Paleo-landscapes and hydrology in the South African interior: implications for human history

<p>Recent research reveals that the arid western interior of South Africa has experienced substantially more</p> <p>humid conditions on several occasions during the last 70 000 years. These findings, likely regional in</p> <p>scope, speak to changes to the resource base available to prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Together with</p> <p>recent archaeological findings from this region, there has emerged a growing recognition that previously</p> <p>archaeologically overlooked areas of South Africa’s arid interior need to be included in models of human</p> <p>history. This presents new challenges for archaeologists and palaeoclimatologists, particularly given the</p> <p>prevalence of surficial, rather than stratified, archaeological evidence throughout much of this region.</p>