Dating S.A.N.D.S.

Description

The Survey and Archaeology of the Namib Desert Sands (S.A.N.D.S.) research team are investigating how, why and when hominins were moving into the northern Namib Sand Sea. Given present-day hyperaridity, it is logical to hypothesise that the timings coincide with the presence of green corridors along a former Tsondab River course and any minor tributaries. We are dating the sedimentary units found at pan sites, currently situated between large, complex and compound dune forms. We have been using post-IR IRSL225 signals, given previous research in this region showing quartz signals were saturating (2D0 ~150 Gy).

At one site, Narabeb, there is a rich Middle Stone Age lithic record and we provide a chronology for sediments at the edge of a lake system and one revised age from a thicker unit, where quartz ages were in saturation. The lowermost water-lain unit (earliest preserved lake phase) is constrained to <231 ± 20 and >223 ± 19 ka from aeolian sands above and below carbonate rich units (Stone et al., 2024). A second water-lain unit is less than 135 ± 11 ka (situated above that dated sand unit) and a third water-lain unit is <41.2 ± 3.1 ka (above that dated sand). #

A second site, Namib IV (south of the !Khuiseb River), contains a more complex meso-topography and eight test pits give us the basis for a landscape stratigraphy at the site, noting variable preservation of units laterally. Here there are both Acheulean large cutting tools and MSA, with an initial pattern that these are distributed different with respect to their location and current elevation in the pan (Leader et al., 2022). So far we have identified lake marls overlying (younger than) a range of sandy-sedimentary units that span a 50 to 34 ka age bracket at the south-east extent of the pan, with a preserved old dune remnant >430 ± 36 ka (exceeding 2D0 of ~1000 Gy for the post-IR IRSL225 signal).

There are half a dozen other Acheulean and MSA sites reported in the 1970s and 80s and during a field transect by S.A.N.D.S. team members have observed 10s of further sites. We will have a chance to investigate some of these during the forthcoming PANS (Palaeoenvironmental context of Palaeolithic Archaeology in the Namib Sand Sea) project, allowing us to address questions about larger landscape patterns and the relationship between ancient humans and sources of raw material and sources of water.

Period	13 Sept 2024
Event title	UK Luminescence and ESR meeting 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Oxford, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National