Follow the Senqu: Maloti-Drakensberg Paleoenvironments and Implications for Early Human Dispersals into Mountain Systems

Stewart, Brian; Parker, Adrian; Dewar, Genevieve; Morley, Mike W.; Allott, Lucy

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_14

Cited by 37 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 124 publications

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“…While a minimum figure, this estimate is consistent with estimates for a 3–5 °C decrease in temperature at the LGM based on stable isotope data from slightly lower elevation sites in western Lesotho (Smith et al ., ). The charcoal assemblage at Melikane just before the LGM shows an increase in frost‐tolerant taxa and reduced tree cover, possibly restricted to sheltered river valleys (Stewart et al ., in press). Evidence for limited glaciation in the Maloti–Drakensberg around the LGM similarly points to considerably reduced temperatures year‐round (Mills et al ., ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stable isotope evidence of late MIS 3 to middle Holocene palaeoenvironments from Sehonghong Rockshelter, eastern Lesotho

Loftus

Stewart²,

Dewar

et al. 2015

J Quaternary Science

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Evidence for human occupation of southern Africa's high-altitude Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains is surprisingly common in the last glacial, yet the attraction of this relatively severe, cold region for hunter-foragers remains unclear. Sehonghong Rockshelter (1870 m asl), in the eastern Lesotho Highlands, provides evidence for human occupation spanning Marine Isotope Stage 3 through the late Holocene. Excellent organic preservation provides opportunities for establishing multiple palaeoenvironmental proxy records to address this conundrum. In high-altitude zones, the proportions of C 3 and C 4 plants archived in soil organic matter and faunal enamel provide sensitive indicators of past temperature shifts. We first extended the radiocarbon chronology to ca. 35 ka using ABOx-SC radiocarbon dates of charcoals. Next we analysed stable isotopes in soil organic matter from the sedimentary sequence, and in faunal tooth enamel from the newly dated lower strata. The results suggest, predictably, that C 3 vegetation and low temperatures prevailed until early warming at ca. 15 ka, with a series of sharp shifts thereafter. Low values for d 13 C and d 18 O in faunal enamel ca. 33 ka suggest a negative temperature excursion at this time, and potentially greater precipitation as snowfall in the highlands compared with lower altitudes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies have applied the stable isotope composition of SOM in stratigraphic sequences to reconstruct changing C 3 /C 4 ratios of the overlying vegetation (e.g. Tieszen et al ., ; Parker et al ., ; Stewart et al ., in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Stable isotope evidence of late MIS 3 to middle Holocene palaeoenvironments from Sehonghong Rockshelter, eastern Lesotho

Loftus

Stewart²,

Dewar

et al. 2015

J Quaternary Science

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“…Its occupation ceased after the transitional phase, and no evidence from the later Pleistocene LSA has been recovered. At Sehonghong in Lesotho, occupation started with the Howiesons Poort and continued up to historical times (Mitchell 1994;Stewart et al 2016). Sehonghong does not preserve pre-Howiesons Poort occupations and has an occupation hiatus during the Last Glacial Maximum (Pargeter et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Excavations at Umhlatuzana Rockshelter, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a Stratigraphic and Taphonomic Evaluation

et al. 2020

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Umhlatuzana rockshelter has an occupation sequence spanning the last 70,000 years. It is one of the few sites with deposits covering the Middle to Later Stone Age transition (~40,000–30,000 years BP) in southern Africa. Comprehending the site’s depositional history and occupation sequence is thus important for the broader understanding of the development of Homo sapiens’ behavior. The rockshelter was first excavated in the 1980s by Jonathan Kaplan. He suggested that the integrity of the late Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age sediments was compromised by large-scale sediment movement. In 2018, we initiated a high-resolution geoarchaeological study of the site to clarify the site formation processes. Here, we present the results of the excavation and propose a revised stratigraphic division of the Pleistocene sequence based on field observations, sedimentological (particle size) analyses, and cluster analysis. The taphonomy of the site is assessed through phytolith and geochemical (pH, loss on ignition, stable carbon isotope) analyses. The results indicate a consistent sedimentological environment characterized by in situ weathering. The analysis of the piece-plotted finds demonstrates semihorizontal layering of archaeologically dense zones and more sterile ones. There was no indication of large-scale postdepositional sediment movement. We show that the low-density archaeological horizons in the upper part of the Pleistocene sequence are best explained by the changing patterns of sedimentation rate.

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“…Relative to the Maloti-Drakensberg, the Karoo and highveld grasslands west of the Caledon River experience lower and more unreliable rainfall, have few natural shelters, are ecologically more uniform, and have more episodic archaeological records (59). For groups inhabiting such areas, gaining access to resource-rich, heterogeneously structured uplands (35,36,59) would have incentivized the establishment and maintenance of exchange relationships with highland foragers. Such transbiome connections recall key aspects of hxaro gift-exchange networks since the Ju/'hoãnsi focused their hxaro ties on individuals living in areas with resources complementary to their own and over distances of up to 200 km (13,14).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Archaeologists have long suspected that ostrich eggshell artifacts found in highland Lesotho and areas of South Africa below the Maloti-Drakensberg Escarpment were imported from elsewhere (21,31). The social connections and human dispersals underwritten by these sorts of material movements may have been influenced by southeastern Africa's steep climate gradients and resultant ecological contrasts (35,36). Our results support both hypotheses by suggesting that archaeologically recovered ostrich eggshell beads from highland Lesotho originated from groups occupying the more water-stressed subcontinental interior.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Ostrich eggshell bead strontium isotopes reveal persistent macroscale social networking across late Quaternary southern Africa

Stewart

Zhao

Mitchell

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Hunter-gatherer exchange networks dampen subsistence and reproductive risks by building relationships of mutual support outside local groups that are underwritten by symbolic gift exchange.Hxaro, the system of delayed reciprocity between Ju/’hoãn individuals in southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert, is the best-known such example and the basis for most analogies and models of hunter-gatherer exchange in prehistory. However, its antiquity, drivers, and development remain unclear, as they do for long-distance exchanges among African foragers more broadly. Here we show through strontium isotope analyses of ostrich eggshell beads from highland Lesotho, and associated strontium isoscape development, that such practices stretch back into the late Middle Stone Age. We argue that these exchange items originated beyond the macroband from groups occupying the more water-stressed subcontinental interior. Tracking the emergence and persistence of macroscale, transbiome social networks helps illuminate the evolution of social strategies needed to thrive in stochastic environments, strategies that in our case study show persistence over more than 33,000 y.

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Follow the Senqu: Maloti-Drakensberg Paleoenvironments and Implications for Early Human Dispersals into Mountain Systems

Cited by 37 publications

References 124 publications

Stable isotope evidence of late MIS 3 to middle Holocene palaeoenvironments from Sehonghong Rockshelter, eastern Lesotho

Stable isotope evidence of late MIS 3 to middle Holocene palaeoenvironments from Sehonghong Rockshelter, eastern Lesotho

New Excavations at Umhlatuzana Rockshelter, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a Stratigraphic and Taphonomic Evaluation

Ostrich eggshell bead strontium isotopes reveal persistent macroscale social networking across late Quaternary southern Africa

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