The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review
South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site has remained the single richest source of hominin fossils for over ninety years. While its hominin specimens have been the subject of extensive research, the same is not true for its abundant faunal assemblages, despite their value in Pli...
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PeerJ Inc.
2025-02-01
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| author | Megan Malherbe Robyn Pickering Deano Stynder Martin Haeusler |
| author_facet | Megan Malherbe Robyn Pickering Deano Stynder Martin Haeusler |
| author_sort | Megan Malherbe |
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| description | South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site has remained the single richest source of hominin fossils for over ninety years. While its hominin specimens have been the subject of extensive research, the same is not true for its abundant faunal assemblages, despite their value in Plio-Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Moreover, precise ages and depositional histories have been historically difficult to assess, though advancements in both relative and absolute dating techniques are changing this. This review explores the history of non-hominin large mammal faunal reporting, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on these fauna, and dating histories (with a focus on biochronology) at the following eight fossil-bearing sites of the Cradle that have been radiometrically dated with uranium-lead: Bolt’s Farm, Cooper’s Cave, Drimolen, Haasgat, Hoogland, Malapa, Sterkfontein and Swartkrans. Continued efforts to provide more precise and direct ages for sites using a variety of methods indicate that the bulk of Cradle deposits date to between 3 and 1.4 Ma. We find that, across almost all eight sites, there is little discussion or debate surrounding faunal reports, with some sites described by a single publication. Many of the reports are decades old with little review or reanalysis in the years following, emphasising the need for reviews such as this one. Our analysis of the data indicates that faunal-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions across sites commonly show a trend of wooded landscapes giving way to grasslands. We find that these reconstructions are primarily based on faunal abundance data, despite the availability of many other informative analytical techniques. The findings of this review highlight a need for more extensive and robust faunal reporting, as this will aid in understanding the context of these Cradle sites. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-adea020f28d54d9ab11eb0f93f4f9b51 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-adea020f28d54d9ab11eb0f93f4f9b512025-08-20T02:01:08ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592025-02-0113e1894610.7717/peerj.18946The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a reviewMegan Malherbe0Robyn Pickering1Deano Stynder2Martin Haeusler3Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandHuman Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaInstitute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandSouth Africa’s Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site has remained the single richest source of hominin fossils for over ninety years. While its hominin specimens have been the subject of extensive research, the same is not true for its abundant faunal assemblages, despite their value in Plio-Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Moreover, precise ages and depositional histories have been historically difficult to assess, though advancements in both relative and absolute dating techniques are changing this. This review explores the history of non-hominin large mammal faunal reporting, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on these fauna, and dating histories (with a focus on biochronology) at the following eight fossil-bearing sites of the Cradle that have been radiometrically dated with uranium-lead: Bolt’s Farm, Cooper’s Cave, Drimolen, Haasgat, Hoogland, Malapa, Sterkfontein and Swartkrans. Continued efforts to provide more precise and direct ages for sites using a variety of methods indicate that the bulk of Cradle deposits date to between 3 and 1.4 Ma. We find that, across almost all eight sites, there is little discussion or debate surrounding faunal reports, with some sites described by a single publication. Many of the reports are decades old with little review or reanalysis in the years following, emphasising the need for reviews such as this one. Our analysis of the data indicates that faunal-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions across sites commonly show a trend of wooded landscapes giving way to grasslands. We find that these reconstructions are primarily based on faunal abundance data, despite the availability of many other informative analytical techniques. The findings of this review highlight a need for more extensive and robust faunal reporting, as this will aid in understanding the context of these Cradle sites.https://peerj.com/articles/18946.pdfPlio-Pleistocene transitionBiochronologyBovidsPalaeoenvironmentsGeochronologyCradle of Humankind |
| spellingShingle | Megan Malherbe Robyn Pickering Deano Stynder Martin Haeusler The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review PeerJ Plio-Pleistocene transition Biochronology Bovids Palaeoenvironments Geochronology Cradle of Humankind |
| title | The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review |
| title_full | The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review |
| title_fullStr | The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review |
| title_full_unstemmed | The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review |
| title_short | The large mammal fossil fauna of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: a review |
| title_sort | large mammal fossil fauna of the cradle of humankind south africa a review |
| topic | Plio-Pleistocene transition Biochronology Bovids Palaeoenvironments Geochronology Cradle of Humankind |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/18946.pdf |
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