Using leaf waxes and pollen from hominid Cave sediments to place the emergence of modern man in a paleoclimate context

We will apply multi-proxy techniques from the emerging field of molecular
paleohydrology and pollen analysis. Specifically, we seek to: I) infer vegetation shifts
by quantifying the concentration of leaf waxes (n-alkanes) that belong to different
types of plants (e.g. grasses, shrubs, trees) and measurement of their carbon
isotopic (δ13C) composition, and conducting pollen assemblage counts II) infer shifts
in moisture sourcing (precipitation) by measuring the hydrogen isotopic composition
(δD) of specific compound.
Sample analysis will be conducted at the different laboratories where samples will
also, be stored prior to analysis: FARLAB, University of Bergen: in-house state-of-the-art national infrastructure for isotope analysis, leaf wax-derived δ13C and δD, BIO
pollen laboratory, University of Bergen; BIOMARKER laboratory at LDEO.
Sample measurements and sediment preparation for analysis cannot be carried out
in South Africa, as this specific compound specific method is not offered by a lab in
South Africa and funding for this project resides in Norway.