Export Permit Application for Destructive Sampling and Analysis of a New Stratigraphic Unit at Swartkrans Cave, South Africa

We proposed to use previously collected samples (permit# 2598) of natural chert clasts (non-artefactual) to date the newly identified ‘pre-Member 1’ stratigraphic unit, which sits underneath the Member 1 Lower Bank infill at Swartkrans. These samples were collected in 2017 and 2018 during ongoing excavations at the site and we plan to use them for cosmogenic nuclide isochron dating. This ‘pre-Member 1’ stratigraphic unit is potentially the oldest sedimentary infill at Swartkrans and could predate the ~2.2 Ma age of the Member 1 Lower Bank.