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05 June 2018 Photo Supplied
Digging up truth South Africa was way different to what you thought
Archaeological excavations in the Wonderwerk Cave, north of Kuruman in the Northern Cape.

Research fellow Dr Lloyd Rossouw from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently published an article in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal with Dr Michaela Ecker from the University of Toronto as lead author, and Dr James Brink, research fellow at the UFS Centre for Environmental Management. The findings described in “The palaeoecological context of the Oldowan-Acheulean in southern Africa” provides the first extensive paleoenvironmental sequence for the interior of southern Africa by applying a combination of methods for environmental reconstruction at Wonderwerk Cave, which have yielded multiple evidence of early human occupation dating back almost two million years ago.

Where water once was
The Wonderwerk Cave is found north of the Kuruman hills (situated in Northern Cape) a 140m long tube with a low ceiling. The surroundings are harsh. Semi-arid conditions allow for the survival of only hardy bushes, trees, and grasses. But during the Early Pleistocene, stepping out of the Wonderwerk Cave you would have been greeted by a completely different site, the researchers found. Using carbon and oxygen stable isotope analysis on the teeth of herbivores (Dr Ecker), fossil faunal abundance (Dr Brink), as well as the analysis of microscopic plant silica remains (phytoliths) excavated from fossil soils inside the cave (Dr Rossouw), the results show that ancient environments in the central interior of southern Africa were significantly wetter and housed a plant community unlike any other in the modern African savanna. 

What difference does it make?
While East African research shows increasing aridity and the spread of summer-rainfall grasslands more than a million years ago, the results from this study indicate an interesting twist. During the same period, shifts in rainfall seasonality allowed for alternating summer and winter-rainfall grass occurrences coupled with prolonged wetlands, that remained major components of Early Pleistocene (more or less the period between one and two million years ago) environments in the central interior of southern Africa. That means our human ancestors were also living and evolving in environments other than the generally accepted open, arid grassland model.

News Archive

UFS Communication and Brand Management wins for the third time in the 2017 International Gold Quill Awards
2017-06-29

Description: 2017 International Gold Quill Awards Tags: 2017 International Gold Quill Awards

Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Brand
Management and Leonie Bolleurs, Assistant Director:
Internal Communication in the same department.
The awards were presented at the Excellence
Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. on
Tuesday 13 June 2017.
Foto: Hannes Pieterse

The Department of Communication and Brand Management at the University of the Free State (UFS) has won two International Gold Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for projects executed in 2016. “Winning two Gold Quill Awards put the entrant in the top ranks of the business communicators of the world,” said Ghrethna Kruger, IABC 2017 Quill Awards Chair South Africa.

The Department won Gold Quill Merit Awards for their entries of the publication, For such a time as this: A commemorative journey, and the communication process with prospective students through the Sound[W]right: UFS student tone and voice project.

Two Gold Quill Awards in 2017
This is the third time the department has received recognition by the IABC. In 2014, it received the Jake Wittmer Research Award, a Gold Quill Merit Award, and an Africa Gold Quill Award. In 2015 the department received an Africa Merit Award, Africa Gold Quill Merit Award, a Gold Quill Merit Award, and a Gold Quill Excellence Award. “I am very proud of the nine awards we have won over the past couple of years. Being recognised by a prestigious global association such as the IABC is a great honour. The fact that the UFS is the only tertiary education institution in the country to receive awards this year makes it even more special," said Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Brand Management at the UFS.

With the 2017 IABC Awards the IABC has in total recognised 227 entries as world class, announcing 74 Excellence Awards and 153 Merit Awards. They represent a cross-section of public- and private-sector organisations, both large and small. This year there were 13 winners from South Africa compared to last year’s three winners.

Work reflects superior production values
Entries were evaluated against the IABC Gold Quill Awards criteria and IABC’s seven-point scale of excellence. Feedback from the IABC Gold Quill evaluators, on the publication, For such a time as this: A commemorative journey stated: “Exceptional effort and an excellent gift that celebrates your honoree and preserves school history. It demonstrates superior production values and strong images convey key messages.”

On the entry: Sound[W]right: UFS student tone and voice project, the IABC Gold Quill evaluators said: “This entry shows innovation, collaboration, persistence, generosity and strategic intent. They have accomplished much within a very limited budget, to the benefit of both the university and its students.”

“The Gold Quill Awards programme celebrates business communication’s best practices and the value professional, strategic communication programmes bring to an organisation’s bottom line, its brand and its reputation,” said Lynn Barter, ABC, MC, chair of the IABC awards committee. “Each entry is evaluated on its own merits against IABC’s Global Standard of excellence in communication. Winning a Gold Quill recognises exceptional work, innovation and creativity.

Taking communication to the next level
“Gold Quill winners represent a global community executing their responsibilities ethically and to the highest standards of the profession. These exemplary practitioners deliver high impact results for their organisations and clients, taking communication to the next level.”

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