Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-hxdxx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-13T11:35:33.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The diets of ungulates from the hominid fossil-bearing site of Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Deano D. Stynder
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The dietary regimes of 15 ungulate species from the middle Pleistocene levels of the hominid-bearing locality of Elandsfontein, South Africa, are investigated using the mesowear technique. Previous studies, using taxonomic analogy, classified twelve of the studied species as grazers (Redunca arundinum, Hippotragus gigas, Hippotragus leucophaeus, Antidorcas recki, Homoiceras antiquus, Damaliscus aff. lunatus, Connochaetes gnou laticornutus, Rabaticerus arambourgi, Damaliscus niro, Damaliscus sp. nov., an unnamed “spiral horn” antelope and Equus capensis), one as a mixed feeder (Taurotragus oryx) and two as browsers (Tragelaphus strepsiceros and Raphicerus melanotis). Although results from mesowear analysis sustain previous dietary classifications in the majority of cases, five species were reclassified. Three species previously classified as grazers, were reclassified as mixed feeders (H. gigas, D. aff. lunatus and R. arambourgi), one previously classified as a grazer, was reclassified as a browser (the “spiral horn” antelope), and one previously classified as a mixed feeder, was reclassified as a browser (T. oryx). While current results broadly support previous reconstructions of the Elandsfontein middle Pleistocene environment as one which included a substantial C3 grassy component, the reclassifications suggest that trees, broad-leaved bush and fynbos were probably more prominent than what was previously thought.

Keywords

Elandsfonteinmid-PleistoceneUngulatesMesowearPalaeoenvironment
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 62 - 70
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Churcher, C.S. The extinct Cape Zebra. Sagittarius I, (1986). 4–5.Google Scholar
Campbell, B.M. A classification of the mountain vegetation of the Fynbos Biome. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 50, (1985). 1–121.Google Scholar
Coetzee, J.A., and Rogers, R. Palynological and lithological evidence for the Miocene palaeoenvironment in the Saldanha region (South Africa). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 39, (1982). 71–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowling, R.M. A syntaxonomic and synecological study in the Humansdorp region of the Fynbos Biome. Bothalia 15, (1984). 175–227.Google Scholar
Cowling, R.M., and Heijnis, C.E. The identification of broad habitat units as biodiversity entities for a systematic conservation planning in the Cape Floristic Region. African Journal of Botany 67, (2001). 15–38.Google Scholar
Deacon, J., and Lancaster, I.N. Late Quaternary Palaeoenvironments of Southern Africa. (1988). Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
DeMiguel, D., Fortelius, M., Azanza, B., and Morales, J. Ancestral feeding state of ruminants reconsidered: earliest grazing adaptation claims a mixed condition for Cervidae. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8, (2008). 13 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drennan, M.R. The Saldanha skull and its associations. Nature 172, (1953). 191 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drennan, M.R., and Singer, R. A mandibular fragment, probably of the Saldanha skull. Nature 175, (1955). 364 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenmann, V. Equus capensis (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Elandsfontein. Palaeontologia Africana 36, (2000). 91–96.Google Scholar
Fortelius, M., and Solounias, N. Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion-attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. American Museum Novitates 3301, (2000). 1–36.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T. New evidence for the lack of C4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa. Paleobiology 28, 3 (2002). 378–388.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T.A., and Kaiser, T.M. Differential mesowear in the maxillary and mandibular cheek dentition of some ruminants (Artiodactyla). Annales Zoologici Fennici 40, (2003). 395–410.Google Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T.A., Kaiser, T.M., and Bernor, R.L. Systematics and dietary evaluation of a fossil equid from South Africa. South African Journal of Science 99, (2003). 453–459.Google Scholar
Franz-Odendaal, T.A., and Solounias, N. Comparative dietary evaluations of an extinct giraffid (Sivatherium hendeyi) (Mammalia, Giraffidae, Sivatheriinae) from Langebaanweg, South Africa (early Pliocene). Geodiversitas 26, 4 (2004). 675–685.Google Scholar
Gagnon, M., and Chew, A.E. Dietary preferences in extant African Bovidae. Journal of Mammalogy 81, (2000). 490–511.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldblatt, P., and Manning, J. Plant diversity of the Cape Region of South Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical 89, (2002). 281–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruvaeus, G., and Weiner, H. Two additions to hierarchical cluster analysis. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 25, (1972). 200–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartigan, J.A. Clustering Algorithms. (1975). John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Hofmann, R.R., and Stewart, D.R.M. Grazer or browser: a classification based on the stomach structure and feeding habits of East African ruminants. Mammalia 36, (1972). 226–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inskeep, R.R., and Hendey, Q.B. An interesting association of bones from the Elandsfontein fossil site. Actes du Ve Congre's Panafricain de Pre'histoire et de l'Etude du Quaternaire. Museo Arqueologico, Tenerife. (1966). 109–124.Google Scholar
Kaiser, T.M., and Fortelius, M. Differential mesowear in occluding upper and lower molars: opening mesowear analysis for lower molars and premolars in hypsodont horses. Journal of Morphology 258, (2003). 63–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaiser, T.M., and Solounias, N. Extending the tooth mesowear method to extinct and extant equids. Geodiversitas 25, (2003). 321–345.Google Scholar
Kaiser, T.M., and Franz-Odendaal, T.A. A mixed-feeding Equus species from the middle Pleistocene of South Africa. Quaternary Research 62, (2004). 316–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, T.M., Solounias, N., Fortelius, M., Bernor, R.L., and Schrenk, F. Tooth mesowear analysis on Hippotherium primigenium from the Vallesian Dinotheriensande (Germany)—a blind test study. Carolinea 58, (2000). 103–114.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Palaeoenvironmental implications of Quaternary large mammals in the Fynbos Biome. South African National Scientific Programmes Reports 75, (1983). 116–138.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. Carnivore size and Quaternary climatic change in southern Africa. Quaternary Research 25, (1986). 153–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R.G., and Cruz-Uribe, K. The bovids from Elandsfontein, South Africa, and their implications for the age, palaeoenvironment, and origins of the site. African Archaeological Review 9, (1991). 21–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R.G., Avery, G., Cruz-Uribe, K., and Steele, T.E. The mammalian fauna associated with an archaic hominin skullcap and later Acheulian artifacts at Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 52, (2007). 164–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luyt, J., Lee-Thorp, J.A., and Avery, G. New light on middle Pleistocene west coast environments from Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 96, (2000). 399–403.Google Scholar
O'Gara, B.W. Antilocapra americana . The American Society of Mammalogists 90, (1978). 1–7.Google Scholar
Moll, E.J., McKenzie, B., and McLachlan, D. A possible explanation for the lack of trees in the fynbos, Cape Province, South Africa. Biological Conservation 17, (1980). 221–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, E.J., Campbell, B.M., Cowling, R.M., Bossi, L., Jarman, M.L., and Boucher, C. A description of major vegetation categories in and adjacent to the Fynbos Biome. South African National Scientific Programmes Report 83, (1984). 1–29.Google Scholar
Mucina, L., and Rutherford, M.C. The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19. (2006). South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.Google Scholar
Nagy, K.A. Seasonal water, energy and food use by free-living, arid-habitat mammals. Australian Journal of Zoology 42, (1994). 55–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, K.A., and Knight, M.H. Energy, water and food use by springbok antelope (Antidorcas marsupialis) in the Kalahari Desert. Journal of Mammalogy 75, 4 (1994). 860–872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Barbería, F.J., Gordon, I.J., (2001). Relationships between oral morphology and feeding style in the Ungulata: a phylogenetically controlled evaluation 268. 1023–1032.Google Scholar
Rightmire, G.P. Human evolution in the middle Pleistocene: the role of Homo heidelbergensis . Evolutionary Anthropology 6, (1998). 218–227.3.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rightmire, G.P. Patterns of hominid evolution and dispersal in the middle Pleistocene. Quaternary International 75, (2001). 77–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivals, F., Solounias, N., and Mihlbachler, M.C. Evidence for geographic variation in the diets of late Pleistocene and early Holocene Bison in North America, and differences from the diets of recent Bison . Quaternary Research 68, (2007). 338–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, M.C., and Westfall, R.H. Biomes of southern Africa — an objective categorization. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 54, (1986). 1–98.Google Scholar
Schubert, B.W., Ungar, P.S., Sponheimer, M., and Reed, K.E. Microwear evidence for Plio-Pleistocene bovid diets from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, (2006). 301–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, L., and Rossouw, L. Reassessment of botanical evidence for palaeoenvironments at Florisbad, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 60, 182 (2005). 96–102.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Anderson, H.M., and Anderson, J.M. Vegetation History. Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M., and Pierce, S.M. Vegetation of Southern Africa. (1997). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 62–90.Google Scholar
Semprebon, G.M., and Rivals, F. Was grass more prevalent in the pronghorn past? An assessment of the dietary adaptations of Miocene to recent Antilocapridae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 253, (2007). 332–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, R. The Saldanha skull from Hopefield, South Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 12, (1954). 345–362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singer, R., and Wymer, J.J. Archaeological investigations at the Saldanha skull site in South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 23, (1968). 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skead, C.J. Historical Mammal Incidence in the Cape Province, Vol. 1.. (1980). Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation of the Provincial Administration of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Skinner, J.D., and Smithers, R.H.N. The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. (1990). University of Pretoria, Pretoria.Google Scholar
Sponheimer, M., Reed, K.E., and Lee-Throp, J.A. Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality. Journal of Human Evolution 36, (1999). 705–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sponheimer, M.S., Grant, C.C., De Ruiter, D., Lee-Thorp, J., Codron, D., and Codron, J. Diets of impala from Kruger National Park: evidence from stable carbon isotopes. Koedoe 46, 1 (2003). 101–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stirton, R.A. Observations of evolutionary rates in hypsodonty. Evolution 1, 1/2 (1947). 32–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tankard, A.J., and Rogers, J. Late Cenozoic palaeoenvironments on the west coast of Southern Africa. Journal of Biogeography 5, (1978). 319–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Valen, L. A functional index of hypsodonty. Evolution 14, (1960). 531–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, L.H., and Owen-Smith, N. Diet composition and habitat selection of eland in semi-arid shrubland. African Journal of Ecology 38, 2 (2000). 130–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoakum, J.D. Foraging ecology, diet studies and nutrient values. Pronghorn: Ecology and management. Colorado (2004). 447–502.Google Scholar