Tufas indicate prolonged periods of water availability linked to human occupation in the southern Kalahari

Research at Ga-Mohana Hill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the southern Kalahari, reveals that prolonged periods of water availability, indicated by relict tufas, were closely linked to human occupation during the Pleistocene. Analysis of 33 uranium-thorium dated samples spanning the last 110,000 years identified five distinct episodes of tufa formation, three of which align with known archaeological units at the site (~105 ka, ~31 ka, and ~15 ka). The study suggests that wet phases and human occupation were coupled in this region from approximately 240,000 to 71,000 years ago, but decoupled by around 20,000 years during the Last Glacial Maximum. This finding provides critical insights into the relationship between environmental change and human evolution, emphasizing the importance of water availability in shaping human settlement patterns.

von der Meden, J., Pickering, R., Schoville, B. J., Green, H., Weij, R., Hellstrom, J., Greig, A., Woodhead, J., Khumalo, W., & Wilkins, J. (2022). Tufas indicate prolonged periods of water availability linked to human occupation in the southern Kalahari. Plos One, 17(7), e0270104. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270104