ABSTRACT
Southern Africa during the Pleistocene is characterised by a variable climate, and rain regimes were periodically subjected to drastic changes (Blome et al., 2012; Dansgaard et al., 1993; Jouzel et al., 2007; Petit et al., 1999; Scholz et al., 2007; Shackleton, 1982; Thackeray, 2007; Waelbroeck et al., 2002; Ziegler et al., 2013). It is often reasoned that climatic and environmental developments influenced human behaviour during the African Late Pleistocene (e.g., Compton, 2011; Henshilwood, 2008a; Marean, 2010; Bar-Matthews et al., 2010; McCall, 2007; McCall and Thomas, 2012; Ziegler et al., 2013). Especially, the appearance and disappearance of the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes, characterised by ‘precocious archaeological records’ have been linked to climate change. However, these complexes are distributed over large parts of southern Africa (e.g., Jacobs et al., 2008a; Henshilwood, 2012; Lombard, 2012). In addition, we know little of the local environmental settings of many Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites. Reconstructing local (Sea Surface) temperatures and precipitation regimes is difficult as it is unclear how the cold Benguela and warm Agulhas currents (Figure 1), the subtropical convergence and northern and southern hemisphere forcing behaved and what effect this had on temperatures and precipitation (compare for example Bar-Matthews et al., 2010; Chase, 2010; Jacobs et al., 2008b; Stuut et al.,
2004). In addition, recent research shows that we cannot simply juxtapose global climatic trends recorded in ice and deep sea cores on the local South African situation (Blome et al., 2012; Chase, 2010; Chase and Meadows, 2007).
