Reconstructing Middle-Late Stone Age fire, climate and vegetation dynamics through organic biomarkers in paleosols from Klipdrift Complex, South Africa.

Overview
This research project is developed in collaboration with the above participants. It is designed as part of the Center for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) at the University of Bergen and is part of Dr Samuel I. Pereira’s postdoctoral research. The project contributes towards understanding the paleoclimate and fire information of the archaeological sites at Klipdrift Complex, South Africa, and fits within SapienCE’s broader research on the paleoenvironment of the Klipdrift Cave (KDC)/Shelter (KDS) deposits.
Klipdrift Cave and Shelter archaeological sequences offer a window into the Middle to the Late Stone Age (MSA/LSA), which provides evidence of modern human behaviour, dating back 8,000 to 66,000 years ago (Henshilwood et al. 2014, Ryano et al. 2017). This sequence comprises soils derived from either the disintegration of bedrock, windblown material, guano or anthropogenic organic-rich layers. These organic-rich deposits offer a rare opportunity to help reconstruct the paleoenvironment of these early humans and to analyse site use and occupation patterns through advanced trace organic geochemistry analysis, specifically using biomarkers.
Organic biomarkers are molecular fossils preserved in sediments and can shed light on the landscape scale vegetation changes and fire histories. This project will focus on biomarkers such as n-alkanes (leaf waxes) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to understand paleoclimatic changes and ecological resource use. The findings will provide critical context for SapienCE researchers, offering insights into how the early human population at Klipdrift Complex responded to environmental shifts, climatic conditions, and fire use.