Holocene paleoenvironmental change in southeastern Africa (Makwe Rockshelter, Zambia): Implications for the spread of pastoralism

Abstract

Abstract The paleoenvironmental conditions surrounding the origins of pastoralism and the movement of herders from eastern to southern Africa sometime between ∼4000 and 2000 ybp have been much debated. We lack, however, detailed paleoenvironmental data from sites sampling the hunter-to-herder transition in southeastern Africa, the likely corridor from eastern to southern Africa for early pastoralists. Here we report on new paleoenvironmental data from a site in the under-sampled area of eastern Zambia, Makwe Rockshelter, which has two aggregates of archaeological horizons representing the mid-Holocene (∼5700-5000 ybp) and the late Holocene (∼1600-800 ybp). The mid-Holocene sediments at Makwe document a foraging society, whereas the late Holocene sediments include both wild game and domestic livestock. Using stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of herbivore enamel (n = 107), we show that the shift from mid-Holocene to late Holocene paleoenvironments was characterized by an increase in C4 vegetation. These data are complemented by paleoenvironmental records from Lake Malawi that show that C4 vegetation peaked after ∼2000 ybp and was coincident with the onset of cooler, more arid climates. This combined paleoenvironmental record has implications for the spread of pastoralism across southeastern Africa between ∼3000 and 2000 ybp and potential ‘animal disease barriers’ these early herders may have faced.