PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Paleontologist Dr Jan de Vynck is a sleuth who has pieced together the movements and behaviour of animals and humans thousands of years ago, as well as patterns made by humans along the South Cape coast.
In a talk at the Piesang Valley Community Hall on Friday 3 March at 18:00, De Vynck, of the African Centre for Coastal Paleoscience at Nelson Mandela University, will be unlocking the mysteries of the inhabitants of the coastline between 70 000 and 140 000 years ago.
Where did they live? What did they eat? How did they navigate? All these questions will be answered by De Vynck, whose meticulous studies include Ichnology (the study of fossilised trace fossils (trackways of animals)), a discipline broadly recognised through dinosaur tracks.
In the last decade his team, led by Dr Charles Helm, has uncovered more than 350 ichnosites from the Late Pleistocene, in coastal aeolianite deposits (old cemented sand dunes) between Robberg and Arniston.
Within this region lies the Robberg Coastal Corridor, part of the Robberg Coastal Corridor Protected Environment (RCCPE).
Unfathoming the mysteries of a bygone age.
This 18km- stretch of pristine coastline links the Garden Route National Park to the Robberg Nature Reserve. By connecting the two ecological sanctuaries, and by protecting and maintaining it, the natural movement of flora and fauna along the corridor is facilitated to preserve the diversity of genetic species and thereby secure the last remaining ecological lifeline to the increasingly isolated Robberg Peninsula.
"We have found many human trackways, adults and children. Also, evidence of patterns drawn by humans, termed ammoglyphs," said De Vynck.
"These ammoglyphs are some of the oldest evidence on earth of human abstract expression. This study has vastly increased our understanding of the Cape palaeo-environment when the now-extinct Palaeo-Agulhas Plain was exposed and has given more insights on human co-existence during this period of our inception of unique cultural expression."
Dr Jan de Vynck retracing the steps of dinosaurs.
Lady Annabelle Conyngham, well-known Plettenberg Bay supporter of cultural, historical and environmental causes, said a guided hiking trail, the Inqua Trail, has been established along the corridor and some of the funds raised by De Vynck's talk will be used to support the conservation of the RCCPE.
Tickets cost R200, including pre-lecture refreshments, and are available from Quicket or The Kiosk, Market Square Info Centre: 044 533 3219.
Dr Jan de Vynck
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