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International scientists bring understanding of human evolution

25 July 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Leonie Bolleurs

Plant Sciences Congress — At a public seminar, Understanding human evolution through the study of past environments in the Free State, presented by the UFS Department of Plant Sciences, were, from the left, front: Kristen Wroth, Britt Bousman; back: Prof Louis Scott, mentor in the UFS Department of Plant Sciences, and Michael Toffolo.

Florisbad, a thermal spring situated 45 km northwest of Bloemfontein on the edge of a large dry saltpan, is a well-known fossil site that used to be a large lake where giant buffalo, blue wildebeest, and hippos roamed thousands of years ago. Today, this fossil-bearing spring is not only a tourist attraction and a venue for weddings, but also an established quaternary research station that has attracted several palaeo-scientists since the 1930s, following the discovery of a remarkable human cranium and other fauna.

Studies of past environments

Three international researchers studying different aspects of archaeology at this and other sites in the Free State, recently presented lectures at the UFS to a multidisciplinary group of academics in plant sciences, geology, geography, and environmental management.

These lectures are part of the ongoing collaboration regarding fossil plant (pollen), fauna, and archaeological studies between the University of the Free State (UFS), the National Museum, and universities abroad.

Florisbad, a key site for understanding the appearance of modern environments as well as modern humans in Southern Africa, is the focus of the investigations of all three visiting scientists, aiming to provide a better understanding of past Free State environments where human evolution has taken place.

Michael Toffolo, a junior research chair from the University of Bordeaux Montaigne in France, focuses on the reconstruction of site-formation processes, palaeo-environments, and ancient human activities based on the study of the micro-morphology of archaeological deposits. He has been working in Southern Africa since 2013. The title of his lecture was: Reconstructing Pleistocene environments in the Free State by looking at the microscopic sedimentary record.

Fluoride-preserved bones

Florisbad is widely known for the discovery of an archaic modern human skull of c. 260 000 years old. According to Toffolo, the human probably died, and the remains was left at the spring by the hyenas. The bones consequently absorbed fluoride from the spring water, which counteracted decomposition and helped to preserve it.

Britt Bousman talked about middle and late Pleistocene terraces and archaeology in the Modder River Valley. He has worked in Southern Africa for the past 43 years and started his collaboration with researchers from the UFS and the National Museum in 1985. They have worked together at several sites, investigating palaeo-environments. Bousman teaches Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at the Texas State University.

While most scientists study early human records in rock shelters, especially those near the coast where seafood was harvested by prehistoric people, he is one of only a few researchers who studies the evolution of early human behaviour in central South Africa in the context of their activities in the open environment.

“Rock shelters are good spaces for human behaviour,” says Bousman. He believes, however, that the Modder River area is a better space to study how humans have survived on the land under changing climatic conditions in the long term; for example, how they hunted and slaughtered animals. This can be seen from the many artefacts they left, such as spearheads, scrapers, etc. Interesting animal remains were also found, such as the bones of an extinct giant zebra at the Erfkroon site along the Modder River, with a head measuring 63 cm compared to that of a current zebra, which measures 54 cm. The only complete horn core of an extinct giant wildebeest was also found at the site.

The first chemists

According to Bousman, technology changed in the Stone Age and included the production of more grinding stones, indicating that humans collected plants and grinded them. Observations of modern plant-collecting activities suggested that not many plant foods needed grinding. Bousman proposes that different plant components may have been grinded for medicinal mixtures, therefore these ancestors may have assumed the role of chemists.

Kristen Wroth, a postdoctoral researcher in the Geoarchaeology Working Group at the University of Tübingen, Germany, presented a lecture on early human-environment interactions and ancient pyro technology. She uses a suite of micro-archaeological techniques such as phytolith (microscopic plant silica) analysis, micromorphology, and FTIR to understand both human and Neanderthal behaviour and to reconstruct how local environments have changed in space and through time.

News Archive

A new dawn for student governance

2011-09-02

Our SRC presidents: Richard Chemaly (Bloemfontein Campus) and Bongani Ncgaca (Qwaqwa Campus)
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

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The successful and peaceful completion of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Student Representative (SRC) elections 2011 herals a new dawn for student governance with the announcement of the results today (1 September 2011).

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 25 August 2011, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 29 and 30 August 2011.

“A new dawn heralds a new day when Richard Chemaly, the son of Lebanese immigrants becomes President of an SRC, as elected by students from all racial backgrounds and from across the student body at large. A new day has arrived when candidates could have won voter support across racial lines; a new day is here when all SRC members are now recognised leaders on the basis of academic accountability,” the Dean of Student Affairs, Mr Rudi Buys, says.

A new dawn has arrived; firstly, insofar as student elections for the choice of student leaders at the UFS now proceed according to a non-racial and a non-party political basis.

Not only did the SRC elections at both the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses achieve its required quorum, with 31% (4 729 votes) and 50% (2 112 votes) voter turnout, respectively, but the SRC elected by students at the Bloemfontein Campus is 55% black and 45% white, and 60% female and 40% male. The numbers of votes gained by successful candidates also indicate that voters from all racial backgrounds have voted for their candidates of choice.

Secondly, a new dawn has arrived insofar as student governance occupied by only some student groups claiming to speak on behalf of all students has made way for direct voting for candidates by the broad student body and the threefold increase of student governance structures on campus.

Not only did all students at our Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses (a total of 15 173 and 4 257, respectively) have the opportunity to participate in voting directly, but nine additional Student Councils were established at our Bloemfontein Campus that each holds an ex officio seat on the SRC and allows for student governance in all the major student sectors of the student body, such as for postgraduate students, international students and all categories of student associations.

The various councils now established include the Student Academic Affairs Council, the Student Associations Council, the Postgraduate Student Council, the International Student Council, the Student Media Council, the Residences Student Council, the Commuter Student Council and the Rag Community Service Fundraising and Service Councils. In addition, all faculties also introduced student representative structures at departmental and faculty level in 2011 to ensure student participation in faculty management and governance.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

Elective portfolios:
President: Mr Richard Chemaly
Vice-President: Mr Lefata David Maklein
Secretary: Ms Matshepo Ramokgadi
Treasurer: Mr Werner Pretorius
Arts & Culture: Ms Alta Grobelaar
Accessibility & Student Support: Mr William Clayton
First-generation Students: Ms Petre du Plessis
Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Biejanka Calitz
Sport: Mr Bonolo Thebe
Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Busisiwe Madikizela
Transformation: Ms Qaqamba Mhlauli

Ex officio portfolios:
Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Student Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa
Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Student Council: Mr Jean Vermaas
Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Campus Residences Student Council: Ms Mpho Mokaleng
City student Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Student Council: Ms Annemieke Plekker
Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Student Council: Ms Glancina Mokone
International Affairs & Ex officio: International Student Council: Mr Pitso Ramokoatsi
Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Student Media Council: Ms Nicole Heyns
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Ms Iselma Parker
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Motheo Pooe

In the Qwaqwa elections, SASCO achieved 36,84% of the vote, with SADESMO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 29,73% and 18,56% and 12,74%, respectively .

Mr Bongani Ncgaca was elected as the President of the SRC at our Qwaqwa Campus, while the names of the SRC members at the campus will be announced on 7 September 2011.

The Central SRC will be established on 8 September 2011 by a joint sitting of the two SRCs.

The successful completion of the SRC elections at the Bloemfontein Campus follows a yearlong review process of student governance by a Broad Student Transformation Forum (BSTF) that consists of 59 delegations from student organisations and residences. The BSTF adopted independent candidacy for elective portfolios and additional student councils to provide ex officio seats on the SRC as the template for student governance, following the consideration of a series of benchmarking reports on student governance nationally and internationally.

The UFS Council adopted the new SRC Constitution, as drafted and submitted by the BSTF, on 3 June 2011.

Media Release
1 September 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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