Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T06:48:49.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - The palaeo-ecology of the African continent: the physical environment of Africa from earliest geological to Later Stone Age times

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Karl W. Butzer  and
H. B. S. Cooke
Edited by
J. Desmond Clark
Karl W. Butzer
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, Illinois
H. B. S. Cooke
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Get access

Summary

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONTINENT

Geological structure and Precambrian history

The continent of Africa, second only to Asia in size, has an unusual combination of features and environments, including many extreme contrasts. It lies astride the Equator but, unlike South America, has northern and southern limits at almost identical latitudes (37°N and 35°S). However, this symmetry does not apply to area, for the northern portion is twice as large as the southern. Much of the interior of Africa, especially in the south, is an elevated plateau, capped in the east by the great piles of volcanic material that form the highlands of Ethiopia and East Africa. Cutting through these highlands are the trenches of the Great Rift Valley, occupied in part by important lakes, both deep and shallow. Volcanic cones form spectacular mountains with peaks rising almost to 6000 m above sea level and snow-clad despite their equatorial situation. In contrast there are areas in Egypt and Ethiopia that are as much as 120 m below sea level – Afar in the Rift system and the wind-scooped Qattara and other depressions in Egypt. In addition to the volcanic cones, there are other mountainous areas, but they are largely uplifted erosional remnants; true mountain chains are confined to the northern extremity (Atlas Mountains) and to the southernmost margin (Cape Ranges). The largest dry, hot desert in the world, the Sahara, stretches from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, forming a significant continent-wide barrier between the narrow Mediterranean littoral belt and the rest of the continent, often conveniently termed ‘sub-Saharan Africa’.

Keywords

Cape folded beltAfrican continentAfrican Karroo SupergroupMesozoicPrecambrian historystone agePalaeozoic rocks
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Africa , pp. 1 - 69
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, P. and Couvering, J. A. H. (1975). Palaeoenvironments in the East African Miocene. In Szalay, F. S. (ed.), Approaches to primate palaeobiology, 5, 62–103. Basel.Google Scholar
Bada, J. L. and Deems, L. (1975). Accuracy of dates beyond the C14 dating limit using the aspartic acid racemization technique. Nature, Lond. 255, 218–19.Google Scholar
Baker, H. B. (1911). The origin of the Moon. (Detroit Free Press 23 April 1911.)
Bakker, E. M. Zinderen (ed.) (1966–80). Palaeoecology of Africa and of the surrounding Islands and Antarctica, 12 vols. Capetown. (Vols. II and III, 1967; vol. VI, 1972.)
Bakker, E. M. Zinderen and Butzer, K. W. (1973). Quaternary environmental changes in southern Africa. Soil Sci. 116, 236–48Google Scholar
Beaumont, P. B. and Vogel, J. C. (1972). On a new radiocarbon chronology for Africa south of the equator, Part 2. Afr. Stud. 31, 155–82.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K. (1976). Fossil assemblages in relation to sedimentary environments in the East Rudolf succession. In Coppens, Y., et al. (eds.), Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin, 383–401. Chicago.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K. (1978). The habitat of early African hominids: taphonomic and micro-stratigraphic evidence. In Jolly, C. (ed.), Early hominids of Africa, 165–90. London.Google Scholar
Biberson, P. (1961). Le Paléolithique inférieur du Maroc atlantique. Publs Serv. Antiquités Maroc 17.Google Scholar
Biberson, P. (1970). Index-cards on the marine and continental cycles of the Moroccan Quaternary. Quaternaria 13, 1–76.Google Scholar
Bishop, W. W. (ed.) (1978). Geological Background to fossil man: Recent research in the Gregory Rift Valley, East Africa. Edinburgh and Toronto.
Bishop, W. W. and Miller, J. A. (eds.) (1972). Calibration of hominoid evolution. Edinburgh and Toronto.
Bishop, W. W. (1978). Geochronological framework for African Plio-Pleistocene hominidae: as Cerberus sees it. In Jolly, C. (ed.), Early hominids of Africa, 255–66. London.Google Scholar
Bishop, W. W. and Clark, J. D. (1967) (eds.). Background to evolution in Africa. Chicago.
Bishop, W. W., Miller, J. A. and Fitch, F. H. (1969). New potassium—argon age determinations relevant to the Miocene fossil mammal sequence in East Africa. Am. J. Sci. 267, 669–99Google Scholar
Bordes, F. (ed.) (1971). The origins of Homo sapiens/Origine de l'homme moderne. UNESCO Ecology and Conservation Series 3. Paris.
Bowen, B. E. and Vondra, C. F. (1973). Stratigraphical relationships of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits, East Rudolf, Kenya. Nature, Lond. 242, 391–3.Google Scholar
Brain, C. K. (1958).The Transvaal ape-man-bearing cave deposits. Transv. Mus. Mem. II.Google Scholar
Brain, C. K. (1967). Procedures and some results in the study of Quaternary cave fillings. In Bishop, W. W. and Clark, J. D. (eds.), Background to evolution in Africa, 285–301. Chicago.Google Scholar
Brain, C. K. (1976). A re-interpretation of the Swartkrans site and its remains. S. Afr. J. Sci. 72, 141–6.Google Scholar
Broom, R. (1950). Finding the Missing Link. London.
Brown, F. H. and Shuey, R. T. (1976). Preliminary magneto-stratigraphy of the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia. In Coppens, Y. et al. (eds.), Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin, 64–78. Chicago.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1971). Environment and archaeology: an ecological approach to prehistory, 2nd edn. Chicago.
Butzer, K. W. and Hansen, C. L. (1968). Desert and river in Nubia: geomorphology and prehistoric environments at the Aswan reservoir. Madison.
Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. LI. (eds.) (1975). After the australopithecines: stratigraphy, ecology and culture change in the Middle Pleistocene. The Hague.
Butzer, K. W. (1971a). Environment and archaeology, 2nd edn. Chicago.
Butzer, K. W. (1971b). The Lower Omo Basin: geology, fauna and hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene formations. Naturwissenschaften 58, 7–16.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1971c). Recent history of an Ethiopian Delta: the Omo Delta and the level of Lake Rudolf. Res. Pap. Dep. Geogr. Univ. Chicago 136, 1–184.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973a). A provisional interpretation of the sedimentary sequence from Montagu Cave (Cape Province), South Africa. In Keller, C. M. (ed.), Montagu Cave, 89–92. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973b). Spring sediments from the Acheulian site of Amanzi (Uitenhage District, South Africa). Quaternaria 16, 299–320.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973c). Re-evaluation of the geology of the Elandsfontein (Hopefield) site, south-western Cape, South Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 69, 234–8.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973d). Past climates of the Tibesti Mountains, central Sahara. Geogrl. Rev. 63, 395–7.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973e): Pleistocene periglacial phenomena in southern Africa. Boreas 2, 1–12.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1973f). Geology of Nelson Bay Cave, Robberg, South Africa. S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 28, 97–110.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1974a). Geological and ecological perspectives on the Middle Pleistocene. Quaternary Res. 4, 136–48.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1974b). Geo-archaeological interpretation of two Acheulian calc-pan sites: Doomlaagte and Rooidam (Kimberley, South Africa). J. Archaeol. Sci. I, 1–25.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1974c). Palaeo-ecology of South African australopithecines: Taung re-visited. Curr. Anthrop. 15, 367–82 and 413–16.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1975a). Pleistocene littoral—sedimentary cycles of the Mediterranean Basin: a Mallorquin view. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines 25–71. The Hague.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1975b). Patterns of environmental change in the Near East during late Pleistocene and early Holocene times. In Wendorf, F. and Marks, A. E. (eds.), Problems in prehistory: North Africa and the Levant, 389–410. Dallas.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1976a). Lithostratigraphy of the Swartkrans Formation. S. Afr. J. Sci. 72, 136–41.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1976b). The Mursi, Nkalabong and Kibish formations, Lower Omo Basin (Ethiopia). In Coppens, Y. et al. (eds.), Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin, 12–23. Chicago.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1976c). Early hydraulic civilization in Egypt: a study in cultural ecology. Chicago.
Butzer, K. W. (1976d). Pleistocene climates. In West, R. C. (ed.), Ecology of the Pleistocene (Geoscience and Man, vol. XIII), 27–44.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1977). Environment, culture and human evolution. Am. Scient. 65, 572–82.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1978a). Sediment stratigraphy of the Middle Stone Age sequence at Klasies River Mouth, Tsitsikama Coast, South Africa. S. Afr. archaeol. Bull. 33, 141–51.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1978b). Climate patterns in an un-glaciated continent. Geogr. Mag. 51, 201–8.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1978c) Geo-ecological perspectives on early hominid evolution. In Jolly, C. (ed.), Early hominids of Africa, 191–217. London.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. (1979). Pleistocene history of the Nile Valley in Egypt and Lower Nubia. In Williams, M. A. J. and Faure, H. (eds.), The Sahara and the Nile, 253–80. Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Beaumont, P. B. and Vogel, J. C. (1978). Lithostratigraphy of Border Cave, Kwazulu, South Africa: A Middle Stone Age sequence beginning c. 195,000 B. P. J. archaeol. Sci. 5, 317–41.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Brown, F. H. and Thurber, D. L. (1969). Horizontal sediments of the lower Omo Valley: the Kibish Formation. Quaternaria II, 31–46.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Clark, J. D. and Cooke, H. B. S. (1974). The geology, archaeology, and fossil mammals of the Cornelia Beds, O.F.S. Nat. Mus. Mem. 9, Bloemfontein.
Butzer, K. W., Fock, G. J., Stuckenrath, R. and Zilch, A.. (1973b). Paleo-hydrology of late Pleistocene lakes in the Alexandersfontein Pan, Kimberley, South Africa. Nature, Lond. 243, 328–30.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Fock, G. J., Scott, L. and Stuckenrath, R. (1979). Dating and contextual analysis of rock engravings in Southern Africa. Science, N. Y. 203, 1201–4.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. and Hansen, C. L. (1972). Late Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Kom Ombo Plain, Upper Egypt: comparison with other recent studies near Esna-Edfu. Bull. Liais. Ass. Sénégal. Etud. Quaternaire 35–6, 5–14.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. and Helgren, D. M. (1972). Late Cenozoic evolution of the Cape coast between Knysna and Cape St. Francis, South Africa. Quaternary Res. 2, 143–69.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Isaac, G. Ll., Richardson, J. L. and Washbourn-Kamau, C. K. (1972). Radiocarbon dating of East African lake levels. Science, N. Y. 175, 1069–76.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Helgren, D. M., Fock, G. J. and Stuckenrath, R. (1973a). Alluvial terraces of the Lower Vaal Basin, South Africa: a re-appraisal and re-investigation. J. Geol. 81, 341–62.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., Stuckenrath, R., Bruzewicz, A. J. and Helgren, D. M. (1978). Late Cenozoic paleoclimates of the Gaap Escarpment, Kalahari margin, South Africa. Quaternary Res. 10, 310–39.Google Scholar
Cahen, D. (1975). Le site archéologique de la Kamoa (Shaba, Zaïre). Kon. Museum voor Midden-Afrika 84, Tervuren.
Chavaillon, J. (1964). Etude stratigraphique des formations quaternaires du Sahara nord-occidental. ,Centre Nationale de la Recherches Scientifique, Paris.
Chavaillon, J. and Chavaillon, N. (1971). Présence éventuelle d'un abri oldowayen dans le gisement de Melka-Kontouré (Ethiopie). C. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 273-D, 623–5.Google Scholar
Chmielewski, W. (1968). Early and Middle Paleolithic sites near Arkin, Sudan. In Wendorf, F. (ed.), The prehistory of Nubia, 110–47. Dallas.Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. (1950). The Stone Age cultures of Northern Rhodesia. S. Afr. Archaeol. Soc. Cape Town.Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. (1959). Further excavations at Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia. Jl. R. anthrop. Inst. 89, 201–32.Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. (1963). Prehistoric cultures of Northeast Angola and their significance in tropical Africa, 2 vols. Publções cult. Co. Diam. Angola 62.Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. (1967). Atlas of African prehistory. Chicago.
Clark, J. D. (1969). The Kalambo Falls prehistoric site, vol. I. Cambridge.
Clark, J. D. (1975a). Stone Age man at the Victoria Falls. In Phillipson, D. W. (ed.), Mosi-oa-Tunya: a Handbook to the Victoria Falls region, 34–43. London.Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. (1975b). A comparison of the late Acheulian industries of Africa and the Middle East. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines, 605–60. The Hague.Google Scholar
Clifford, T. N. (1966). Tectono-metallogenic units and metallogenic provinces of Africa. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. I, 421–34.Google Scholar
Clifford, T. N. and Gass, I. G. (eds.) (1970). African magnetism and tectonics. Edinburgh.
Coetzee, J. A. (1967). Pollen analytical studies in East and Southern Africa. In Bakker, E. M. Zinderen (ed.), Palaeoecology of Africa, vol. III, 1–146. Cape Town.Google Scholar
Cole, G. H. (1967). The later Acheulian and Sangoan of Southern Uganda. In Bishop, W. W. and Clark, J. D. (eds.), Background to evolution in Africa, 481–526. Chicago.Google Scholar
Cole, G. H. and Kleindienst, M. R. (1974). Further reflections on the Isimila Acheulian. Quaternary Res. 4, 346–55.Google Scholar
Cole, S. (1975). Leakey's luck. New York.
Conrad, G. (1969). L'évolution continentale posthercynienne du Sahara algérien. Recherches sur les zones arides, ,Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. (1958). Observations relating to Quaternary environments in East and Southern Africa. Trans. geol. Soc. S. Afr. 61, (Annex.), 1–73.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. (1963). Pleistocene mammal faunas of Africa with particular reference to southern Africa. In Howell, F. C. and Bourlière, F. (eds.), African ecology and human evolution, 65–116. Chicago.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. (1972). The fossil mammal fauna of Africa. In Keast, A., Erk, F. C. and Glass, B. (eds.), Evolution, mammals and southern continents, 89–139. Albany, New York.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. (1978). Faunal evidence for the biotic setting of early African hominids. In Jolly, C. (ed.), Early hominids of Africa, 267–84. London.Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. and Maglio, V. J. (1972). Plio-Pleistocene stratigraphy in East Africa in relation to proboscidean and suid evolution. In Bishop, W. W. and Miller, J. A. (eds.), Calibration of hominoid evolution, 303–30. Edinburgh and Toronto.Google Scholar
Coppens, Y., Howell, F. C., Isaac, G. LI. and Leakey, R. E. F. (eds.) (1976). Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolph basin: stratigraphy, palaeoecology and evolution. (Prehistoric archaeology and ecology 2) Chicago.
Coryndon, S. C. and Savage, R. J. G. (1973). The origin and affinities of African mammal faunas. In Hughes, N. F. (ed.), Organisms and continents through time. Special Papers in Palaeontology 12, 121–35. Palaeontological Association, London.Google Scholar
Creer, K. M. (1970). Review and interpretation of palaeomagnetic data from the Gondwanic continents. 2nd Gondwana Symposium, South Africa, July to August 1970, Proceedings and Papers, 52–72. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Pretoria), Pretoria.Google Scholar
Crompton, A. W. (1974). The dentitions and relationships of the Southern African Triassic mammals, Erythrotherium parringtoni and Megazostrodon rudnerae. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Geology) 24, 7, 399–437.Google Scholar
Cross, M. W. and Maglio, V. J. (1975). A Bibliography of the fossil mammals of Africa 1950–1972. Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University.
Curtis, G. H., Drake, R., Cerling, T. E. and Hampel, J. H. (1975). Age of KBS tuff in Koobi Fora Formation, East Rudolf, Kenya. Nature, Lond. 258, 395–8.Google Scholar
Dart, R. A. (1925). Australopithecus africanus, the man-ape of South Africa. Nature, Lond. 115, 195–9.Google Scholar
Dart, R. A. (1959). Adventures with the Missing Link. New York.
Dietz, R. S. and Holden, J. C. (1970). Reconstruction of Pangaea; breakup and dispersion of continents, Permian to present. J. geophys. Res. 75, 4939–56.Google Scholar
Downie, C. (1964). Glaciations of Mt. Kilimanjaro, northeast Tanganyika. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 75, 1–16.Google Scholar
du Toit, A. L. (1926). The geology of South Africa. Edinburgh.
du Toit, A. L. (1937). Our wandering continents. Edinburgh.
Evernden, J. F. and Curtis, G. H. (1965). The potassium-argon dating of late Cenozoic rocks in East Africa and Italy. Curr. Anthrop. 6, 343–64.Google Scholar
Fage, J. D. (1963). An atlas of African history, 1st edn. London.
Fitch, F. J. and Miller, J. A. (1970). Radiometric age determinations of Lake Rudolf artefact sites. Nature, Lond. 226, 226–8.Google Scholar
Flint, R. F. (1959). Pleistocene climates in eastern and southern Africa. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 70, 343–74.Google Scholar
Frakes, L. A. and Kemp, E. M. (1972). Influence of continental positions on early Teritary climates. Nature, Lond. 240, 97–100.Google Scholar
Freeman, L. G. (1975). Acheulian sites and stratigraphy in Iberia and the Maghreb. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines, 661–744. The Hague.Google Scholar
Furon, R. (1950). Géologie de l' Afrique, 1st edn. Paris.
Furon, R. (1960). Géologie de l' Afrique, 2nd edn. Paris.
Furon, R. (1963). Geology of Africa. Translated by Hallam, A. and Stevens, L. A.. Edinburgh.
Gasse, F. (1975). L'évolution des lacs de l' Afar central du Plio-Pléistocène à l' Actuel, 3 vols. Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris), Paris.
Goodwin, A. J. H. and Lowe, C. Riet (1929). The Stone Age cultures of South Africa. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 27, 1–289.Google Scholar
Gregory, J. W. (1921). The rift valleys and geology of East Africa. London.
Grove, A. T. and Warren, A. (1968). Quaternary landforms and climate on the south side of the Sahara. Geogrl J. 134, 194–208.Google Scholar
Hailey, W. (Lord) (1938). An African survey, 1st edn. Oxford.
Hailey, W. (1957). An African survey, 2nd edn. Oxford.
Hansen, C. L. and Keller, C. M. (1971). Environment and activity patterning at Isimila Korongo, Iringa District, Tanzania: a preliminary report. Am. Anthrop. 73, 1201–11.Google Scholar
Hay, R. L. (1971). Geologic background of Beds I and II: stratigraphic summary. In Leakey, M. D. (ed.), Olduvai Gorge, vol. III: Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963, 9–18. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hay, R. L. (1973). Lithofacies and environments of Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Quaternary Res. 3, 541–60.Google Scholar
Hay, R. L. (1976). Geology of the Olduvai Gorge. Berkeley.
Helgren, D. M. (1977). Geological context of the Vaal River faunas. S. Afr. J. Sci. 73, 303–7.Google Scholar
Helgren, D. M. (1978). Acheulian settlement along the Lower Vaal River, South Africa. J. archaeol. Sci. 5, 39–60.Google Scholar
Helgren, D. M. (1979). Rivers of diamonds: an alluvial history of the Lower Vaal basin. Res. Pap. Dep. Geogr. Univ. Chicago 186.Google Scholar
Helgren, D. M. and Butzer, K. W. (1977). Paleosols of the southern Cape Coast, South Africa. Geogrl. Rev. 67, 430–45.Google Scholar
Holmes, A. (1965). Principles of physical geology. London.
Hopwood, A. T. and Hollyfield, J. P. (1954). An annotated bibliography of the fossil mammals of Africa (1742–1950). Fossil Mammals Afr. 8, Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. London.Google Scholar
Howell, F. C. and Bourlière, F. (eds.) (1963). African ecology and human evolution. Chicago.
Howell, F. C. and Bourlière, F. (eds.) (1963). African ecology and human evolution. New York.
Isaac, G. LI. (1977). Olorgesailie: the archaeology of a Middle Pleistocene lake basin in Kenya. (Prehistoric archeology and ecology 4.) Chicago.
Isaac, G. Ll. (1972a). Comparative studies of Pleistocene site locations in East Africa. In Ucko, P. J., Tringham, R. and Dimbleby, G. W., (eds.), Man, settlement and urbanism, 165–76. Morristown, N. J. and London.Google Scholar
Isaac, G. Ll. (1972b). Chronology and the tempo of cultural change during the Pleistocene. In Bishop, W. W. and Miller, J. A. (eds.), Calibration of hominoid evolution, pp. 381–430. Edinburgh and Toronto.Google Scholar
Isaac, G. Ll. (1975). Middle Pleistocene stratigraphy and cultural patterns in East Africa. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines, 495–542. The Hague.Google Scholar
Isaac, G. Ll. (1977). Olorgesailie: archaeological studies of a Middle Pleistocene lake basin in Kenya (Prehistoric Archeology and Ecology 4). Chicago.
Isaac, G. Ll. and Curtis, G. H. (1974). Age of early Acheulian industries from the Peninj Group, Tanzania. Nature, Lond. 249, 624–7.Google Scholar
Isaac, G. Ll., Harris, J. W. K. and Crader, D. (1976). Archeological evidence from the Koobi Fora formation. In Coppens, Y. et al. (eds.), Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin Vol. II, 533–51. Chicago.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. P. (ed.) (1961). Climatological atlas of Africa. Commission for Technical Co-operation in Africa South of the Sahara, Lagos.
Jaeger, J.-J. (1975). The mammalian faunas and hominid fossils of the middle Pleistocene of the Maghreb. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines, 399–418. The Hague.Google Scholar
Jäkel, D. (1978). Eine Klimakurve für die Zentralsahara. In Stehli, P. (ed.), Sahara, 382–96. Cologne.Google Scholar
Johanson, D. C., White, T. D. and Coppens, Y. (1978). A new species of the genus Australopithecus (Primates: Hominidae) from the Pliocene of Eastern Africa. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., Kirtlandia 28, 1–14.Google Scholar
Jolly, C. (ed.) (1978). Early hominids of Africa. London.
Keay, R. W. J. (1959). Vegetation map of Africa, with explanatory notes. Oxford.
King, L. C. (1967). The morphology of the Earth, 2nd edn. New York, Edinburgh and London.
Klein, R. G. (1973). Geological antiquity of Rhodesian Man. Nature, Lond. 244, 311–12.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G. (1974). Environment and subsistence of prehistoric man in the southern Cape Province, South Africa. World Archaeol. 5, 249–84.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G. (1977). The ecology of early man in southern Africa. Science, N. Y. 195, 115–26.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G. (1980). The interpretation of mammalian faunas from Stone Age archaeological sites, with special reference to sites in the southern Cape Province, South Africa. In Behrensmeyer, A. K. and Hill, A. P. (eds.), Fossils in the making: Vertebrate Taphonomy and Paleoecology, 223–46. Chicago.Google Scholar
Kleindienst, M. R. (1973). Excavations at Site JK2, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 1961–62: the geological setting. Quaternaria 17, 145–208.Google Scholar
Kraus, E. B. (1973). Comparison between Ice Age and present general circulations. Nature, Lond. 245, 129–33.Google Scholar
Krenkel, E. (1925). Geologie der Erde: Geologie Afrikas, vol. I. Berlin.
Krenkel, E. (1928). Geologie der Erde: Geologie Afrikas, vol. II. Berlin.
Leakey, L. S. B. (1951). Olduvai Gorge. Cambridge.
Leakey, L. S. B. (1959). A new fossil skull from Olduvai. Nature, Lond. 189, 491–3.Google Scholar
Leakey, L. S. B. and Cole, S. (1952). Proceedings of the Pan- African Congress on Prehistory 1947. Oxford and New York.
Leakey, L. S. B., Evernden, J. F. and Curtis, G. H. (1961). Age of Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika. Nature, Lond. 191, 478–9.Google Scholar
Leakey, L. S. B., Tobias, P. V. and Napier, J. R., (1964). A new species of the genus Homo from Olduvai Gorge. Nature, Lond. 202, 7–9.Google Scholar
Leakey, M. D. (1970). Stone artifacts from Swartkrans. Nature, Lond. 225, 1221–5.Google Scholar
Leakey, M. D. (1971). Olduvai Gorge, vol. III: Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963. Cambridge.
Leakey, M. D. (1975). Cultural patterns in the Olduvai sequence. In Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll. (eds.), After the australopithecines, 477–94. The Hague.Google Scholar
Leakey, M. D., Hay, R. L., Curtis, G. H., Drake, R. E., Jackes, M. K. and White, T. D. (1976). Fossil hominids from the Laetolil Beds. Nature, Lond. 262, 460–6.Google Scholar
Leakey, Margaret, Tobias, P. V., Martyn, J. E. and Leakey, R. E. F. (1969). An Acheulian industry with prepared core technique and the discovery of a contemporary hominid mandible at Lake Baringo, Kenya. Proc. prehist. Soc. 35, 48–76.Google Scholar
Livingstone, D. A. (1975). Late Quaternary climatic change in Africa. Ann. Rev. Ecol. & Syst. 6, 249–80.Google Scholar
Maglio, V. J. (1972). Vertebrate faunas and chronology of hominid-bearing sediments east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. Nature, Lond. 239, 379–85.Google Scholar
Maglio, V. J. (1973). Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae. Trans. Am. phil. Soc. n.s. 63, pt. 3.Google Scholar
Maglio, V. J. and Cooke, H. B. S. (eds.) (1978). Evolution of African Mammals. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Maley, J. (1977). Palaeoclimates of Central Sahara during the early Holocene. Nature, Lond. 269, 573–7.Google Scholar
McBurney, C. B. M. (1967). The Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica) and the Stone Age of the south east Mediterranean. Cambridge.
McCall, G. J. H., Baker, B. H. and Walsh, J. (1967). Late Tertiary and Quaternary sediments of the Kenya Rift valley. In Bishop, W. W. and Clark, J. D. (eds.), Background to evolution in Africa, 191–228. Chicago.Google Scholar
Messerli, B. (1967). Die eiszeitliche und die gegenwärtige Verglatscherung im Mittelmeerraum. Geographica helv. 22, 105–228.Google Scholar
Neuville, R. and Ruhlmann, A. (1941). La place du Paléolithique ancien dans le Quaternaire marocain. Coll. Hesperis 8. Institut des Hautes Etudes marocaines, Rabat.
Olausson, E., Bilal Ul-Haq, U. Z., Karlsson, G. B. and Olsson, I. U. (1971). Evidence in Indian Ocean Cores of late Pleistocene changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation. Geol. För. Stockh. Förh. 93, 51–84.Google Scholar
Partridge, T. C. (1975). Stratigraphic, geomorphological and paleo environmental studies of the Makapansgat Limeworks and Sterkfontein hominid sites. Paper, S. Afr. Quaternary Assoc. Cape Town.
Peabody, F. E. (1954). Travertines and cave deposits of the Kaap escarpment of South africa, and the type locality of Australopithecus africanus Dart. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 65, 671–706.Google Scholar
Plumstead, E. P. (1969). Three thousand million years of plant life in Africa. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. 72, (Annex).Google Scholar
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario I. Nairobi, , 1947: ed. Leakey, L. S. B. and Cole, S.. Oxford and New York, 1952.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario II. Algiers, , 1952: ed. Balout, L.. Paris, 1955.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario III. Livingstone, , 1955: ed. Clark, J. D. and Cole, S.. London, 1957.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario IV. Léopoldville, , 1959: ed. Mortelmans, G. and Nenquin, J.. Tervuren, 1962.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario V. Tenerife, Santa Cruz, 1965: ed. Cuscoy, L. D., 2 vols. Tenerife, 1966.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario VI. Dakar, , 1967: ed. Hugot, H. J.. Chambéry, 1972.
Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Actes du congrès panafricain de préhistoire (et de l'étude du Quaternaire) Actas del congreso panafricano de prehistoria y de estudio del Cuaternario VII. Ababa, Addis, 1971: eds. Abébé, Berhanou, Chavaillon, J. and Sutton, J. E. G.. Addis Ababa, 1976
Rognon, P. (1967). Le massif de l' Atakor et ses bordures (Sahara Central). Recherches sur les zones arides, Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique (Paris), Paris.
Roubet, C. (1969). Essai de datation absolue d'un biface-hachereau paléolithique de l'Afar (Ethiopie). Anthropologie, Paris 73, 503–24.Google Scholar
Sandford, K. S. (1934). Paleolithic man and the Nile Valley in Upper and Middle Egypt. Publs orient. Inst. Univ. Chicago 18, 1–131.Google Scholar
Sandford, K. S. and Arkell, W. J. (1933). Paleolithic man and the Nile Valley in Nubia and Upper Egypt. Publs. orient. Inst. Chicago 17, 1–92.Google Scholar
Servant, M. (1973). Séquences continentales et variations climatiques: évolution du bassin du Tchad au Cénozoique supérieur. Thesis University of Paris. ORSTROM, Paris.
Servant, M., Servant, S. and Délibrias, G. (1969). Chronologie du Quaternaire récent des basses régions du Tchad. C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 269–D, 1603–6.Google Scholar
Shuey, R. T., Brown, F. H. and Croes, M. K. (1974). Magnetostratigraphy of the Shungura Formation, southwestern Ethiopia: fine structure of the lower matuyama polarity epoch. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 23, 249–60.Google Scholar
Snider, A. (1858). La création et ses mystères dévoilés. Paris.
Söhnge, P. G., Visser, D. J. L. and Lowe, C. Riet (1937). The geology and archaeology of the Vaal river Basin. Mem. geol. Surv. Un. S. Afr. 35.
Stearns, C. E. and Thurber, D. L. (1967). Th230U234 dates of late Pleistocene marine fossils from the Mediterranean and Moroccan littorals. Prog. Oceanogr. 4, 293–305.Google Scholar
Suess, F. E. (1885–1901). Das Antlitz der Erde. Vienna. (Translated by Sollas, H. B. C. as The face of the Earth, 5 vols. 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1924. Oxford.)Google Scholar
Szabo, B. J. (1979). Dating fossil bone from Cornelia, N. E. Orange Free State, South Africa. J. archaeol. Sci. 6.Google Scholar
Szabo, B. J. and Butzer, K. W. (1979). Uranium-series dating of lacustrine limestones from pan deposits with Final Acheulian assemblage at Rooidam, Kimberley District, South Africa. Quaternary Res. II, 257–60.Google Scholar
Taieb, M., Coppens, Y., Johanson, D. C. and Kalb, J. (1972). Dépôts sédimentaires et faunes du Plio-Pléistocène de la basse vallée de l'Awash (Afar Central, Ethiopie). C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 275–D, 819–22.Google Scholar
Taylor, F. B. (1910). Bearing of the Tertiary mountain belts on the origin of the Earth's plan. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 21, 179–226.Google Scholar
Thompson, B. W. (1965). The climate of Africa. Oxford.
Tooley, R. V. and Bricker, C. (1969). A history of cartography; 2500 years of maps and mapmakers. London.
,UNESCO (1963). A review of the natural resources of the African continent. UNESCO, Paris.
,UNESCO (1964). Geological map of Africa (I: 5,000,000). UNESCO, Paris.
,UNESCO (1968a). International tectonic map of Africa (I: 5,000,000). UNESCO, Paris.
,UNESCO (1968b). Mineral map of Africa (I: 10,000,000). UNESCO, Paris.
,UNESCO (1970). Survey of the scientific and technical potential of the countries of Africa. UNESCO, Paris.
,UNESCO (1971). Tectonics of Africa. UNESCO, Paris.
Van Campo, M. (1975). Pollen analyses in the Sahara. In Wendorf, F. and Marks, A. E. (eds.), Problems in prehistory: North Africa and the Levant, 45–63, Dallas.Google Scholar
Vrba, E. (1975). Some evidence of chronology and palaeoecology of Sterk-fontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai from the fossil Bovidae. Nature, Lond. 254, 301–4.Google Scholar
Wegener, A. (1912). Die entstehung der Kontinente. Petermanns geogr. Mitt. 58, 185–95, 253–6, 305–9.Google Scholar
Wegener, A. (1915). Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane. Brunswick, Germany.
Wendorf, F. and Marks, A. E. (eds.) (1975). Problems in prehistory: North Africa and the Levant. (Southern Methodist University Contributions in Anthropology 13.) Dallas.
Wendorf, F., Laury, R. L., Albritton, C. C., Schild, R., Haynes, C. V., Damon, P. E., Shaffiquillah, M. and Scarborough, R. (1975). Dates for the Middle Stone Age of East Africa. Science, N.Y. 187, 740–2.Google Scholar
Williams, J., Barry, R. G. and Washington, W. M. (1974). Simulation of the atmospheric circulation using the NCAR global circulation model with Ice Age boundary conditions. J. appl. Meteorol. 13, 305–17.Google Scholar
Worthington, E. B. (1938). Science in Africa. Oxford.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×