Early human environments at Florisbad lack a simple modern counterpart
Early humans at Florisbad and Lombard’s Drift lived amid combinations of vegetation and rainfall that lack a straightforward modern counterpart in the region. A peer-reviewed reconstruction uses plant waxes, other environmental evidence and new sediment ages to recover those settings. It complicates attempts to describe ancient habitats simply by borrowing the labels of today’s landscapes.
Science··Night
Ancient habitats differ from modern grasslands
Early Homo sapiens encountered environments in central South Africa whose vegetation and rainfall did not fit the combinations found there today. A peer-reviewed study reconstructs these settings at Florisbad and nearby Lombard’s Drift. The findings add detail to the ecological circumstances of early human life: present-day grasslands or savannas cannot automatically stand in for the landscapes preserved in the archaeological layers.[1], [2]
Around 200,000 years ago, the reconstructed setting included substantial contributions from shrubs and plants associated with more temperate conditions, with freshwater available. Rainfall was more evenly distributed across the year than under the modern seasonal regime. Researchers from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS, and Germany’s Kiel University led the international team. Their environmental comparison distinguishes these combinations from the broad dry grasslands dominating central South Africa today.[2]
Plant waxes preserve rainfall and vegetation clues
Organic wax molecules from leaves can survive in sediment. Their carbon isotopes help distinguish contributions from plants with different photosynthetic pathways, while hydrogen isotopes offer clues to precipitation and the water cycle. Researchers interpreted these measurements alongside pollen and animal remains. Combining indicators exposes environmental mixtures that a single vegetation measure could overlook, rather than treating one surviving trace as a complete picture.[1]
New sediment ages refine the archaeological setting
Luminescence dating supplied new ages for Florisbad’s layers, revisiting the context of its well-known human cranium. Historical excavation records still leave uncertainty about relationships between some layers. Changes in stone-tool transport, use and discard were considered alongside the environmental reconstruction. Possible human flexibility is an archaeological interpretation of those associations; the study does not experimentally establish that a particular climate change determined a particular behaviour.[1]
The tool comparison concerns the work invested in making and maintaining stone implements. In periods when food was probably less plentiful or harder to access, tools were more heavily retouched, potentially extending their usable life. Where resources were more accessible, quickly made flakes with little retouching could suffice for cutting meat. These differences concern subsistence practices, including management of raw materials and the processing of animal carcasses.[2]
Related columns
For more information on this topic, you can read the related columns.
