Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #8
Open access:
Neumann, F. H., Finch, J., Hahn, A., Miller, C. S., Scott, L., Schefuß, E., Dupont, L., Cawthra, H. C., & Engelbrecht, F. (2025). Vegetation and climate dynamics in a 16,600-year marine sequence offshore Mozambique in Delagoa Bight, south-eastern Africa. Quaternary International, 747, 109956. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109956
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #7
Open access:
Gosling, W.D., Chevalier, M., Fischer, M.L., Holewijn, M., Finch, J., Gil-Romera, G., Hill, T., Houngnon, A., Leonardi, M., Manica, A., & Kaboth-Bahr, S. (2025). A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period. Quaternary International744, 109933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109933
Gosling, W.D., Chevalier, M., Lothar Fischer, M., Holewijn, M., Finch, J. M., Gil-Romera, G., Hill, T. R., Houngnon, A., Leonardi, M., Manica, A., & Kaboth-Bahr, S. (2025). Code from: A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.29608400.V1
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #6
Hlophe B. & Bamford M.K. (2025) Charcoal insights on the vegetation, climate and subsistence patterns at Wonderwerk Cave. Quaternary International728,109755. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109755
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #5
Kiely, R.E., Paine, A.R., McMichael, C.H. & Gosling, W.D. (2025) Heat, hydroclimate and herbivory: A late-Pleistocene record of environmental change from tropical western Africa. Quaternary International 717, 109636. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.109636
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #4
#openaccess
Boisard, S., Wren, C.D., Timbrell, L. & Burke, A. (2025) Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa. Quaternary International 716, 109593. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.109593
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
Costanzo, S., Zerboni, A., Cremaschi, M. & Usai, D. (2025) Mapping Early Holocene to contemporary surface processes and human landscapes west of the lower White Nile (central Sudan). Quaternary International 715, 109592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2024.109592
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
During the Mapping Ancient Africa writing workshop in Kenya (3-6 June 2024) Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr conducted a series of short interviews with the scientists attending. During the interviews she asked the participants and instructors to describe their scientific background, what had motivated them to take part in the writing workshop, and what they thought the most important thing they had gained from it. You can now meet the first four of these scientists now by watching the videos below, or catch up with all the latest videos on the Mapping Ancient Africa YouTube Playlist.
The participants (part 1 of 2)
Olugbenga Boboye (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
Angela Effiom (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
Bremond, L., Aleman, J.C., Favier, C., Blarquez, O., Colombaroli, D., Connor, S.E., Cordova, C.E., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Dabengwa, A.N., Gil-Romera, G., Gosling, W.D., Hamilton, T., Montade, V., Razafimanantsoa, A.H.I., Power, M.J., Razanatsoa, E., Yabi, I. & Vannière, B. (2024) Past fire dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa during the last 25,000 years: Climate change and increasing human impacts. Quaternary International.DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.07.012
On the 25 July 2024 the 19th Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) seminar, entitled Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa, was delivered by Solène Boisard (University Montreal). In the seminar Solène presented two lines of evidence for past climate change in north-western Africa over the last c. 70,000 years. One from mechanistic climate models (via the PastClim package, for more details see: Leonardi et al. 2023) and one from reconstructions based on archaeological evidence. She found good agreement between the two approaches and linked climatic changes to the transition from Middle Stone Age to Late Stone Age technologies.
COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITY: The TIP-TOP project, funded through the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and awarded to Rick Hennekam at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), is running from 2024-2029 and aims to use sediments accumulated in front of North African rivers to study environmental tipping points in North Africa. Specifically, the project focuses on available sediments from the Nile River delta, a now-dormant river system in Libya, as well as material from in front of the Senegal and Gambia rivers that will be acquired during a cruise early 2025. A multidisciplinary group of scientists is collaborating within this project, including scientists from NIOZ, GFZ Potsdam, ETH Zürich, Wageningen University, and the Utrecht University, using especially (in)organic and palynological proxies. Yet, we are keen to start new collaborations, especially with scientists based in northwest Africa. Potentially we could aim for the INQUA Fellowship Program For International Mobility (deadline 15 of September, 2024) for someone to gain international experience at one of the involved institutes for the duration of 3–6 months. If you are interested to link up with Rick please join the seminar to speak with him, or contact him directly. Note that participation in the 2025 expedition to the coasts of Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania can be discussed too, but available places are very limited.
This video was recorded after the 19th online Mapping Ancient Africa seminar given by Solène Boisard, to watch her seminar on the past climate of north-western Africa and others in the series click here. To find out more about the Mapping Ancient Africa project click here.
Ecology of the past 