Archaeology at the beach... the MSA

in #archaeology7 years ago

The inter-tidal zone is not exactly a usual place for an archaeological dig.

However after some vicious storms had shifted the boulders around, some interesting horizontal beds were exposed.

These beds are sandstones derived from solidified beach dunes dating to about 120 000 years ago.

This is in the Middle Stone Age in Southern Africa and sea levels were much lower due to large ice sheets covering much of Europe.

The black boulders are from a lava intrusion and this lava baked some of the surrounding mudstones into a very useful tool making metamorphic rock.

As a result, the fossilized dunes are scattered with MSA tools and debris from making tools.

Here are some specimens that are exposed at low tides.

These are still partially embedded in the fossil dune sandstones and are covered in barnacles and other sea organisms.

Pictures are not of the greatest quality because of having to rush taking them between waves.

Around the same time, I took some shots, out of the airplane window, of uncharacteristic snow that had fallen in the drakensberg mountains, in the middle of Summer.

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Wow!!! It's really amazing! And you dont need to dig :O

Fascinating!

Really Nice post thanks !!....My new post ...[The Lotus Temple]

Absolutely fascinating. Fully upvoted you. Found you by accident and am now following you. Looking forward to more such posts. thanks

I always marvel at how beautiful the earth is...these facts are just an affirmation of that...thanx for sharing this post man

How do you even find such archeological stuff there on the beach? To the untrained eye they just look like simple stones. Do you have some degree or such? Coz it is impressive @gavvet. :)

Practice trains the eyes

If i have an archeological background perhaps i could find what i am looking for. Nevertheless, great finds. :)

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I want to thank you for support on my article from yesterday. You brought my whole steemit experience to a new level. I also want to thank you for giving me the inspiration for that post. Today I created a new one and I hope you like it and can find the time to look at it.. Support like this can make my dreams come true.

Fractal geometry;)

Great fractal geometry when you have a uniformly weathering and eroding geological body.

Nice pictures anyways.

Amazing work..@gavvet🍃
I like your all posts.followed u😄

nice you dont even need to dig ;)

Just dodge waves ;)

That is a difficult way to discover fossilized dunes given the limited time between tides to work.

the fossilised dunes also extend inland

I like to explore Shell middens and look for pottery and stone tools. The first one I explored was in a bay in the Gulf of Mexico.
I would so love to explore that beach!

The first picture in this post is taken while standing next to a midden...

Once you know what they look like then it is easy to spot them anywhere.

I studied Archaeology 1 at Wits University 20 years ago (oops I'm giving away my age). This is bringing it all back. I'm trying to figure out whereabouts in South Africa this shoreline is? Somewhere in KZN I'm guessing?

I'm green with envy at this point. My undergrad degree is Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Georgia. I ended up selling out, and becoming a dentist. Pays the bills, but I'd rather be on a dig these days.

Great post. Iam lucky enough to live near to Lyme Regis:

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/lyme_regis_fossils.htm

Which is full of fossils. We regularly walk along the beach, looking for fossils in the cliffs. The best times are after storms which usually cause small rock falls to be picked over. I'll take photos next time and share our haul!

History that can thrill every reader on your blog @gavvet. In writing was very clear plot story, and in accompaniment with the perfection of a very natural image. Can not be denied that you are encouraging every steemit user in all corners of the world in archeology and photography. Where I live there are also many ancient relics of ancient archeology, few raised about it, but after I read and saw your post. I will try to create a blog that can arouse the reader's passion about Aceh.

This place once shocked the locals socities, it is said that here had once visited a person who is loved by all humanity. Footprints with a width of 5 meters and 10 meters long. Whether it is still there, I also do not know, because already 10 years I dont visit that place. Nice

Very beautiful...Even where I live in Italy, it was in the past covered with water and there are many fossils everywhere especially in the beds of rivers.

Nice one @gavvet. Always finding those hidden gems!

Wow I would love to visit this place :)
Tajmahal is also the finest example of archoelogy,i clicked one beautiful pic of reflecting taj ,plz have a view in my recent post 😊
Link

@gavvet nice post...
please reply @gavvet ????

i just want to be your friend :D

I also like archaelogy; so your blog is very much appriciated; thanks.
What do you think about the latest and MOST important finding from the Romans within the last 50 years ? It is in France, place is Vienne, a bit below Lyon. They already call it "little Pompei " .


Nice sharing...👍
Following you for more.

buenas fotos y muy interesante te felicito éxitos buen post

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Coool..😎

It looks like a lunar or Martian landscape. I can imagine how it looks in reality - probably a fascinating sight!

What a fantastic place which probably had loads of history behind it and many of us wouldn't think otherwise. Nature holds so many purposes that sometimes we don't even realise.

Such old rocks in a place like a beach bed which no one would suspect the stones to be a few years old but it blew my mind when you said some parts of this dune is over 120,000 years old.

Great Photographs @gavvet
I love the aerial shot! :)

Love the post - Great content - Great video and the perfect outlook on life!! ENJOY it ! Thanks For Share.

Welcome here @gavvet :) Nice post, i will follow your account, Do Upvote & Follow me!!

they can dig everywhere.. I bet they will find something cool in each place

Wow , beautiful pictures thanks for sharing with us these gems and knowledge.
Snow in summer ! :) have to say in South Africa we have the weirdest of weather.

Nice post Mr. @Gavvet! Since I am not studied in the archaeology department, I am not sure of what to make of these findings.
Am I missing something very obvious? What do these findings imply? I am curious.
Do they speak to us about flying UFOs? Are these the fossilized eggs of long distant Targaryen Dragons??????? PLEASE, tell me. I need to know. XD

Thrilling article :3 thanks for sharing it.

yes i always love metal detecting beaches after storms when the bedrock gets exposed, you often find areas with hundreds of coins where they have been collected together by the natural beach processes,

theres a few times that ive seen petrified forests revealed after the storms which looks really crazy when your just used to seeing golden sands :)

wow!! don't know what to say.

this is another marvelous work @gavvet. i am always longing for your post.

Yes, it is difficult. I remember the story a few years ago, from Turkey.

Artifacts discovered during construction work Marmaray, Istanbul, Turkey. Artifacts are now stored in two museums, namely in Yenikapi near Marmaray station, another in Darphane.

Marmaray is an electric subway that divides the Bosphorus,

The project, which began in 2004, was suspended for several years due to the discovery of ancient artifacts during the excavation of the tunnel.

It is said that this archaeological object is a relic of Byzantium 8,500 to 2,500 years ago. After all the artifacts are removed and printed correctly, construction continues.

Marmaray is a Turkish dream since 1876 in the time of Sultan Abdul Mecit II. More than 150 years ago, the Ottoman Sultan dreamed that there would be an underwater submarine in the Bhosporus Strait connecting Asia and Africa.

His successor, Sultan Hamid who ruled from 1922 to 1924 then made his sketches. But until the end of the empire this idea did not materialize. At the time of Prime Minister Erdogan, the expensive sea lanes were realized.

Subway line 13.6 kilometers long, capable of carrying 75,000 people per hour or 1.5 million people per day. Handles about 20 percent of car traffic in Istanbul with a population of 15 million people.
Source

I wonder how the landscape changes over thousands of years and how it will change in the future. Interesting observations and thanks for the post. Special thanks for the snow in the middle of a hot summer)!

awesome work

Another interesting story!
Thank you dear @gavvet!

Gosh, we hardly ever get snow in summer!!! Love how most of the snow is in the shadows :)

Melts faster on the northern facing slopes which get more sun

Yip, all the small details. Love it!!

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Buenas fotografías.

Wow! Super cool! I am originally from South Africa but now I'm living in Germany. I can't believe there was snow in the middle of summer!

wow this is an interesting archaeological place

This is a photo's created or drawn by the forces of nature

My daughter always likes to "research" rocks...and she's quite successful at it :)))
Few times she's found some fossils (sea shells )

I admit it! All i see are rocks. just rocks. hail @gavvet

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