Geoarchaeology at Gi, a middle stone age and later stone age site in the Northwest Kalahari

Abstract

Gi with sealed middle stone age and later stone age occurrences is located in the Dobe Valley along the Botswana-Namibia border. The phases of middle stone age settlement were linked to a semiarid streamway during the early Upper Pleistocene. A major humid interval followed, when a large lake was ponded in the Dobe Valley. Later stone age settlement appeared after this lake disappeared and was replaced by a mosaic of pans (ephemeral lakes). Subsequently, another period of humid environment favoured another valley-wide lake during the late Upper Pleistocene. Later stone age settlement resumed when this second lake deteriorated into the modern pan terrains of the Dobe Valley. In total, the Gi beds record multiple environmental changes both more humid and more arid than present during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, as well as a variable array of adaptive opportunities for prehistoric settlement.