Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site information
This article is about the archaeological site. For the health resort, see Florisbad.
The Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site is a provincial heritage site in Brandfort in the Free State province of South Africa. The most notable find at this site is the Florisbad Skull, the partial skull of an early human species that was discovered in 1932.[1]
In 1997 it was described in the Government Gazette as:[citation needed]
The Florisbad fossil site consists of a sequence of Quaternary deposits associated with a thermal spring, situated 45 km NNW of Bloemfontein in central South Africa (28°46’S, 26°04’E). There are two kinds of fossil context at Florisbad: naturally accumulated vertebrate fossil material from spring sedimentary contexts, which includes the human skull fragment, and archaeological remains from old land surfaces. The material from spring contexts represents mainly the remains of ancient carnivore hunting and scavenging around palaeo-waterholes associated with the spring. Spring sediments intrude into the horizontal or sub-horizontal deposits, which, in some cases, represent stable land surfaces. These land surfaces are, to a greater or lesser degree, disturbed by post-depositional spring action and saturation during times of a higher water table...The Florisbad fossil locality is internationally known for producing a pre-modern human skull, Middle Pleistocene fossil vertebrates and Middle Stone Age artefacts...
The stratigraphic nature of the site is characterized by distinct sand and peat layers, with the latter allowing for increased preservation of organic materials. The artifact-rich mound contains deposits ranging from the late Middle Pleistocene through to the early Holocene.[2] Excavations at this site go back to the early twentieth century, and a variety of artifact assemblages have been recovered from the site, including faunal remains and lithics.
^Cite error: The named reference kuman1986 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Toffolo, Michael B.; Brink, James S.; van Huyssteen, Cornie; Berna, Francesco (July 2017). "A microstratigraphic reevaluation of the Florisbad spring site, Free State Province, South Africa: Formation processes and paleoenvironment: Toffolo et al". Geoarchaeology. 32 (4): 456–478. doi:10.1002/gea.21616.
and 13 Related for: Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site information
discovered in 1932 by T. F. Dreyer at the Florisbadsite, Free State Province, South Africa. The Florisbad Skull was classified as Homo (Africanthropus)...
after Floris Venter who opened up the mineral spring. Florisbadarchaeologicalandpaleontologicalsite is now a tourist attraction. Raper, Peter E. (1987)...
palaeontological site The Florisbadarchaeologicalandpaleontologicalsite lies about 46 km west of Brandfort and the site was declared a National Monument...
have similar features to the Florisbad Skull dating to 260,000 years ago found at the other end of the continent, in Florisbad, South Africa, which now has...
remains from Morocco (c. 315,000 years ago), the Florisbad Skull from South Africa (c. 259,000 years ago), and the Omo remains from Ethiopia (c. 233,000 years...
remains from Morocco (c. 315,000 years ago), the Florisbad Skull from South Africa (c. 259,000 years ago), and the Omo remains from Ethiopia (c. 233,000 years...
from Africa (such as at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco andFlorisbad, South Africa) dated to about the same period, and it is suggested that complex behaviors began...
timeline List of archaeologicalsites by continent and age List of first human settlements List of fossil primates List of fossil sites List of mummies...
Jinniushan, Narmada), rhodesiensis (Broken Hill, Irhoud, Florisbad, Eliye Springs, Ngaloba, Omo Kibish II), and steinheimensis (Steinheim, Petralona, Reilingen...
Plane Pycraft (1928). "African man", used by T.F. Dreyer (1935) for the Florisbad Skull he found in 1932 (also Homo florisbadensis or Homo helmei). Also...
Global Information