Sehonghong (OS)
Basic information
Sample name: Sehonghong (OS)
Reference: I. Plug and P. Mitchell. 2008. Sehonghong: hunter-gatherer utilization of animal resources in the highlands of Lesotho. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 45:31-53 [ER 3742]
Geography
Country: Lesotho
State: Thaba-Tseka
Coordinate: 29° 46' S, 28° 47' E
Coordinate basis: stated in text
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Section: 3742
Unit number: 9
Unit order: above to below
Ma: 0.0202
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: "Sehonghong is a large rock-shelter on the banks of the Sehonghong River, close to its confluence with the Senqu (Orange/Gariep) in the Thaba Tseka District of the highlands of Lesotho. The site lies at an elevation of 1800 m above sea level".
Layer OS dates to 20,200 ± 100 BP based on a single radiocarbon date.
Layer OS dates to 20,200 ± 100 BP based on a single radiocarbon date.
Environment
Lithology: sandstone
Taphonomic context: human accumulation,rock shelter
Archaeology: hearths,stone tools
Habitat comments: "Layer OS (Orange Sand) consists of a thin, largely sterile orange sand with a high number of small sandstone roof spalls whose lithic assemblage is assigned to the Middle to Later Stone Age transition. Hearths are present throughout all of the Pleistocene layers.
"While not all of the animal remains in the deposit would have been accumulated by people, the intense degree of fragmentation and burning that characterizes the Sehonghong assemblages strongly suggests that people were responsible for acquiring almost all of the faunal remains".
"While not all of the animal remains in the deposit would have been accumulated by people, the intense degree of fragmentation and burning that characterizes the Sehonghong assemblages strongly suggests that people were responsible for acquiring almost all of the faunal remains".
Methods
Life forms: rodents,ungulates,other large mammals,other small mammals,birds,lizards,frogs,fishes
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 80 specimens
Sampled by: P. Mitchell
Years: 1992
Sampling comments: "The primary excavation of the site was conducted by P. Mitchell in 1992. All sediment removed from the deposits was dry-sieved through a 1.5 mm mesh".
Metadata
Sample number: 3987
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-08-25 16:47:52
Modified: 2023-05-30 01:41:02
Abundance distribution
12 species
5 singletons
total count 80
geometric series index: 26.1
Fisher's α: 3.915
geometric series k: 0.7318
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.7519
Shannon's H: 1.7649
Good's u: 0.9378
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Soricidae indet. | 1 | |
| "Shrew" | ||
| Procavia capensis | 5 | 2.8 kg browser |
| Connochaetes gnou | 1 | grazer |
| also 1 Alcelaphinae indet. | ||
| Ourebia ourebi | 1 | 14 kg grazer-browser |
| Hippotragus equinus | 1 | 246 kg grazer |
| Taurotragus oryx | 2 | 393 kg browser-grazer |
| "Tragelaphus oryx"; also 29 Bovidae indet. | ||
| Otomys sp. | 8 | |
| also 55 Rodentia indet. | ||
| Aves indet. | 3 | |
| Pseudocordylus melanotus | 4 | |
| also 3 Lacertilia indet. | ||
| Anura indet. | 22 | |
| "Frog/toad" | ||
| Labeobarbus aeneus | 31 | |
| Labeo capensis | 1 | |
| also 44 Labeoninae indet. | ||