Exceptional preservation of children's footprints from a Holocene footprint site in Namibia
Exceptional preservation of children's footprints from a Holocene footprint site in Namibia
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.05.015
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发表时间：
2014-09-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Thackeray, J. Francis
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bennett, Matthew R.;Morse, Santa A.;Thackeray, J. Francis
在这里，我们报告一个全新世沙丘间网站靠近鲸湾港（纳米比亚），其中包含保存完好的儿童的足迹。足迹表面的日期使用光刺激发光（OSL）的方法，约1.5万年。这些日期进行比较，在附近的足迹网站，并用于验证模型的历时足迹表面，也增加了考古数据，可用于社区，占据这些近海岸地区在全新世。这种模式的穿时足迹表面有影响的软沉积物足迹网站，如1.5马旧的足迹在Ileret（肯尼亚）。人类和动物足迹的分布与小群小型有蹄类动物（可能是绵羊/山羊）的通过一致，随后是一组约9 2个个体（儿童或年轻成年人）。根据足迹估计的年龄表明，其中一些人可能只有五岁。在这个沉积均匀的表面上，轨迹拓扑结构的变化可以用个体印刷工人的步态和体重/身材的变化来解释，并用于证实在附近地点开发的足迹形态模型。在人类足迹的文献中，该遗址的重要性在于足迹保存的质量，尽管可能是均匀的基底，但它们的拓扑变化性，以及足迹的小尺寸，因此推断出足迹制造者的年轻年龄。该网站提供了一个情感洞察到轨道制造商的生活。(C)2014爱思唯尔有限公司版权所有。
Here we report on a Holocene inter-dune site close to Walvis Bay (Namibia) which contains exceptionally well-preserved children's footprints. The footprint surface is dated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) methods to approximately 1.5 ka. These dates are compared to those obtained at nearby footprint sites and used to verify a model of diachronous footprint surfaces and also add to the archaeological data available for the communities that occupied these near-coastal areas during the Holocene. This model of diachronous footprint surfaces has implications for other soft-sediment footprint sites such as the 1.5 Ma old footprints at Ileret (Kenya). The distribution of both human and animal tracks, is consistent with the passage of small flock of small ungulates (probably sheep/goats) followed by a group of approximately 9 2 individuals (children or young adults). Age estimates from the tracks suggest that some of the individuals may have been as young as five years old. Variation in track topology across this sedimentologically uniform surface is explained in terms of variations in gait and weight/stature of the individual print makers and is used to corroborate a model of footprint morphology developed at a nearby site. The significance of the site within the literature on human footprints lies in the quality of the track preservation, their topological variability despite a potentially uniform substrate, and the small size of the tracks, and therefore the inferred young age of the track-makers. The site provides an emotive insight into the life of the track-makers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.