A multi-disciplinary review of late Quaternary palaeoclimates and environments for Lesotho

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dc.citation.doi10.17159/sajs.2016/20160045en_ZA
dc.citation.issue7/8en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorFitchett, J.M.
dc.contributor.authorGrab, S.W
dc.contributor.authorBamford, M.K.
dc.contributor.authorMackay, A.W.
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-09T10:10:03Z
dc.date.available2017-01-09T10:10:03Z
dc.date.issued2016-07
dc.description.abstractLesotho 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.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianNCS2016en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationFitchett, 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.en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/21602
dc.journal.titleSouth African Journal of Scienceen_ZA
dc.journal.volume112en_ZA
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.rights© 2016. The Author(s). Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.en_ZA
dc.subjectLesothoen_ZA
dc.subjectarchaeologyen_ZA
dc.subjectgeomorphologyen_ZA
dc.subjectpalaeobotanyen_ZA
dc.titleA multi-disciplinary review of late Quaternary palaeoclimates and environments for Lesothoen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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