2026-10-12T00:04:05Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33903969 2026-09-17T17:30:26Z category_272 category_39 category_45 category_734 category_132 portal_5 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

<p>Tables S6-12.</p> Inèz Faul (23202357) Taylor Grandfield (25037766) Chris Green (9216536) Elena A. Hensel-Karamalakidou (25037769) Phillip Segadika (23202366) Rowena Winterhalder (23202354) Sarah Mothulatshipi (23202363) Stefan Dreibrodt (6887486) Nils Andersen (459723) Marine Frouin (20237535) Michaela Ecker (20253471) Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Ecology Sociology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Infectious Diseases plant wax biomarkers low organic preservation homo sapiens </ alternating processes indicative fluctuating lacustrine environment southern kalahari basin method palaeoenvironmental record div >< p resolution palaeoenvironmental record maralaleng pan suggests palaeoenvironmental proxies palaeoenvironmental context method investigation environment characterised maralaleng pan pan site pan sediments uneven distribution studied sites mis 5 luminescence dating late pleistocene human traces hominins frequented geoarchaeological methodologies environmental archives contribution reveals arid environments archaeological material archaeological investigation <div><p>Human traces in semi-arid environments such as the Kalahari have been linked to the presence of water in the landscape. However, low organic preservation and an uneven distribution of studied sites have resulted in a gap in the knowledge of the environmental conditions under which <i>Homo sapiens</i> adapted to drylands in the Late Pleistocene. The Kalahari boasts numerous seasonal waterbodies (pans) that may provide stratified sequences containing a variety of palaeoenvironmental proxies. Despite this, these environmental archives have rarely been used. In this study, we report on a multi-method investigation of the palaeoenvironmental context of Maralaleng Pan, a pan site with archaeological material in the southern Kalahari basin. Geoarchaeological methodologies, luminescence dating, and plant wax biomarkers have been combined to create a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record. This contribution reveals that pan sediments from Maralaleng Pan were deposited in an environment characterised by alternating processes indicative of wet (lake) and dry (evaporative) conditions. The integration of our results with the archaeological investigation of Maralaleng Pan suggests that hominins frequented the landscape during a fluctuating lacustrine environment in MIS 5, while the greatest moisture availability occurred during MIS 3.</p></div> 2026-09-17T17:30:22Z Dataset Dataset 10.1371/journal.pone.0357461.s002 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/_p_Tables_S6-12_p_/33903969 CC BY 4.0