CLIMATIC FLUCTUATIONS IN THE MIDDLE STONE AGE OF SOUTH AFRICA, AS REVEALED IN MWULU'S CAVE

Abstract

The newer red sands in Transvaal caves may be subdivided into two phases separating three periods of the Middle Stone Age. The deposit in Mwulu's Cave, which made this subdivision possible, demonstrates that there the Middle Stone Age outlasted the red sand era: if, then, we wish to define the climatic changes marking the end of the Middle Stone Age, we must look beyond the ending of the red sand conditions and, perhaps, postulate a second cycle of climatic changes, heralding the Later Stone Age. It is suggested that the Rainbow Cave, Makapansgat Valley, might corroborate the Mwulu's Cave sequence and that faunal evidence from the Rainbow Cave might further elucidate the climatic changes at the end of the Middle Stone Age.