Preliminary Programme

  7 July 2014
16:00 Registration opens
18:00 Keynote address, Prof. JF Thackeray: Exploratory multivariate studies to quantify changes in Quaternary climate, using pollen, small mammals and foraminifera, in the context of human evolution
19:00 Evening meet and greet function
  8 July 2014
08:30 Welcome and opening
Session 1: Palynology (Chair: L Rossouw)
08:50 Plenary, Dr. B Chase: Rock hyrax middens: Louis Scott’s palaeoenvironmental revolution
09:30 F Neumann, E Norstrom, G Botha, L Scott, M Bamford, M Humphries, R Smittenberg: Vegetation and climate fluctuations in the eastern Drakensberg region since the Late Pleistocene
09:50 C Cordova, L Scott: Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation change around Lake Ngami, Botswana: a preliminary assessment of pollen, phytoliths and other plant microfossils
10:10 M Chevalier, B Chase: A new method for a quantitative reconstruction of past climate change
10:30 TEA
Session 2: Archaeology (Chair: D Stynder)
11:00 L Jacobson: Temporal patterns of Holocene human settlement in the Namib, Namibia
11:20 M Cameron: A prospective study on postcranial variation among herder-foragers from semi-arid southern Africa
11:40 M Weinstein-Evron, Y Zaidner, I Hershkovitz: The Early Middle Paleolithic of Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel
12:00 P Makarius Itambu: The rock art of Iringa region: another avenue for rock art studies in southern Highlands of Tanzania
12:20 D Morris: The parietal art of Wonderwerk Cave
12:40 A Nhundu: The effects of global warming on the rock art in the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park, World Heritage Site, South Africa
13:00 LUNCH
Session 3: Faunal Analysis (Chair: L Jacobson)
14:00 J Sealy, JA Lee-Thorp, E Loftus, C Marean: Late Pleistocene environmental change in the southern Cape, South Africa from stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in faunal tooth enamel from Boomplaas Cave
14:20 M Ecker, J Botha-Brink, JA Lee-Thorp, L Horwitz: Ostrich eggshell as a source of palaeoenvironmental information for the arid interior of South Africa
14:40 J Luyt, J Sealy: Understanding stable isotopes in fauna as environmental tracers in the southern African winter and year-round rainfall zone
15:00 S Brunton, J Sealy, D Stynder: Exploring environmental variability during the MSA at Klasies River using a multi-proxy approach
15:20 TEA
Session 4: Palaeoenvironments (Chair: FH Neumann)
15:50 B Bousman, J Brink, H Meier, D Codron, L Rossouw, M Bateman: A new palaeoenvironmental sequence from the western Free State
16:10 S Burrough, D Thomas, K Willis: Holocene landscape dynamics and ecosystem stability in the Upper Zambezi Valley
16:30 M Bamford: Pre-Holocene charcoals from Stratum Five of Wonderwek Cave, Northern Cape
16:50 M Thibodeau, F Berna, M Chazan: Fire in the sedimentary column: identifying wood ash using Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa
17:10 E Marais, G Brook: Ambiguity of isotopes as precipitation indices in hyrax deposits
18:00 Conference dinner
  9 July 2014
Session 5: Palaeodiet and Palaeoenvironments (Chair: M Weinstein-Evron)
08:30 Plenary, Prof. JA Lee-Thorp: Contribution of stable light isotopes to understanding the palaeoenvironmental context of human evolution in Africa
09:10 D Stynder, L Bishop, T van Zyl: Combining data on fossil bovid diets and functional morphology to clarify palaeoenvironmental conditions at Langebaanweg "E" Quarry
09:30 A Souron, G Merceron, C Blondel, J-R Boisserie: 3D Dental texture microwear analysis and diet in extant Suidae
09:50 Graham Avery: Black-backed Jackals (Canis mesomelas) as taphonomic agents: bone accumulations from the Namibian coast
10:10 B Cohen, D Stynder: The development of the arid Cape West Coast over the last 5 million years, a faunal perspective from Langebaanweg
10:30 TEA
Session 6: Contemporary Ecosystems (Chair: M Bamford)
11:00 MT Hoffman, R Rohde, L Gillson: 20th century vegetation change in the major biomes of South Africa
11:20 J du Toit, TG O'Connor: Grass encroachment in the eastern Karoo - influences of rainfall and grazing on composition and diversity over 78 years
11:40 R Duker, AJ Potts, RM Cowling, DR du Preez: The effects of frost on Albany Subtropical Thicket and Nama Karoo: biome boundaries explored
12:00 CAMS Djagoun, D Codron, J Sealy, GA Mensah, B Sinsin: Stable carbon isotope analysis of the diets of West African bovids in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (Northern Benin)
12:20 L la Grange, J Sealy, D Stynder: Hyraxes and their environments: investigating the utility of rock hyrax bone chemistry as a palaeoenvironmental proxy
12:40 E Sachikumba: Women accessibility to water in historically low income areas
13:00 LUNCH
Session 7: Geology and Geography (Chair: J Runge)
14:00 P Holmes: Free State geomorphology and Quaternary environmental change; key or door stop?
14:20 M Toffolo, F Berna, JS Brink: Site-formation and post-depositional processes of a spring deposit: preliminary results from the Middle Stone Age sequence at Florisbad, Free State
14:40 KW Butzer, D Helgren, J Oswald (presented by C Cordova): Dry lakes or pans of the western Free State, South Africa: micro-stratigraphy, sedimentology and soil criteria critical to unravel Deelpan
15:00 H O'Regan, P Aplin: Spatial analysis of landscape change: palaeoecology meets remote sensing
15:20 TEA
Session 8: Ecosystem and Climate Change (Chair: JC Sealy)
15:50 S Woodborne: Applications of AMS dating in South Africa
16:10 SM Rucina, D Verschuren, V Gelorini, A Hemp, H Hooghiemstra, R Marchant: High-resolution Late-Holocene lowland savanna dynamics from Kenya, East Africa
16:30 WT Hailesilassie: Climate change adaptation and mitigation through Agro forestry systems: case study Wolayta Zone of southern Ethiopia
16:50 F Kruger: Reflections on the work of Louis Scott, on historical science, and on the environmental biology of savanna trees
17:10 Closing announcements
18:00 Evening reception
  Posters
JS Brink: Faunal evidence for the appearance of open, Highveld grasslands and wetlands on a sub-regional scale in southern Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene
M Chazan, F Berna, L Kolska Horwitz: Renewed Excavations at Wonderwerk Cave: Goals and Preliminary Observations
J Codron, J Botha-Brink, D Codron: Predator-prey size relationships in terrestrial vertebrate Permo-Triassic communities of the Karoo Basin, South Africa
V Lukich, M Chazan, S Cowling: Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Kathu Region in the Northern Cape, South Africa: First Steps
M Mashimbye: Investigating herding strategies at Mapungubwe through spherulite evidence
IO Onjala: Cognition and stone tool working dynamics: an examination of Late Pleistocene MSA assemblages from Eastern and Southern African sites
DL Roberts, MD Bateman: A Pan –African dryland during glacials?
L Rossouw, JS Brink, D Codron, L Scott: C4 grass phytoliths from the ~1 my old bone bed at Cornelia-Uitzoek, Free State Province, South Africa
L Rossouw, L Scott: Measuring multiplicity and redundancy in grass silica short cell production
H Rüther, S Wessels. R Bhurtha, R Schroeder: 3D Laser scanning for research and conservation of african cultural heritage sites
G Sampson, V Moore, B Stafford, A Giordano, M Willis, T Dalbey, B Bousman: A GIS analyses of the Zeekoe Valley archaeological project hunter-gatherer archaeological record
P Smith, JS Brink, JW Hoffman, LC Bam, R Nshimirimana, FC de Beer: Micro-CT analysis of the Florisbad upper third molar
MK Sobol: Preliminary charcoal analysis from Spitzkloof Rockshelter B Richtersveld South Africa
AC van Aardt, L Scott, CB Bousman, JS Brink, Z Jacobs, PJ du Preez: Palynological analysis of the spring mound Baden-Baden in the western Free State, South Africa
P Zizadza-Gandiwa: A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental exploration of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, Limpopo Province, South Africa
R Zengeni: Land-use and cover change assessment in an Albany thicket region in Eastern Cape, South Africa
  Exhibit
J Loock: The Orange River prior to 1920: A visual representation
  10 & 11 July 2014
  Post-conference excursion
  10 July 2014
08:00 Departure
  11 July 2014
18:00 Return to Bloemfontein

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