Pleistocene archaeology and environments of the Free State, South Africa.

Pleistocene climate variability is often seen as a major cause of much of the evidence observed in the archaeological and palaeontological record of Africa. While continent-wide climate systems play an important role when testing pan-African human evolutionary processes, a more focused perspective centred on specific ecosystems at a regional level allows a detailed assessment of the different spatiotemporal scales of the proxies used to reconstruct past environments and the ways humans adapted to their change over time. Recent research in the arid interior of South Africa has provided insights into the availability of freshwater in the open landscape, which is a fundamental factor for human survival and the spatiotemporal distribution of which may have had a major influence on adaptive strategies.