70 years later – New research at Holley Shelter, a Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

In 1952, Gordon Cramb published the first report on his excavations at Holley Shelter, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Although Cramb’s work implied organic preservation associated with a unique stone tool assemblage from a Middle Stone Age (MSA) context, Holley Shelter disappeared from the archaeological landscape until 2015, when we provided a reinvestigation of the lithic assemblages from the 1950s. Our study indicated a tentative chronological framework around Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) for the human occupation of the site. However, Cramb’s excavations did not produce reliable chronometric ages and the botanical and zoological finds from Holley Shelter remain for the most part unstudied. This is problematic as the site constitutes one of the few inland MSA rock shelters of KwaZulu-Natal featuring organic preservation. In 2022, 70 years after Cramb’s first report, we started a new research project focusing on renewed excavations to obtain archaeological remains from a controlled stratigraphy, absolute chronometric ages and reliable data on the palaeoenvironment at the border between the coastal belt and the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. Here, we provide initial results from the first field campaign in 2022 on the stratigraphic sequence and archaeological finds and discuss their implications for future multidisciplinary research. Significance: Environmental change can have a strong impact on hunter-gatherer behaviour, migration and technological choices. It is thus crucial to contextualise archaeological material with a strong palaeoenvironmental record. The inland of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, represents an understudied region in terms of Stone Age archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental record. Holley Shelter is one of the few sites in South Africa with excellent organic preservation and a deep stratigraphic record, which provide a great opportunity to investigate human-landscape interaction and technological change throughout the Middle and Later Stone Age

The Forgotten Kingdom.: New investigations in the prehistory of Eswatini

The kingdom of Eswatini provides a rich archaeological sequence covering all time periods from the Early Stone Age to the Iron Age. For over 27 years though, no or very little archaeological research was conducted in the country. In the scope of a new project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) we aim to re-excavate and re-date Lion Cavern, the potentially oldest ochre mine in the world. In addition, we conduct a largescale geological survey for outcrops of ochre and test their geochemical signatures for comparative studies with archaeological ochre pieces from MSA and LSA assemblages in Eswatini. Here we present a review of the research history of the kingdom and some preliminary results from our ongoing project

An updated chronology for Umbeli Belli and its implications for the Middle and Later Stone Ages

We present a series of 12 OSL/IRSL dates that revise and complete the chronology of the important Middle (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) site Umbeli Belli in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. These dates shift the previous radiometric ages thousands of years older than earlier measurements and play a key role in revising the cultural stratigraphy of KwaZulu-Natal. We also discuss how these dates bring the chrono- and cultural stratigraphy of southern Africa into clearer focus. The Robberg sequence of Umbeli Belli is now firmly dated to 21 ± 2 ka, whereas the preceding Early LSA assemblage dates to ~32 ka, representing one of the earliest dates for this cultural expression in the broader region. The final MSA assemblages from Layer 7 to 9 now date to between 35 ka and 40 ka, overlapping more tightly with comparable assemblages from Sibhudu, Umhlatuzana and other sites. Layer 10, which was previously also assigned to the final MSA, now dates to ~47–54 ka, placing the assemblage within the temporal range of the Late MSA. The new dates provide a good explanation for the clear differences in material culture between Layer 10 and the younger layers. We also present two new ages for the deeper horizons 11b and 12 at Umbeli Belli, dating to 76 ± 9 ka and 80 ± 9 ka, respectively. Significance: • Revised and new age estimates are given for the Middle and Later Stone Age sequence of Umbeli Belli. • These age changes allow new comparisons with nearby prehistoric sites. • They change our view of the regional variability of technologies and cultures between ca. 80 and 20 ka on the east coast of South Africa

Fast network centrality analysis using GPUs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With the exploding volume of data generated by continuously evolving high-throughput technologies, biological network analysis problems are growing larger in scale and craving for more computational power. General Purpose computation on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) provides a cost-effective technology for the study of large-scale biological networks. Designing algorithms that maximize data parallelism is the key in leveraging the power of GPUs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We proposed an efficient data parallel formulation of the All-Pairs Shortest Path problem, which is the key component for shortest path-based centrality computation. A betweenness centrality algorithm built upon this formulation was developed and benchmarked against the most recent GPU-based algorithm. Speedup between 11 to 19% was observed in various simulated scale-free networks. We further designed three algorithms based on this core component to compute closeness centrality, eccentricity centrality and stress centrality. To make all these algorithms available to the research community, we developed a software package <it>gpu</it>-<it>fan </it>(GPU-based Fast Analysis of Networks) for CUDA enabled GPUs. Speedup of 10-50× compared with CPU implementations was observed for simulated scale-free networks and real world biological networks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>gpu</it>-<it>fan </it>provides a significant performance improvement for centrality computation in large-scale networks. Source code is available under the GNU Public License (GPL) at <url>http://bioinfo.vanderbilt.edu/gpu-fan/</url>.</p

Flexible Usage and Interconnectivity of Diverse Cell Death Pathways Protect against Intracellular Infection.

Programmed cell death contributes to host defense against pathogens. To investigate the relative importance of pyroptosis, necroptosis, and apoptosis during Salmonella infection, we infected mice and macrophages deficient for diverse combinations of caspases-1, -11, -12, and -8 and receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 3 (RIPK3). Loss of pyroptosis, caspase-8-driven apoptosis, or necroptosis had minor impact on Salmonella control. However, combined deficiency of these cell death pathways caused loss of bacterial control in mice and their macrophages, demonstrating that host defense can employ varying components of several cell death pathways to limit intracellular infections. This flexible use of distinct cell death pathways involved extensive cross-talk between initiators and effectors of pyroptosis and apoptosis, where initiator caspases-1 and -8 also functioned as executioners when all known effectors of cell death were absent. These findings uncover a highly coordinated and flexible cell death system with in-built fail-safe processes that protect the host from intracellular infections.Wellcome Trus

70 years later – New research at Holley Shelter, a Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

In 1952, Gordon Cramb published the first report on his excavations at Holley Shelter, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Although Cramb’s work implied organic preservation associated with a unique stone tool assemblage from a Middle Stone Age (MSA) context, Holley Shelter disappeared from the archaeological landscape until 2015, when we provided a reinvestigation of the lithic assemblages from the 1950s. Our study indicated a tentative chronological framework around Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) for the human occupation of the site. However, Cramb’s excavations did not produce reliable chronometric ages and the botanical and zoological finds from Holley Shelter remain for the most part unstudied. This is problematic as the site constitutes one of the few inland MSA rock shelters of KwaZulu-Natal featuring organic preservation. In 2022, 70 years after Cramb’s first report, we started a new research project focusing on renewed excavations to obtain archaeological remains from a controlled stratigraphy, absolute chronometric ages and reliable data on the palaeoenvironment at the border between the coastal belt and the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. Here, we provide initial results from the first field campaign in 2022 on the stratigraphic sequence and archaeological finds and discuss their implications for future multidisciplinary research. Significance: Environmental change can have a strong impact on hunter-gatherer behaviour, migration and technological choices. It is thus crucial to contextualise archaeological material with a strong palaeoenvironmental record. The inland of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, represents an understudied region in terms of Stone Age archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental record. Holley Shelter is one of the few sites in South Africa with excellent organic preservation and a deep stratigraphic record, which provide a great opportunity to investigate human-landscape interaction and technological change throughout the Middle and Later Stone Age

Distribution of techno-functional tool classes.

<p>Rounded percentages are given in brackets.</p

Cortex cover on artifacts for each assemblage and for the total sample of dolerite and hornfels.

<p>Rounded percentages are given in brackets.</p

Distribution of single finds (>25 mm) and small debitage (<25 mm).

<p>Distribution of single finds (>25 mm) and small debitage (<25 mm).</p