PLEISTOCENE HOMINID BIOGEOGRAPHY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA FROM MICROMAMMALIAN EVIDENCE

Southern African Pleistocene hominids seem to have extended their range progressively further south with time but not beyond the current limits of the Savanna Biome until the Late Pleistocene. During the Early Pleistocene Australopithecus spp. occurred no further south than about 28ºS. In the Middle Pleistocene Homo spp. expanded rather further south on the inland plateau and considerably southwards at low altitudes along the coast. By the Late Pleistocene Homo s. sapiens was widely distributed in the less arid parts of the subregion.

Micromammalian evidence from Pleistocene palaeontological and archaeological sites in Zambia and South Africa suggests that site choice remained remarkably consistent throughout the Pleistocene: common denominators include a heterogeneous habitat, a nearby water supply and an equable climate. The evidence further indicates that hominids only occupied the more southerly parts of their range at times when conditions were approximately as they are today. Any reduction in climate equability is likely to have affected these creatures and such a reduction will have taken place first at higher latitudes. At times of more extreme conditions, when temperatures were lower, it is probable that high altitude locations in Zambia and, perhaps especially, South Africa would have been unsuitable for such tropical/subtropical taxa before the regular use of fire. Given the hominids’ apparent reliance on a regular water supply, increased aridity is also likely to have driven them from some regions. Again because of their reliance on water, it is suggested that hominids are likely to have moved between tropical and subtropical habitats along rivers and lakes rather than rift valleys per se, as has previously been proposed.