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Vegetation and environmental changes at the Middle Stone Age site of Wonderkrater, Limpopo, South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2017

Elysandre Puech ,
Dunia H. Urrego ,
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi ,
Lucinda Backwell  and
Francesco d’Erricoc
Elysandre Puech
Affiliation:
Paleoclimatology and Marine Paleoenvironments Laboratory, EPHE PSL Research University, 75014 Paris, France Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France De la Préhistoire á l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy St. Hilaire, CS 50 023, 33615 Pessac, France
Dunia H. Urrego
Affiliation:
Paleoclimatology and Marine Paleoenvironments Laboratory, EPHE PSL Research University, 75014 Paris, France Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi*
Affiliation:
Paleoclimatology and Marine Paleoenvironments Laboratory, EPHE PSL Research University, 75014 Paris, France Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
Lucinda Backwell
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Studies Institute and DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
Francesco d’Erricoc
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Studies Institute and DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author at: Paleoclimatology and Marine Paleoenvironments Laboratory, École Pratique de Hautes Études, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, 75014 Paris, France. E-mail address: mf.sanchezgoni@epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr (M.F. Sánchez Goñi).
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Abstract

Wonderkrater, a Middle Stone Age site in the interior of South Africa, is a spring and peat mound featuring both paleoclimatic and archaeological records. The site preserves three small MSA lithic assemblages with age estimates of 30 ka, >45 ka and 138.01±7.7 ka. Here we present results of the pollen analysis of a core retrieved from the middle of the peat mound, which covers, with hiatuses, the timespan between ca. 70±10 ka and 30 ka. Pollen percentages of terrestrial, local aquatic, and semi-aquatic plants reveal changes in the regional climate and in the water table of the spring. Results identify regional wet conditions at ca. 70±10 ka, followed by a dry and a wet period between 60 ka and 30 ka. Superimposed on these three phases, recurring changes in the size and depth of the water table are observed between >45 ka and 30 ka. Wet conditions at 70 ka and 30 ka are tentatively correlated here with Marine Isotope Stage 4 and Heinrich Stadial 3, respectively. A warm and dry savanna landscape was present during human occupation older than 45 ka, and a wet phase was contemporaneous with the final occupation, dated at ~30 ka.

Keywords

Southern AfricaLate PleistocenePollenClimate changePeat moundSavannaMiddle Stone AgePaleoenvironment
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 88 , Issue 2 , September 2017 , pp. 313 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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