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Aeolianites and cemented beach deposits on South Africa's Cape coast preserve evidence of events that transpired on them when they were composed of unconsolidated sand. Over the past decades, numerous Pleistocene vertebrate tracksites have been identified on aeolianite palaeosurfaces in the Garden Route National Park, West Coast National Park, and Addo Elephant National Park. In the Garden Route National Park alone, 57 Pleistocene vertebrate tracksites have been discovered. An equilibrium exists, whereby new sites become exposed through cliff-collapse events, while known sites slump into the ocean, are eroded through the action of wind and water, or are destroyed through wave action. Engraved graffiti poses a further threat. These sites complement the traditional body fossil record, and have significant palaeoenvironmental and palaeoanthropological implications. Hominin sites are of global importance: one contains the oldest tracks attributed to Homo sapiens, others contain patterns made in sand by ancestral humans and constitutes a form of early palaeoart. Collectively, these sites have substantial geoheritage value. The discoveries create management questions: which sites require active management, and how should they be ranked in importance? Factors which need to be considered in developing a management strategy include the scientific and heritage value of the sites, whether recovery or replication is preferable, the presence or absence of suitable repositories, the level of the threat to site integrity, the accessibility of the site, and the feasibility of recovery. Checklists containing appropriate criteria and questions can form tools in assessing the importance of these ichnosites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though music is inextricably part of the social fabric of past and present societies, it has not received in-depth attention in the archaeological literature from South Africa. This topic received the most attention in rock art studies, where images are mainly discussed concerning the trance dance and musical bow playing. Here we focus on flute playing in rock art depictions from the Cape region. To contextualise our data on flute playing in the rock art imagery, we discuss South African ethnographic instances of reed flute playing. We describe four rock art scenes, from the Attakwas and Ezeljagdspoort sites in the Klein Karoo, and Zimri Shelter and the Procession Shelter in the Cederberg, with figures that are playing what is highly likely to be flutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]