Hoedjiespunt
Hoedjiespunt is a Middle Pleistocene aged hominid fossil-bearing locality on the West Coast of South Africa, near the town of Saldanha Bay. The site is located on a penninsula overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
History of Investigations
Prior to the early 1990's Hoedjiespunt had been known for several years as a fossil locality after roadworks had exposed abundant bone when a grader dug into a fossilized sand dune. Graham Avery of the South African Museum recovered a number of fossils at this time[1]. In 1993, Lee Berger found a single fossil hominid tooth in fragments eroding from the surface of the deposit and following this discovery, John Parkington of the University of Cape Town and Berger undertook a series of seasonal excavations that recovered many thousands of fossils including more hominid remains[1].
Recovered Fossils
Of the many thousands of fossils recovered from Hoedjiespunt, the hominid remains include numerous teeth, skull fragments and a tibia shaft all from a juvenile hominid attributed to Homo heidelbergensis[2].. Other fossils include seals, antelope and carnivores.
Geology
Hoedjiespunt is an ancient Brown Hyena lair dug into the side of a sand dune. It is likely that at the time of formation the site was many kilometers from the ocean. The site became fossilized under a large calcrete formation.
age of the deposits
Absolute dates of the site suggest and age of around 280,000 years before present [2].