Publicação
A holocene n-alkane stable isotope record from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa and its implications for the later stone age record
| datacite.subject.sdg | 13:Ação Climática | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 15:Proteger a Vida Terrestre | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 04:Educação de Qualidade | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ecker, Michaela | |
| dc.contributor.author | Rhodes, Sara | |
| dc.contributor.author | Andersen, Nils | |
| dc.contributor.author | Horwitz, Liora Kolska | |
| dc.contributor.author | Chazan, Michael | |
| dc.contributor.author | Makarewicz, Cheryl A. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-16T13:25:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-16T13:25:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-04-26 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Sediment biomarkers are important archives of regional, and global climate signatures, particularly in regions which lack continuous terrestrial archives such as the semi-arid deserts of Africa. We measured carbon and hydrogen stable isotopes from plant wax n-alkanes recovered from the Holocene Later Stone Age (LSA) sedimentary sequence at Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa), that comprises several technocomplexes (Kuruman/Oakhurst, Wilton, Ceramic Wilton and Historic). The plant wax n-alkane results were integrated with published palaeoenvironment reconstructions from the cave based on faunal, botanical, geological and sedimentological proxies which provides a robust comparative framework. The findings match well with other proxy records from the same strata and indicate a semiarid to semi-humid early Holocene, with a mix of woody C3 plants and C4 grasses. In contrast, the midlate Holocene environment was increasingly arid, open and dominated by C4 grasses. A distinct humid period at 5300–6200 cal. BP is evident, associated with a high density of archaeological material and a change in cultural expression in the Wonderwerk record. This study provides a step forward in using stable isotopes from biomarkers to create terrestrial environmental records in semi-arid regions. | eng |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1038/s41598-025-99054-0 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2045-2322 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/28427 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | |
| dc.publisher | Nature Research | |
| dc.relation | Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Scientific Reports | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Holocene | |
| dc.subject | N-alkanes | |
| dc.subject | Carbon isotopes | |
| dc.subject | Hydrogen isotopes | |
| dc.subject | Later stone age | |
| dc.title | A holocene n-alkane stable isotope record from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa and its implications for the later stone age record | eng |
| dc.type | journal article | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.awardNumber | UIDP/04211/2020 | |
| oaire.awardTitle | Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior | |
| oaire.awardURI | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F04211%2F2020/PT | |
| oaire.citation.issue | 1 | |
| oaire.citation.startPage | 14667 | |
| oaire.citation.title | Scientific Reports | |
| oaire.citation.volume | 15 | |
| oaire.fundingStream | 6817 - DCRRNI ID | |
| oaire.version | http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85 | |
| person.familyName | Rhodes | |
| person.givenName | Sara | |
| person.identifier.ciencia-id | C41A-E5EA-D62E | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0001-7328-4663 | |
| project.funder.identifier | http://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 | |
| project.funder.name | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | |
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