Sarah Wurz
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 110891 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Sarah Wurz |
| NOMBRES | Sarah |
| APELLIDO | Wurz |
| FIRMA | WURZ S |
| AFILIACIONES | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0949-5391 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 49 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 838 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 49 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1999 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 12 |
Raw material utilisation and technological trends in Gadeb and Middle Awash during the Early to Middle Pleistocene
The Acheulean archaeological record of Ethiopia has played a key role in understanding the evolution of lithic technology throughout the African Earlier Stone Age. Sites situated in the Great Rift Valley and Highland areas of Ethiopia range in age from the Early to the Middle Pleistocene and provide opportunities to investigate how tool manufacturing was impacted by different ecological settings through time. Despite the importance of Ethiopian A…
Changing subsistence strategies during the MSA I and MSA II
Klasies River is a key site in understanding coastal forager behaviour in the southern Cape of South Africa. Faunal remains from this site offer valuable insights into changing subsistence strategies, nutritional preferences, and prey selection over time. Here, a taphonomic and taxonomic analyses of fauna from the Deacon and Wurz excavations are presented to explore high-resolution subsistence patterns in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 samples …
The Middle Stone Age fauna from the DC member of Cave 1B at Klasies River main site, South Africa
Unprepared for work
Burning, Cleaning, Dumping, and Dissolution
Understanding the formation and stratigraphy of sequences in southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites is vital for contextualizing evidence for the evolution of modern human behaviors and cognition. Deposits at these sites often have complex formation histories, typically involving a range of anthropogenic, geogenic, and biogenic depositional and post‐depositional processes, and micro‐laminated deposits are common. Consequently, archaeologic…
A Middle Stone Age Lithic Assemblage from Wonderboom, Gauteng, South Africa
Shellfish gathering during MIS 5c-d at Klasies River main site and Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa
Middle Stone Age fauna from the RS sub-member (MSA I) at Cave 1B, Klasies River Main site, South Africa
Klasies River is an important site for the study of the evolution of Homo sapiens, understanding modern behaviour and human interaction with the environment during the Middle Stone Age. The faunal sample from the RS sub-member in Cave 1B (MSA I), dating to ca. 115 000 years ago and older, was recently analysed. The results indicate that humans were hunting a variety of prey. The most common taxa in the sample are indeterminate medium birds, indet…
Southern African Middle Stone Age
Currently the concept of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) denotes the period between c . 300 and 25 ka. It is a phase marked by prepared core reduction methods used to knap predetermined flakes and blades that are occasionally retouched into various types of tools. Denticulates, notches, and scrapers occur regularly, and bifacial and unifacial points and backed geometrics are sometimes linked to time-restricted regional patterns, especially for the Sti…
Taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of fauna from the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort at Klasies River main site
Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4 and 3 were significant periods encompassing some 50,000 years, including at least two techno-cultural entities: the Howiesons Poort (HP) and post-HP. Exploring subsistence and environmental changes during these periods may help us understand broader aspects of behavioural and occupational patterns over MIS 4 and 3. In this paper, we report on taphonomic analyses of a sample of early HP, late HP and post-HP fauna from…
Klasies River Main Site, South Africa
The stratigraphy and formation of Middle Stone Age deposits in Cave 1B, Klasies River Main site, South Africa, with implications for the context, age, and cultural association of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP …
Cave 1B, in the Klasies River Main site complex (KRM), is best known for the recovery of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. After initial skepticism over the modernity of this specimen, it is accepted that the mix of archaic and modern traits it displays is characteristic of early Homo sapiens individuals. Different authors have associated this specimen with the Middle Stone Age (MSA) I and II/Mossel Bay cultural phases, but the published …
Ochre use at Olieboomspoort, South Africa
Recent excavations at Olieboomspoort (OBP) in the Waterberg Mountains of South Africa confirmed previous research at the site that highlighted an abundance of ochre in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits. Here, we report on the results of an analysis of the ochre from the MSA deposits excavated in 2018-2019. Fossilised equid teeth from these deposits were recently dated to approximately 150 ka, an early date for such a sizeable ochre assemblage i…
A Critical Review of the Stratigraphic Context of the MSA I and II at Klasies River Main Site, South Africa
The Doring River bullroarers rock painting
Coastal adaptation at Klasies River main site during MIS 5c-d (93,000–110,000 years ago) from a southern Cape perspective
Coastal adaptation in the southern Cape can be seen around 100,000 years ago in sites such as Klasies River, Blombos Cave, and Pinnacle Point, representing the occupation of a new niche by early Homo sapiens in this region. However, there is relatively little information available on the details involved in fully entering this niche from a regional perspective. At Klasies River main site (KRM), evidence for coastal adaptation occurs in early MIS …
The Middle Stone Age of Nigeria in its West African Context, written by Philip Allsworth-Jones
Cooked starchy food in hearths ca. 120 kya and 65 kya (MIS 5e and MIS 4) from Klasies River Cave, South Africa
Human Evolution, Archaeology and the South African Stone Age Landscape During the Last 100,000 Years
Ethnobotanical research at Klasies River linking past, present, and future
Background: Klasies River is a prominent archaeological site on the South African southern Cape coast, with a unique and continuous occupation spanning the Middle and Late Pleistocene into the Holocene. Ethnobotanical research was undertaken with the objective of enabling a deeper understanding and contextualisation of the palaeo-ethnobotanical finds retrieved during ongoing excavation.Methods: Research into ethnobotanical usage enables extrapola…
The Early Middle Stone Age in South Africa
The Early Middle Stone Age (EMSA) from South Africa occurred, broadly, between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago. This is a crucial phase in the history of Homo sapiens , as genetic and fossil evidence increasingly indicate that the roots of Homo sapiens reach back to this time. The fossil evidence from South Africa from this period is sparse, but the c. 260,000-year-old Homo helmei partial skull from Florisbad is especially significant in understand…
Color Me Heated? A Comparison of Potential Methods to Quantify Color Change in Thermally-Altered Rocks
This study investigates and compares methods to quantify color changes in quartzite rocks after repeated heating episodes. We collected quartzite samples from the southern Cape coast, South Africa, and heated them three times in experimental fires. We recorded the colors of the samples before and after heating using visual observation, Munsell color notations, Munsell color notations converted to RGB values, and digital image analysis. The method…
A high-resolution perspective on MIS 5c-d lithic assemblages from Klasies River main site Cave 1
A functional investigation of southern Cape Later Stone Age artefacts resembling aerophones
Moral Issues in the Natural Sciences and Technologies
This book reflects academically on important and relevant natural scientific disciplines, important technologies and related media to determine and communicate the moral issues and challenges within those specific fields of study, and how to deal with them morally and from a multidimensional South African context. It aims to add scientific, technological and ethical value, locally and globally, by reflecting mainly from the viewpoint of a specifi…
Variability in the Middle Stone Age Lithic Sequence, 115,000–60,000 Years Ago at Klasies River, South Africa
The Howiesons Poort and MSA III at Klasies River main site, Cave 1A
Klipdrift Shelter, southern Cape, South Africa
Technological Trends in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa between MIS 7 and MIS 3
The range of technological elements that marks the Middle Stone Age originated more than 300,000 years ago and formed the basic tool kit for an extended period of time. No spatial and chronological patterns can be identified from the Early Middle Stone Age until marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, and there is no cumulative trend of increasing complexity and diversity; instead, periods of complexity come and go. The Howiesons Poort and Still Bay techno…
A Unified Lithic Taxonomy Based on Patterns of Core Reduction
Nicholas J. Conard, Marie Soressi, John E. Parkington, Sarah Wurz, Royden Yates, A Unified Lithic Taxonomy Based on Patterns of Core Reduction, The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 59, No. 179 (Jun., 2004), pp. 12-16
The Howiesons Poort Backed Artefacts from Klasies River
The significance of MIS 5 shell middens on the Cape coast
Discriminating between the end products of the earlier Middle Stone Age sub-stages at Klasies River using biplot methodology
Small mammals from Marine Isotope Stage 5 at Klasies River, South Africa–Reconstructing the local palaeoenvironment
Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology
Assessments of the complexity of lithic technologies coming from different time periods, regions, or hominid species are recurrent features of the literature on Paleolithic archaeology. Yet the notion of lithic complexity is often defined intuitively and qualitatively, which can easily lead to circular arguments and makes difficult the comparison of assemblages across different regions and time periods. Here we propose, in the spirit of Oswalt’s …
Coastal adaptation at Klasies River main site during MIS 5c-d (93,000–110,000 years ago) from a southern Cape perspective
Coastal adaptation in the southern Cape can be seen around 100,000 years ago in sites such as Klasies River, Blombos Cave, and Pinnacle Point, representing the occupation of a new niche by early Homo sapiens in this region. However, there is relatively little information available on the details involved in fully entering this niche from a regional perspective. At Klasies River main site (KRM), evidence for coastal adaptation occurs in early MIS …
Ochre Resources, Behavioural Complexity and Regional Patterns in the Howiesons Poort
The widespread use of ochre during Oxygen Isotope Stage 5 and 4 in South Africa has often been interpreted as reflecting complex behaviours amongst modern human populations. The Howiesons Poort is one of the most documented techno-complexes identified within this timeframe. It is associated with an intensification of a combination of innovative technical and symbolic behaviours. Despite the notable focus on ochre use, detailed analyses of Howieso…
The Middle Stone Age human fossil record from Klasies River Main Site
A high-resolution perspective on MIS 5c-d lithic assemblages from Klasies River main site Cave 1
A mid-Holocene AMS 14C date for the presumed upper Pleistocene human skeleton from Peers Cave, South Africa
Ochre use at Olieboomspoort, South Africa
Recent excavations at Olieboomspoort (OBP) in the Waterberg Mountains of South Africa confirmed previous research at the site that highlighted an abundance of ochre in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits. Here, we report on the results of an analysis of the ochre from the MSA deposits excavated in 2018-2019. Fossilised equid teeth from these deposits were recently dated to approximately 150 ka, an early date for such a sizeable ochre assemblage i…
A functional investigation of southern Cape Later Stone Age artefacts resembling aerophones
The Technology of the Early Oakhurst Lithic Techno-Complex from Klipdrift Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa
The Doring River bullroarers rock painting
The Early Middle Stone Age in South Africa
The Early Middle Stone Age (EMSA) from South Africa occurred, broadly, between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago. This is a crucial phase in the history of Homo sapiens , as genetic and fossil evidence increasingly indicate that the roots of Homo sapiens reach back to this time. The fossil evidence from South Africa from this period is sparse, but the c. 260,000-year-old Homo helmei partial skull from Florisbad is especially significant in understand…
Color Me Heated? A Comparison of Potential Methods to Quantify Color Change in Thermally-Altered Rocks
This study investigates and compares methods to quantify color changes in quartzite rocks after repeated heating episodes. We collected quartzite samples from the southern Cape coast, South Africa, and heated them three times in experimental fires. We recorded the colors of the samples before and after heating using visual observation, Munsell color notations, Munsell color notations converted to RGB values, and digital image analysis. The method…
The stratigraphy and formation of Middle Stone Age deposits in Cave 1B, Klasies River Main site, South Africa, with implications for the context, age, and cultural association of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP …
Cave 1B, in the Klasies River Main site complex (KRM), is best known for the recovery of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. After initial skepticism over the modernity of this specimen, it is accepted that the mix of archaic and modern traits it displays is characteristic of early Homo sapiens individuals. Different authors have associated this specimen with the Middle Stone Age (MSA) I and II/Mossel Bay cultural phases, but the published …
Towards a better understanding of cooking techniques in the African Middle Stone Age
In the first part of this paper, we present the first review of cooking techniques in the African Middle Stone Age. We show that the current knowledge is based on a restricted number of studies and on zooarchaeology and archaeobotany and that the research implies that MSA cooking consisted of roasting meat, shellfish, fish, and perhaps plant food on or by the fire. Nevertheless, potentially heated quartzite was found during recent excavation at K…
Continental Patterns in Stone Tools
The Howiesons Poort Backed Artefacts from Klasies River
Variability in the Middle Stone Age Lithic Sequence, 115,000–60,000 Years Ago at Klasies River, South Africa
Discriminating between the end products of the earlier Middle Stone Age sub-stages at Klasies River using biplot methodology
A Unified Lithic Taxonomy Based on Patterns of Core Reduction
Nicholas J. Conard, Marie Soressi, John E. Parkington, Sarah Wurz, Royden Yates, A Unified Lithic Taxonomy Based on Patterns of Core Reduction, The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 59, No. 179 (Jun., 2004), pp. 12-16
Continental Patterns in Stone Tools
Archaeological Theory and the Politics of Cultural Heritage
The Howiesons Poort and MSA III at Klasies River main site, Cave 1A
A mid-Holocene AMS 14C date for the presumed upper Pleistocene human skeleton from Peers Cave, South Africa
The significance of MIS 5 shell middens on the Cape coast
The Cave of Hearths
The Cave of Hearths: Makapan Middle Pleistocene Research Project: Field research by Anthony Sinclair and Patrick Quinney, 1996-2001, edited by John McNabb and Anthony Sinclair, Oxford, Archaeopress
Technological Trends in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa between MIS 7 and MIS 3
The range of technological elements that marks the Middle Stone Age originated more than 300,000 years ago and formed the basic tool kit for an extended period of time. No spatial and chronological patterns can be identified from the Early Middle Stone Age until marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, and there is no cumulative trend of increasing complexity and diversity; instead, periods of complexity come and go. The Howiesons Poort and Still Bay techno…
Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology
Assessments of the complexity of lithic technologies coming from different time periods, regions, or hominid species are recurrent features of the literature on Paleolithic archaeology. Yet the notion of lithic complexity is often defined intuitively and qualitatively, which can easily lead to circular arguments and makes difficult the comparison of assemblages across different regions and time periods. Here we propose, in the spirit of Oswalt’s …
Southern and East African Middle Stone Age
Klipdrift Shelter, southern Cape, South Africa
Development of the archaeological record during the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
It is in the context of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) that characteristic modern human morphotypes and behaviours appeared. In this chapter, MSA technologies, subsistence and site maintenance behaviours and their cognitive and behavioural implications are discussed in broad terms. The earliest MSA stone tool technology already shows behavioural complexity, but current evidence also indicates that bone tools, pyrotechnology, ochre technology, jewelle…
Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
Ongoing climate change necessitates advances in our understanding of the interrelationships between climate, landscape-shaping processes and human activity over long time periods, especially in areas that are already climatically stressed. This volume presents new ideas on macroscale landscape evolution; mountain, fluvial and aeolian processes; and environments in southern Africa, a key region in the story of human evolution during the last two m…
The Technology of the Early Oakhurst Lithic Techno-Complex from Klipdrift Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa
Towards a better understanding of cooking techniques in the African Middle Stone Age
In the first part of this paper, we present the first review of cooking techniques in the African Middle Stone Age. We show that the current knowledge is based on a restricted number of studies and on zooarchaeology and archaeobotany and that the research implies that MSA cooking consisted of roasting meat, shellfish, fish, and perhaps plant food on or by the fire. Nevertheless, potentially heated quartzite was found during recent excavation at K…
Small mammals from Marine Isotope Stage 5 at Klasies River, South Africa–Reconstructing the local palaeoenvironment
Ochre Resources, Behavioural Complexity and Regional Patterns in the Howiesons Poort
The widespread use of ochre during Oxygen Isotope Stage 5 and 4 in South Africa has often been interpreted as reflecting complex behaviours amongst modern human populations. The Howiesons Poort is one of the most documented techno-complexes identified within this timeframe. It is associated with an intensification of a combination of innovative technical and symbolic behaviours. Despite the notable focus on ochre use, detailed analyses of Howieso…
The Middle Stone Age human fossil record from Klasies River Main Site
Southern and East African Middle Stone Age
Connections, culture and environments around 100 000 years ago at Klasies River main site
Phytoliths in modern plants and soils from Klasies River, Cape Region (South Africa)
The Middle Stone Age of Nigeria in its West African Context, written by Philip Allsworth-Jones
Geography (44 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (44 obras) · Archaeology (43 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (35 obras) · Geology (31 obras) · Middle Stone Age (23 obras) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (22 obras) · Pleistocene (18 obras) · Paleontology (17 obras) · Cave (16 obras)