Poison mixtures and poison applicators are some of the rare and exciting finds that have been made at Border Cave, a long sequence site which continues to provide fascinating detail of ancient activities, technologies and diet.

Border Cave has been variously excavated since 1934, and renewed excavations were begun in 2015 under the direction of Lucinda Backwell (previously at Wits, now in Argentina), Francesco d’Errico (Bordeaux) and Lyn Wadley (Wits).

The aim of the current research is to reassess the stratigraphic and cultural sequence, and to conduct palaeoenvironmental and palaeobotanical analyses based on the abundant and well-preserved organic remains at the site.

The fine detail of the stratigraphy and the application of a variety of high resolution analyses (e.g. FT-IR and micromorphology), as well as the participation of a range of specialists have provided insights into past environments and the behaviour of people who visited the site from at least 120 000 years ago.

• Speaker: Chrissie Sievers, University of the Witwatersrand
• Date: Saturday, October 13th at 10:30 am
• Venue: KwaZulu-Natal Museum, 237 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburg 

For more information contact Barbara Dunn - dunn@camsol.net. Hosted by the South African Archaeological Society - KwaZulu-Natal Branch.