Publication Date:
2017-08-14
Description:
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.
Print ISSN:
0033-5894
Electronic ISSN:
1096-0287
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
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