A multi-disciplinary review of late Quaternary palaeoclimates and environments for Lesotho
Date
2016-07
Authors
Fitchett, J.M.
Grab, S.W
Bamford, M.K.
Mackay, A.W.
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Abstract
Lesotho provides a unique context for palaeoclimatic research. The small country is entirely landlocked
by South Africa, yet has considerable variation in topography, climate, and associated vegetation over an
approximate east–west transect. The region has been of archaeological interest for over a century, and hosts
many Early to Late Stone Age sites with occupation preceding 80 000 years before present. The eastern
Lesotho highlands are of interest to periglacial and glacial geomorphologists because of their well-preserved
relict landforms and contentious evidence for permafrost and niche glaciation during the late Quaternary.
However, continuous proxy records for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions for Lesotho are scarce and
hampered by a range of methodological shortfalls. These challenges include uncertain ages, poor sampling
resolution, and proxies extracted from archaeological excavations for which there may be bias in selection.
Inferences on palaeoclimates are thus based predominantly on archaeological and palaeogeomorphological
evidence for discrete periods during the late Quaternary. This review paper presents a more detailed
multidisciplinary synthesis of late Quaternary conditions in Lesotho. We simultaneously considered the
varying data that contribute to the under-studied palaeoenvironmental record for southern Africa. The
collective palaeoenvironmental data for eastern Lesotho were shown to be relatively contradictory, with
considerable variations in contemporaneous palaeoclimatic conditions within the study area. We argue that
although methodological challenges may contribute to this variation, the marked changes in topography
result in contrasting late Quaternary palaeoenvironments. Such environments are characterised by similar
contrasting microclimates and niche ecologies as are witnessed in the contemporary landscape. These
spatial variations within a relatively small landlocked country are of importance in understanding broader
southern African palaeoenvironmental change.
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Keywords
Lesotho, archaeology, geomorphology, palaeobotany
Citation
Fitchett, J.M.et al. 2016. A multi-disciplinary review of late Quaternary palaeoclimates and environments for Lesotho. South African Journal of Science 112 (7/8), pp.25-32.