LATE HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, ZIMBABWE: USING SEDIMENTS, SOILS, AND ISOTOPES TO ADDRESS THE TRANSITION FROM FORAGING TO FARMING

Hunting-and-gathering was largely replaced by farming and pastoralism between ca. 2,000 and 1,200 years ago in southern Africa. The role of climate change, and environmental and cultural interactions during this transition is not well understood in northwestern Zimbabwe. Carbon isotope signatures, soil development, erosion, and sedimentation rates in three drainage basins were examined to reveal environmental change in the region. These results are paired with archaeological finds to address how local environmental conditions affected human landscape use throughout this culturally dynamic period.