Boomplaas Cave (Member OCH)
Basic information
Sample name: Boomplaas Cave (Member OCH)
Reference: J. T. Faith. 2013. Taphonomic and paleoecological change in the large mammal sequence from Boomplaas Cave, western Cape, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 65(6):715-730 [ER 3779]
Geography
Country: South Africa
State: Western Cape
Coordinate: 33° 22' 14" S, 22° 9' 31" E
Coordinate basis: stated in text
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Section: 3779
Unit number: 12
Unit order: above to below
Max Ma: 0.066
Min Ma: 0.059
Age basis: U/Th
Geography comments: "Boomplaas Cave is located in the Cango Valley in the foothills of the Swartberg mountain range, north of Oudtshoorn, Eden District Municipality in the Western Cape Province, South Africa".
The OCH member of the deposit has been U-series dated to between 66,000 ± 7000 BP and 59,000 ± 2000 BP.
The OCH member of the deposit has been U-series dated to between 66,000 ± 7000 BP and 59,000 ± 2000 BP.
Environment
Lithology: not described
Taphonomic context: bird accumulation,carnivore accumulation,cave
Archaeology: stone tools
Habitat comments: "Boomplaas Cave contains a stratified sequence of Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Late Stone Age (LSA) deposits spanning the last 65,000 years. People were the primary accumulators of the faunal remains in the LSA assemblages younger than ∼18,000 years ago (CL to BLD). In the LSA and MSA deposits dating from 18,000 to 50,000 years ago (BOL to GWA), a combination of humans, carnivores, and raptors accumulated the faunal remains, while the lowermost units were accumulated by carnivores and raptors. The Howieson's Poort lithic industry occurs in member OCH".
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,primates,rodents,ungulates,other large mammals,other small mammals
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 498 specimens
Sampled by: H. J. Deacon
Years: 1974 - 1979
Sampling comments: "Excavations were conducted by H.J. Deacon from 1974 to 1979. In 2009 and 2010, taphonomic and taxonomic data were collected on thousands of previously unsorted specimens, in addition to those previously examined. All MSA and LSA units were examined with the exception of the uppermost pastoralist levels (member DGL)".
Metadata
Sample number: 4093
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2023-02-23 13:46:43
Modified: 2023-05-30 04:56:40
Abundance distribution
20 species
4 singletons
total count 498
geometric series index: 30.7
Fisher's α: 4.176
geometric series k: 0.7593
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.7822
Shannon's H: 1.9336
Good's u: 0.9920
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Lepus capensis | 4 | |
| Bunolagus monticularis | 11 | |
| also 2 Leporidae indet. | ||
| Papio ursinus | 101 | 20 kg |
| Lycaon pictus | 4 | 26 kg carnivore |
| Genetta sp. | 1 | |
| Caracal caracal | 1 | 12 kg carnivore |
| "Felis cf caracal" | ||
| Panthera pardus | 14 | 33 kg carnivore |
| Procavia capensis | 187 | 2.8 kg browser |
| Equus sp. | 3 | |
| zebra/quagga | ||
| Taurotragus oryx | 7 | 393 kg browser-grazer |
| also 1 Tragelaphini indet. | ||
| Hippotragus leucophaeus | 2 | |
| also 1 Hippotragus sp. | ||
| Redunca fulvorufula | 27 | 29 kg |
| Redunca arundinum | 2 | grazer |
| also 28 Redunca sp. | ||
| Damaliscus pygargus | 8 | 83 kg grazer-browser |
| "Damaliscus dorcas", also 1 Alcelaphinae indet. | ||
| Caprinae indet. | 1 | |
| an unknown extinct species | ||
| Pelea capreolus | 80 | 16 kg grazer |
| Antidorcas cf. marsupialis | 10 | 40 kg browser-grazer |
| Oreotragus oreotragus | 32 | browser-grazer |
| Raphicerus melanotis | 1 | 9.1 kg |
| also 49 Raphicerus sp. and 19 Neotragini indet. | ||
| Syncerus caffer | 2 | 548 kg grazer-browser |