Holocene book review: Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa: Physical and Human Dimensions

Abstract

There are at least two main reasons why the Quaternary history of southern Africa has more than purely regional significance. The first has to do with the fact that the region is one of few land masses in the southern hemisphere, whose importance to our understanding of climate change is becoming increasingly understood. It has long been appreciated that the two hemispheres have had different patterns and tempos of change but, whereas it was once thought that the south tracked the north, there is increasing evidence to show that understanding southern hemisphere climate is crucial to understanding that of the earth as a whole (e.g. Neukom et al., 2014 ). The second reason why southern Africa is significant is that evidence from this region makes a major contribution to our understanding of human physical and technological evolution ( Morris et al., 2014 ; Roberts et al., 2016 ).

Knight and Grab (Chapter 1) indicate that Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa addresses both these topics, claiming that the book

‘represents a significant change in the ways in which the physical and human dimensions of the southern African landscape can be conceptualised and drawn together in a coherent and inter-disciplinary ways, to address the research needs of the 21^st Century, and to apply modern methods to investigate the past.’ (p. 13)

In the last chapter (Knight et al.), however, they conclude that this drawing-together is still in the future and point only to the truism that multi-disciplinary studies have great potential, rather than to any successes. The publisher’s outline considers that the book will ‘appeal to professionals and policymakers with interests in future human-landscape evolution in southern Africa’. These fine words lead one to expect an informed and useful book that provides not only up-to-date assessments of advances in various fields but also indications of the applications of the advances. Certainly, the book provides a good overview of the status of much, but not all, Quaternary research in South Africa and a few neighbouring areas and, as such, is to be welcomed. It would indeed have been splendid if it had also provided information and interpretations explicitly geared to the needs of climate change practitioners and policymakers.

Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa is the title of the book, which aims to take up where Partridge and Maud (2000) left off. It might have also mentioned Deacon and Lancaster (1988) as a forerunner of both. The concept is good and timeous but the execution has its flaws, which are, in many ways, evident in the title and how it is addressed. First, Chapters 1–4 are not, or only marginally, about the Quaternary and therefore do not really belong in this book. A short, very general pre-Quaternary background would have been all very well but not one taking about 15% of the total pages. Second, many of the chapters make, at most, token reference to environmental change. Examples are the otherwise excellent and readable chapters on human evolution during the Quaternary (Carlson and Edlund) and dating (Woodborne). Third is the term southern Africa itself. The introductory chapter effectively treats southern Africa as synonymous with South Africa. The authors are not alone in making this mistake, but it is particularly unfortunate in a chapter that sets the scene for the entire book. In other chapters, the line has been drawn at differing degrees south latitude. While this is hardly unusual, given that the informal term southern Africa is often used differently in different disciplines, a definition of the term as used in this book would have been useful and should have been given to the contributors to ensure consistency. All in all, the title does not do the contents justice and even the sub-title Physical and Human Dimensions only partly addresses the problem. A full third of the book is about human evolution and archaeology so one would have expected this element to have featured more prominently in the title.

There are 26 chapters covering geology, geography, archaeology and physical anthropology (as mentioned in the last sentence of the book), though some could logically have been combined to reduce this number considerably. The chapters clearly reflect the expertise and study areas of the authors. While this is to be expected, it would have made for a more cohesive whole if authors had been asked to address specific issues as well as to cover the same geographic area. The introductory chapter is rather disorganised, reflecting the book as a whole. Consistency and organisation are not terms that can be associated with this book. It is said to be divided into three parts (p. 13), each loosely defined, but which chapters belong in which section is not set out in either the contents list or the body of the book. One would also have expected the chapters to be grouped in some discernible order in their sections, but this is not the case.

It would be wrong, though, to be put off by the slightly inappropriate title and the lack of clear organisation because it is entirely possible that careful examination of the contents list will reward readers with useful chapters hidden in this book. While all authors do a competent job of outlining the state of their science in South or southern Africa, some go further in addressing the issues that the editors claim the book covers. For instance, useful discussions by various authors on shortcomings or difficulties in interpreting their data should be highlighted. The dating chapter mentioned above is one example; others are those on colluvial deposits and slope instability (Botha et al.) and desert dune environments (Thomas). The chapters on river systems (Tooth), wetlands (Ellery et al.) and terrestrial ecosystems (Meadows and Quick) include discussions on late-Holocene and anthropogenic factors, which should be useful to those interested in planning for the future. Almost certainly, given the predicted increase in desiccation of the region, the chapters mentioned in this paragraph, as well as that on estuaries and lagoons (De Lecea et al.), will be of immediate interest and relevance. Of the archaeological chapters, that on the late-Holocene (Schoeman) is perhaps the only one to combine explicitly environmental and human elements. It reflects increased recognition among archaeologists of how people in the past often offset changes in environmental conditions by developing risk strategies. This chapter would repay consideration by those seeking low technology methods of assisting current-day traditional farmers beset by adverse environmental conditions.

The book is well produced, as one would expect from Cambridge University Press. One might almost say it was too well produced in that the paper quality and 16 pages of colour figures (do these add substantially to the book?) must have raised the purchase price considerably. This is a pity because the cost of the book will prohibit many, if not most, researchers in southern Africa from purchasing a copy. It is to be hoped that a paperback version will be forthcoming before too long.

References

Deacon

Lancaster

(1988) Late Quaternary Palaeoenvironments of Southern Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Morris

Heinze

Chan

EKF

. (2014) First ancient mitochondrial human genome from a prepastoralist southern African. Genome Biology and Evolution 6(10): 2647–2653.

Neukom

Joëlle

David

. (2014) Inter-hemispheric temperature variability over the past millennium. Nature Climate Change 4: 362–367.

Partridge

Maud

(2000) The Cenozoic of Southern Africa: Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roberts

Henshilwood

Van Niekerk

. (2016) Climate, environment and early human innovation: Stable isotope and faunal proxy evidence from archaeological sites (98-59ka) in the southern Cape, South Africa. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0157408.