Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T04:25:35.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Late Pleistocene records of speleothem stable isotopic compositions from Pinnacle Point on the South African south coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2018

Kerstin Braun*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
Miryam Bar-Matthews
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Alan Matthews
Affiliation:
Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
Avner Ayalon
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Richard M. Cowling
Affiliation:
African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Panagiotis Karkanas
Affiliation:
The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece
Erich C. Fisher
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
Kelsey Dyez
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Tami Zilberman
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Curtis W. Marean
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author at: Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. E-mail address: kbraun2@asu.edu (K. Braun).

Abstract

Highly resolved, well-dated paleoclimate records from the southern South African coast are needed to contextualize the evolution of the highly diverse extratropical plant communities of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) and to assess the environmental impacts on early human hunter-gatherers. We present new speleothem stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios (δ18Oc and δ13C) from two caves at Pinnacle Point, South Africa, covering the time between 330 and 43 ka. Composite δ18Oc and δ13C records were constructed for Staircase Cave and PP29 by combining all stable isotope analyses into a single time series and smoothing by a 3-point running mean. δ18Oc and δ13C values record changes in rainfall seasonality and the proportions of C3 and C4 plants in the vegetation, respectively. We show that in general increased summer rainfall brought about a wider spread of C4 grasses and retreat of the C3 plant–dominated GCFR communities. The occurrence of summer rainfall on the southern coast of South Africa was linked to total rainfall amounts in the interior region through tropical temperate troughs. These rainfall systems shifted the southern coastal climate toward more summer (winter) rainfall when precession was high (low) and/or the westerlies were in a northern (southern) position.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aggarwal, P.K., Romatschke, U., Araguás-Araguás, L.J., Belachew, D., Longstaffe, F.J., Berg, P., Schumacher, C., Funk, A., 2016. Proportions of convective and stratiform precipitation revealed in water isotope ratios. Nature Geoscience 9, 624629.Google Scholar
Albert, R.-M., Marean, C.W., 2012. The exploitation of plant resources by early Homo sapiens: the phytolith record from Pinnacle Point 13B Cave, South Africa. Geoarchaeology 27, 363384.Google Scholar
Allsopp, N., Colville, J.F., Verboom, G.A., 2014. Fynbos: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of a Megadiverse Region. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Almogi-Labin, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Shriki, D., Kolosovsky, E., Paterne, M., Schilman, B., Ayalon, A., Aizenshtat, Z., Matthews, A., 2009. Climatic variability during the last ~90 ka of the southern and northern Levantine Basin as evident from marine records and speleothems. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 28822896.Google Scholar
Baldini, J.U.L., McDermott, F., Baker, A., Baldini, L.M., Mattey, D.P., Railsback, L.B., 2005. Biomass effects on stalagmite growth and isotope ratios: a 20th century analogue from Wiltshire, England. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 240, 486494.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Rickaby, R.E.M., 2009. Migration of the subtropical front as a modulator of glacial climate. Nature 460, 380383.Google Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Gilmour, M., Matthews, A., Hawkesworth, C.J., 2003. Sea-land oxygen isotopic relationships from planktonic foraminifera and speleothems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and their implications for paleorainfall during interglacial intervals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67, 31813199.Google Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Kaufman, A.J., 1997. Late Quaternary paleoclimate in the eastern Mediterranean region from stable isotope analysis of speleothems at Soreq Cave, Israel. Quaternary Research 47, 155168.Google Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Marean, C.W., Jacobs, Z., Karkanas, P., Fisher, E.C., Herries, A.I.R., Brown, K.S., et al., 2010. A high resolution and continuous isotopic speleothem record of paleoclimate and paleoenvironment from 90-53 ka from Pinnacle Point on the south coast of South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 21312145.Google Scholar
Bergh, N.G., Verboom, G.A., Rouget, M., Cowling, R.M., 2014. Vegetation types of the Greater Cape Floristic Region. In: Allsop, N., Colville, J.F., Verboom, G.A. (Eds.), Fynbos: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of a Megadiverse Region. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 125.Google Scholar
Blamey, R., Reason, C.J.C., 2007. Relationship between Antarctic sea-ice and South African winter rainfall. Climate Research 33, 183193.Google Scholar
Boch, R., Spötl, C., Kramers, J., 2009. High-resolution isotope records of early Holocene rapid climate change from two coeval stalagmites of Katerloch Cave, Austria. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 25272538.Google Scholar
Bowen, G.J., 2008. Spatial analysis of the intra-annual variation of precipitation isotope ratios and its climatological corollaries. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 113, 110.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.S., 2015. Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary. 3rd ed. Academic Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Braun, K., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Zilberman, T., Matthews, A., 2017. Rainfall isotopic variability at the intersection between winter and summer rainfall regimes in coastal South Africa (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province). South African Journal of Geology 120, 323340.Google Scholar
Breecker, D.O., 2017. Atmospheric pCO2 control on speleothem stable carbon isotope compositions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 458, 5868.Google Scholar
Brown, K.S., 2011. The Sword in the Stone: Lithic Raw Material Exploitation in the Middle Stone Age at Pinnacle Point Site 5-6, Southern Cape, South Africa. University of Cape Town, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Brown, K.S., Marean, C.W., Herries, A.I.R., Jacobs, Z., Tribolo, C., Braun, D., Roberts, D.L., Meyer, M.C., Bernatchez, J.A., 2009. Fire as an engineering tool of early modern humans. Science 325, 859862.Google Scholar
Brown, K.S., Marean, C.W., Jacobs, Z., Schoville, B.J., Oestmo, S., Fisher, E.C., Bernatchez, J.A., Karkanas, P., Matthews, T., 2012. An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71,000 years ago in South Africa. Nature 491, 590593.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., 2010. South African palaeoenvironments during marine oxygen isotope stage 4: a context for the Howiesons Poort and Still Bay industries. Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 13591366.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Meadows, M.E., 2007. Late Quaternary dynamics of southern Africa’s winter rainfall zone. Earth-Science Reviews 84, 103138.Google Scholar
Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Shen, C.-C., Polyak, V.J., Asmerom, Y., Woodhead, J.D., Hellstrom, J.C., et al., 2013a. Improvements in 230Th dating, 230Th and 234U half-life values, and U–Th isotopic measurements by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 371–372, 8291.10.1016/j.epsl.2013.04.006Google Scholar
Cheng, H., Sinha, A., Cruz, F.W., Wang, X., Edwards, R.L., D’Horta, F.M., Ribas, C.C., Vuille, M., Stott, L.D., Auler, A.S., 2013b. Climate change patterns in Amazonia and biodiversity. Nature Communications 4, 1411.Google Scholar
Chevalier, M., Chase, B.M., 2015. Southeast African records reveal a coherent shift from high- to low-latitude forcing mechanisms along the east African margin across last glacial–interglacial transition. Quaternary Science Reviews 125, 117130.Google Scholar
Colville, J.F., Potts, A.J., Bradshaw, P.L., Measey, G.J., Snijman, D.A., Picker, M.D., Procheş, Ş., Bowie, R.C.K., Manning, J.C., 2014. Floristic and faunal Cape biochoria: do they exist? In: Allsopp, J.C., Colville, J.F., Verboom, G.A. (Eds.), Fynbos: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of a Megadiverse Region. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 7392.Google Scholar
Copeland, S.R., Cawthra, H.C., Fisher, E.C., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Cowling, R.M., le Roux, P.J., Hodgkins, J., Marean, C.W., 2016. Strontium isotope investigation of ingilate movement patterns on the Pleistocene Paleo-Agulhas Plain of the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 141, 6584.Google Scholar
Cowling, R.M., 1983. The occurrence of C3 and C4 grasses in fynbos and allied shrublands in the south eastern Cape, South Africa. Oecologia 58, 121127.Google Scholar
Cowling, R.M., Holmes, P.J., Rebelo, A.M., 1992. Plant diversity and endemism. In: Cowling, R.M. (Ed.), The Ecology of Fynbos: Nutrients, Fire and Diversity. Oxford University Press, Cape Town, pp. 62112.Google Scholar
Cowling, R.M., Lombard, A.T., 2002. Heterogenity, speciation/extinction history and climate: explaining regional plant diversity patterns in the Cape Floristic Region. Diversity and Distributions 8, 163179.Google Scholar
Cowling, R.M., Procheş, Ş., Partridge, T.C., 2009. Explaining the uniqueness of the Cape flora: incorporating geomorphic evolution as a factor for explaining its diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 51, 6474.Google Scholar
Denniston, R.F., González, L.A., Asmerom, Y., Polyak, V.J., Reagan, M.K., Saltzman, M.R., 2001. A high-resolution speleothem record of climatic variability at the Allerød-Younger Dryas transition in Missouri, central United States. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 176, 147155.Google Scholar
Dorale, J.A., Edwards, R.L., Ito, E., González, L.A., 1998. Climate and vegetation history of the midcontinent from 75 to 25 ka: a speleothem record from Crevice Cave, Missouri, USA. Science 282, 18711874.Google Scholar
Dorale, J.A., González, L.A., Reagan, M.K., Pickett, D.A., Murrell, M.T., Baker, R.G., 1992. A high-resolution record of Holocene climate change in speleothem calcite from Cold Water Cave, northeast Iowa. Science 258, 16261630.Google Scholar
Dorale, J.A., Liu, Z., 2009. Limitations of Hendy test criteria in judging the paleoclimatic suitability of speleothems and the need for replication. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 71, 7380.Google Scholar
Emrich, K., Ehhalt, D.H., Vogel, J.C., 1970. Carbon isotope fractionation during the precipitation of calcium carbonate. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 8, 363371.Google Scholar
Engelbrecht, C.J., Landman, W.A., 2016. Interannual variability of seasonal rainfall over the Cape south coast of South Africa and synoptic type association. Climate Dynamics 47, 295313.Google Scholar
Engelbrecht, C.J., Landman, W.A., Engelbrecht, F.A., Malherbe, J., 2015. A synoptic decomposition of rainfall over the Cape south coast of South Africa. Climate Dynamics 44, 25892607.Google Scholar
Fairchild, I.J., Borsato, A., Tooth, A.F., Frisia, S., Hawkesworth, C.J., Huang, Y., McDermott, F., Spiro, B., 2000. Controls on trace element (Sr-Mg) compositions of carbonate cave waters: implications for speleothem climatic records. Chemical Geology 166, 255269.Google Scholar
Fisher, E.C., Bar-Matthews, M., Jerardino, A., Marean, C.W., 2010. Middle and Late Pleistocene paleoscape modeling along the southern coast of South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 13821398.Google Scholar
Fritsch, F.N., Carlson, R.E., 1980. Monotone piecewise cubic interpolation. SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis 17, 238246.Google Scholar
Gascoyne, M., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1980. A paleotemperature record for the mid-Wisconsin in Vancouver Island. Nature 285, 474476.Google Scholar
Genty, D., Baker, A., Vokal, B., 2001. Intra- and inter-annual growth rate of modern stalagmites. Chemical Geology 176, 191212.Google Scholar
Genty, D., Blamart, D., Ghaleb, B., Plagnes, V., Causse, C., Bakalowicz, M., Zouari, K., et al., 2006. Timing and dynamics of the last deglaciation from European and North African δ13C stalagmite profiles-comparison with Chinese and South Hemisphere stalagmites. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 21182142.Google Scholar
Goldblatt, P., Manning, J.C., 2002. Plant diversity of the Cape region of southern Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89, 281302.Google Scholar
Grant, K.M., Rohling, E.J., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Medina-Elizalde, M., Ramsey, C.B., Satow, C., Roberts, A.P., 2012. Rapid coupling between ice volume and polar temperature over the past 150,000 years. Nature 491, 744747.Google Scholar
Hellstrom, J.C., Pickering, R., 2015. Recent advances and future prospects of the U–Th and U–Pb chronometers applicable to archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 56, 3240.Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., 1971. The isotopic geochemistry of speleothems—I. The calculation of the effects of different modes of formation in the isotopic composition of speleothems and their applicability as paleoclimate indicators. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 35, 801824.Google Scholar
Higgins, K.B., Lamb, A.J., van Wilgen, B.W., 1987. Root systems of selected plant species in mesic mountain fynbos in the Jonkershoek Valley, south-western Cape Province. South African Journal of Botany 53, 249257.Google Scholar
Hoare, D.B., Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C., Vlok, J.H.J., Euston-Brown, D.I.W., Palmer, A.R., Powrie, L.W., et al., 2006. Albany thicket biome. In: Mucina, L. Rutherford, M.C. (Eds.), The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp. 541567.Google Scholar
Holmgren, K., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Cooper, G.R.J., Lundblad, K., Partridge, T.C., Scott, L., Sithaldeen, R., Talma, A.S., Tyson, P.D., 2003. Persistent millennial-scale climatic variability over the past 25,000 years in Southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 23112326.Google Scholar
Hopley, P.J., Weedon, G.P., Marshall, J.D., Herries, A.I.R., Latham, A.G., Kuykendall, K.L., 2007. High- and low-latitude orbital forcing of early hominin habitats in South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 256, 419432.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Z., 2010. An OSL chronology for the sedimentary deposits from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B-A punctuated presence. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 289305.Google Scholar
Jerardino, A., Marean, C.W., 2010. Shellfish gathering, marine paleoecology and modern human behavior: perspectives from cave PP13B, Pinnacle Point, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 412424.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J., Masson-Delmotte, V., Cattani, O., Dreyfus, G., Falourd, S., Hoffmann, G., Minster, B., et al., 2007. Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000 years. Science 317, 793796.Google Scholar
Kanner, L.C., Buenning, N.H., Stott, L.D., Timmermann, A., Noone, D.C., 2014. The role of soil processes in δ18O terrestrial climate proxies. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 28, 239252.Google Scholar
Karkanas, P., Brown, K.S., Fisher, E.C., Jacobs, Z., Marean, C.W., 2015. Interpreting human behavior from depositional rates and combustion features through the study of sedimentary microfacies at site Pinnacle Point 5-6, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 85, 121.Google Scholar
Karkanas, P., Goldberg, P., 2010. Site formation processes at Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa): resolving stratigraphic and depositional complexities with micromorphology. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 256273.Google Scholar
Lachniet, M.S., 2009. Climatic and environmental controls on speleothem oxygen-isotope values. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 412432.Google Scholar
Lachniet, M.S., 2015. Are aragonite stalagmites reliable paleoclimate proxies? Tests for oxygen isotope time-series replication and equilibrium. Geological Society of America Bulletin 127, 15211533.Google Scholar
Laskar, J., Robutel, P., Joutel, F., Gastineau, M., Correia, A.C.M., Levrard, B., 2004. A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth. Astronomy and Astrophysics 428, 261285.Google Scholar
Lutjeharms, J.R.E., 2006. The Agulhas Current Springer-Verlag: New York.Google Scholar
Macron, C., Pohl, B., Richard, Y., Bessafi, M., Macron, C., Pohl, B., Richard, Y., Bessafi, M., 2014. How do tropical temperate troughs form and develop over southern Africa? Journal of Climatology 27, 16331647.Google Scholar
Malan, J.A., 1990. The Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Bredasdorp Group, Southern Cape Province. Master’s thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town.National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., 2010. Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Western Cape Province, South Africa) in context: the Cape floral kingdom, shellfish, and modern human origins. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 425443.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., 2014. The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia. Journal of Human Evolution 77, 1740.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., 2015. An evolutionary anthropological perspective on modern human origins. Annual Review of Anthropology 44, 533556.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., Bar-Matthews, M., Bernatchez, J.A., Fisher, E.C., Goldberg, P., Herries, A.I.R., Jacobs, Z., et al., 2007. Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene. Nature 449, 906909.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., Bar-Matthews, M., Fisher, E.C., Goldberg, P., Herries, A.I.R., Karkanas, P., Nilssen, P.J., Thompson, E., 2010. The stratigraphy of the Middle Stone Age sediments at Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa). Journal of Human Evolution 59, 234255.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., Cawthra, H.C., Cowling, R.M., Esler, K.J., Fisher, E.C., Milewski, A., Potts, A.J., Singles, E., De Vynck, J., 2014. Stone age people in a changing South African greater Cape Floristic Region. In: Allsopp, N., Colville, J.F., Verboom, G.A. (Eds.), Fynbos: Ecology: Evolution, and Conservation of a Megadiverse Region . Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 164199.Google Scholar
Martínez-Méndez, G., Zahn, R., Hall, I.R., Peeters, F.J.C., Pena, L.D., Cacho, I., Negre, C., 2010. Contrasting multiproxy reconstructions of surface ocean hydrography in the Agulhas Corridor and implications for the Agulhas Leakage during the last 345,000 years. Paleoceanography 25, PA4227.Google Scholar
Matthews, T., Marean, C.W., Nilssen, P.J., 2009. Micromammals from the Middle Stone Age (92–167 ka) at Cave PP13B, Pinnacle Point, south coast, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 44, 112120.Google Scholar
Matthews, T., Rector, A.L., Jacobs, Z., Herries, A.I.R., Marean, C.W., 2011. Environmental implications of micromammals accumulated close to the MIS 6 to MIS 5 transition at Pinnacle Point Cave 9 (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 302, 213229.Google Scholar
McBrearty, S., Brooks, A.S., 2000. The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39, 453563.Google Scholar
McDermott, F., 2004. Paleo-climate reconstruction from stable isotopic variations in speleothems: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 901918.Google Scholar
Mickler, P.J., Stern, L.A., Banner, J.L., 2006. Large kinetic isotope effects in modern speleothems. GSA Bulletin 118, 6581.Google Scholar
Midgley, G.F., van der Heyden, , , F., 1999. Form and function in perennial plants. In: Dean, W.R.J., Milton, S.J. (Eds.), The Karoo: Ecological Patterns and Processes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 91106.Google Scholar
Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C., 2006. The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19. South African National Biodiversity Institute: Pretoria.Google Scholar
National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2016. Global Surface Summary of the Day (accessed September 9, 2016). https://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov/maps/ncei.Google Scholar
Oster, J.L., Montañez, I.P., Santare, L.R., Sharp, W.D., Wong, C., Cooper, K.M., 2015. Stalagmite records of hydroclimate in central California during termination 1. Quaternary Science Reviews 127, 199214.Google Scholar
Peeters, F.J.C., Acheson, R., Brummer, G.-J.A., de Ruijter, W.P.M., Schneider, R.R., Ganssen, G.M., Ufkes, E., Kroon, D., 2004. Vigorous exchange between the Indian and Atlantic oceans at the end of the past five glacial periods. Nature 430, 661665.Google Scholar
Poage, M.A., Chamberlain, C.P., 2001. Empirical relationships between elevation and the stable isotope composition of precipitation and surface waters: considerations for studies of paleoelevation change. American Journal of Science 301, 115.Google Scholar
Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., Bateman, M.D., Kirsten, K.L., Mäusbacher, R., Haberzettl, T., Chase, B.M., 2015. Vegetation and climate dynamics during the last glacial period in the fynbos-afrotemperate forest ecotone, southern Cape, South Africa. Quaternary International 404, 136149.Google Scholar
R Core Team. 2017. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. https://www.r-project.org/.Google Scholar
Rebelo, A.G., Boucher, C., Helme, N., Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C., 2006. Fynbos biome. In: Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. (Eds.), The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria pp. 52219.Google Scholar
Rector, A.L., Reed, K.E., 2010. Middle and late Pleistocene faunas of Pinnacle Point and their paleoecological implications. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 340357.Google Scholar
Rohling, E.J., Grant, K.M., Bolshaw, M., Roberts, A.P., Siddall, M., Hemleben, C., Kucera, M., 2009. Antarctic temperature and global sea level closely coupled over the past five glacial cycles. Nature Geoscience 2, 500504.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K., Araguás-Araguás, L.J., Gonfiantini, R., 1993. Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation. In: Swart, P.K.Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., Savin, S. (Eds.), Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., pp. 136.Google Scholar
Scholz, D., Hoffmann, D.L., 2011. StalAge – an algorithm designed for construction of speleothem age models. Quaternary Geochronology 6, 369382.Google Scholar
Schulze, B.R., 1972. South Africa. In: Groffiths, J.F. (Ed.), Climates of Africa. World Survey of Climatology. Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 501566.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Neumann, F.H., Brook, G.A., Bousman, C.B., Norström, E., Metwally, A.A., 2012. Terrestrial fossil-pollen evidence of climate change during the last 26 thousand years in Southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 32, 100118.Google Scholar
Simon, M.H., Ziegler, M., Bosman, J., Barker, S., Reason, C.J.C., Hall, I.R., 2015. Eastern South African hydroclimate over the past 270,000 years. Nature Geoscience Reports 5, 18153.Google Scholar
Smith, E.I., Jacobs, Z., Johnsen, R., Ren, M., Fisher, E.C., Oestmo, S., Wilkins, J., et al., 2018. Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba eruption about 74,000 years ago. Nature 555, 511515.Google Scholar
Stríkis, N.M., Cruz, F.W.J., Cheng, H., Karmann, I., Edwards, R.L., Vuille, M., Wang, X., de Paula, M.S., Novello, V.F., Auler, A.S., 2011. Abrupt variations in South American monsoon rainfall during the Holocene based on a speleothem record from central-eastern Brazil. Geology 39, 10751078.Google Scholar
Stuut, J.-B.W., Prins, M.A., Schneider, R.R., Weltje, G.J., Jansen, J.H.F., Postma, G., 2002. A 300-kyr record of aridity and wind strength in southwestern Africa: inferences from grain-size distributions of sediments on Walvis Ridge, SE Atlantic. Marine Geology 180, 221233.Google Scholar
Talma, A.S., Netterberg, F., 1983. Stable isotope abundances in calcretes. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 11, 221233.Google Scholar
Talma, A.S., Vogel, J.C., 1992. Late Quaternary paleotemperatures derived from a speleothem from Cango Caves, Cape Province, South Africa. Quaternary Research 37, 203213.Google Scholar
Theron, J.N., Malan, J.A., Hill, R.S., 1989. Lithostratigraphy of the Skurweberg Formation (Table Mountain Group). South African Committee for Stratigraphy, Lithostratigraphic Series 3. Govenrnment Printer, Pretoria.Google Scholar
Todd, M.C., Washington, R., 1999. Circulation anomalies associated with tropical-temperate toughs in southern Africa and the south west Indian Ocean. Climate Dynamics 15, 937951.Google Scholar
Tyson, P.D., 1986. Climatic Change and Variability in Southern Africa. Oxford University Press: Cape Town.Google Scholar
Tyson, P.D., Preston-Whyte, R.A., 2000. The Weather and Climate of Southern Africa. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Matthews, A., Frumkin, A., Dayan, U., Halicz, L., Almogi-Labin, A., Schilman, B., 2006. Paleoclimate and location of the border between Mediterranean climate region and the Saharo–Arabian Desert as revealed by speleothems from the northern Negev Desert, Israel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 249, 384399.Google Scholar
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Matthews, A., Ayalon, A., Frumkin, A., 2010. Middle-Late Quaternary paleoclimate of northern margins of the Saharan-Arabian Desert: reconstruction from speleothems of Negev Desert, Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 26472662.Google Scholar
Van Zinderen Bakker, E.M., 1976. The evolution of Late Quaternary palaeoclimates of southern Africa. Palaeoecology of Africa 9, 160202.Google Scholar
Van Zinderen Bakker, E.M., 1983. The Late Quaternary history of climate and vegetation in East and southern Africa. Bothalia 14, 369375.Google Scholar
Van Zinderen Bakker, E.M., Illies, J., 1978. Quaternary vegetation changes in southern Africa. In: Werger, M.J.A. (Ed.), Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, Springer, The Hague, the Netherlands, pp. 131143.Google Scholar
Vlok, J.H.J., Euston-Brown, D.I.W., Cowling, R.M., Hoffman, M.T., 2003. Acocks’ Valley Bushveld 50 years on: new perspectives on the delimitation, characterisation and origin of subtropical thicket vegetation. South African Journal of Botany 69, 2751.Google Scholar
Vogel, J.C., Fuls, A., Ellis, R.P., 1978. The geographical distribution of Kranz grasses in South Africa. South African Journal of Science 74, 209215.Google Scholar
Wadley, L., 2015. Those marvellous millennia: the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa. Aznia: Archaeological Research in Africa 50, 155226.Google Scholar
Wilkins, J., Brown, K.S., Oestmo, S., Pereira, T., Ranhorn, K.L., Schoville, B.J., Marean, C.W., 2017. Lithic technological responses to Late Pleistocene glacial cycling at Pinnacle Point Site 5-6, South Africa. PLoS ONE 12, e0174051.Google Scholar
Williams, H.M., 2015. Stable Isotope Analysis of Archaeological and Modern Micromammals from the Greater Cape Floristic Region near Pinnacle Point, on the South Coast of South Africa. PhD dissertation, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Williams, P.W., King, D.N.T., Zhao, J., Collerson, K.D., 2005. Late Pleistocene to Holocene composite speleothem 18O and 13C chronologies from South Island, New Zealand—did a global Younger Dryas really exist? Earth and Planetary Science Letters 230, 301317.Google Scholar
Willis, C.K., Cowling, R.M., Lombard, A.T., 1996. Patterns of endemism in the limestone flora of South African lowland fynbos. Biodiversity Conservation 5, 5573.Google Scholar
Winnick, M.J., Chamberlain, C.P., Caves, J.K., Welker, J.M., 2014. Quantifying the isotopic “continental effect. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 406, 123133.Google Scholar
Wong, C.I., Breecker, D.O., 2015. Advancements in the use of speleothems as climate archives. Quaternary Science Reviews 127, 118.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Braun et al. supplementary material

Braun et al. supplementary material 1

Download Braun et al. supplementary material(File)
File 99.7 KB
Supplementary material: File

Braun et al. supplementary material

Braun et al. supplementary material 2

Download Braun et al. supplementary material(File)
File 61.4 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Braun et al. supplementary material

Braun et al. supplementary material 3

Download Braun et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 4.7 MB