-bearing palaeocave fills located around 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Johannesburg, South Africa, and about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of Sterkfontein in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cradle of Humankind.

Haasgat is a fossiliferous South African paleocave located in the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Area, approx. 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the hominin-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and approx. 60 kilometres (37 mi) north-northwest of the City of Johannesburg. It is located on private land and is not accessible by the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Deer Cave people</span> Prehistoric humans from 12,500 BCE in southwest China

The Red Deer Cave people were a prehistoric population of humans known from bones dated to between about 17,830 to c. 11,500 years ago, found in Red Deer Cave and Longlin Cave, Yunnan Province, in Southwest China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kay Behrensmeyer</span> American taphonomist and paleoecologist

Anna Katherine "Kay" Behrensmeyer is an American taphonomist and paleoecologist. She is a pioneer in the study of the fossil records of terrestrial ecosystems and engages in geological and paleontological field research into the ecological context of human evolution in East Africa. She is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). At the museum, she is co-director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program and an associate of the Human Origins Program.

The Rising Star cave system is located in the Malmani dolomites, in Bloubank River valley, about 800 meters southwest of Swartkrans, part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. Recreational caving has occurred there since the 1960s. Fossils found in the cave were, in 2015, proposed to represent a previously unknown extinct species of hominin named Homo naledi.

<i>Homo naledi</i> Small-brained South African archaic human

Homo naledi is an extinct species of archaic human discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa dating to the Middle Pleistocene 335,000–236,000 years ago. The initial discovery comprises 1,550 specimens, representing 737 different elements, and at least 15 different individuals. Despite this exceptionally high number of specimens, their classification with other Homo remains unclear.

Bolt's Farm is a palaeontological site in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, Gauteng province, South Africa. With more than 30 fossil deposits dating back 4.5 Ma, it is one of the oldest sites currently discovered in the Cradle of Humankind. It consists of multiple cavities, pits, and quarries, where caves have eroded away, exposing their fossiliferous interiors. Although this site has not yet yielded the hominid fossils for which the Cradle of Humankind is known, Bolt's Farm is still an important source of fossils from various species of Early Pliocene and Plio-Pleistocene fauna, including primates and big cats.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The story of the Fall of Gondolin was published only in 1977, in The Silmarillion , but the name Gondolin had been published already in The Lord of the Rings as part of Song of Durin's Awakening in The Fellowship of the Ring in the context of the underground city of Moria.
  2. ↑ Although Menter et al. 1999 and Grine et al. 2012 describe the two hominin teeth as 'GDA-1' and 'GDA-2', neither specimen (or any of the other Trench A fossils) were formally numbered or accessioned prior to cataloging by Adams 2006. Following museum guidelines, the Trench A fossils were given the prefix 'GA' and not 'GDA-'; hence the specimens are more accurately referred to as 'GA 1' and 'GA 2'.

Citations

Sources

  • Adams, J.W.; Conroy, G.C. (2005). "Plio-Pleistocene faunal remains from the Gondolin GD 2 in situ assemblage, North West Province, South Africa". In Lieberman, D.; Smith, R.J.; Kelley, J. (eds.). Interpreting the Past: Essays on Human, Primate and Mammal Evolution in Honor of David Pilbeam. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 243–261.
  • Adams, J.W. (2006). Taphonomy and paleoecology of the Gondolin PlioPleistocene cave site, South Africa (PhD thesis). Washington University in St. Louis..
  • Adams, J.W.; Herries, A.I.R.; Conroy, G.C.; Kuykendall, K.L. (2007). "Taphonomy of a South African cave: geological and hydrological influences on the GD 1 fossil assemblage at Gondolin, a Plio-Pleistocene paleocave system in the Northwest Province, South Africa". Quaternary Science Reviews. 26 (19–21): 2526–2543. Bibcode:2007QSRv...26.2526A. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.05.006.
  • Adams, Justin W. (2010). "Taphonomy of the Gondolin GD 2 in situ Deposits and its Bearing on Interpretations of South African Plio-Pleistocene Karstic Fossil Assemblages". Journal of Taphonomy. 8 (2–3): 79–114. ISSN   1696-0815.
  • Adams, Justin W. (2012). "Craniodental and postcranial remains of the extinct porcupine Hystrix makapanensis Greenwood, 1958 (Rodentia: Hystricidae) from Gondolin, South Africa". Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History. 2 (1): 7–17. hdl:10520/EJC83717.
  • Grine, Frederick E.; Jacobs, Rachel L.; Reed, Kaye E.; Plavcan, J. Michael (2012). "The enigmatic molar from Gondolin, South Africa: Implications for Paranthropus paleobiology". Journal of Human Evolution. 63 (4): 597–609. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.06.005. ISSN   0047-2484. PMID   22901553.
  • Herries, A.I.R.; Adams, J.W.; Kuykendall, K.L.; Shaw, J. (2006). "Speleology and magnetobiostratigraphic chronology of the GD 2 locality of the Gondolin hominin-bearing paleocave deposits, North West Province, South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 51 (6): 617–631. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.07.007. PMID   16949648.
  • Herries, A.I.R.; Hopley, P.J.; Adams, J.W.; Curnoe, D.; Maslin, M.A. (December 2010). "Letter to the editor: Geochronology and palaeoenvironments of Southern African hominin-bearing localities—A reply to Wrangham et al., 2009. "Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins"". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 143 (4): 640–646. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21389. PMID   20872806.
  • Herries, Andy I.R.; Adams, Justin W. (2013). "Clarifying the context, dating and age range of the Gondolin hominins and Paranthropus in South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 65 (5): 676–681. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.06.007. ISSN   0047-2484. PMID   23911292.
  • MacKenzie, K (1994). "History of events leading to palaeontological excavations of Gondolin, Alias "Mackenzie Cave"". Pal News.
  • Menter, C.G.; Kuykendall, K. L.; Keyser, A. W.; Conroy, G. C. (1999). "First record of hominid teeth from the Plio-Pleistocene site of Gondolin, South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 37 (2): 299–307. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0329. PMID   10444355.
  • Watson, V (1993). "Glimpses from Gondolin: a faunal analysis of a fossil site near Broederstroom, Transvaal, South Africa". Palaeontologia Africana. Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, Wits University. 30. hdl:10539/16248.
  • Vrba, E.S. (1982), National Monuments Council report, Cape Town: National Monuments Council
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.