This study reviews the precipitation history of the winter and year-round rainfall zones in the Western Cape (South Africa) in light of its fossil ungulate communities. Fossil sequences spanning the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Lateglacial through the Holocene document a decline in ungulate richness through time. Based on the observed relationship between ungulate community richness and annual precipitation in Southern and East Africa, this implies increased effective precipitation during the LGM-Lateglacial at sites located in both the winter and year-round rainfall zones. These results are consistent with other lines of paleoenvironmental evidence from the winter rainfall zone, although they contradict records from the year-round rainfall zone that have been interpreted as reflecting aridity. A critical review of these records suggests that the patterns interpreted in terms of aridity can be explained by other mechanisms, including vegetation change. Current evidence is consistent with paleoclimatic models indicating that altered rainfall patterns during the LGM-Lateglacial were primarily related to the position of westerly frontal systems, which were displaced northward due to the expansion of Antarctic sea ice. Seasonal migration of these systems resulted in an expanded winter rainfall zone across much of southwestern Africa, but perhaps with some summer rains reaching the southern coast. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Nelson Mandela Univ, African Ctr Coastal Palaeosci, ZA-6031 Port Elizabeth, South AfricaUniv Montpellier, ISEM, CNRS, EPHE,IRD, Montpellier, France
Quick, Lynne J.
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Verboom, G. Anthony
Reimer, Paula J.
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Queens Univ Belfast, Sch Nat & Built Environm, Belfast BT7 1NN, Antrim, North IrelandUniv Montpellier, ISEM, CNRS, EPHE,IRD, Montpellier, France
机构:
Univ Utah, Nat Hist Museum Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 USA
Univ Utah, Dept Anthropol, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA
Univ Witwatersrand, Origins Ctr, ZA-2000 Johannesburg, South AfricaUniv Utah, Nat Hist Museum Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 USA
Faith, J. Tyler
Chase, Brian M.
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Univ Montpellier, Inst Sci Evolut Montpellier ISEM, Ctr Natl Rech Sci CNRS, EPHE,IRD, Montpellier, France
Univ Cape Town, Dept Environm & Geog Sci, Rondebosch, South AfricaUniv Utah, Nat Hist Museum Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 USA
Chase, Brian M.
Pargeter, Justin
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NYU, Dept Anthropol, New York, NY USA
Univ Witwatersrand, Rock Art Res Inst, Sch Geog Archaeol & Environm Studies, Johannesburg, South AfricaUniv Utah, Nat Hist Museum Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 USA