The third instalment of interviews with Mapping Ancient Africa scientists is now available. Watch ‘the final four’ below, and check out the other videos by clicking on the names below:
Mapping Ancient Africa participants on the Rome workshop (2023)
The Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) project has an open call for contributions to a Special Issue of Quaternary International; the journal of our funder the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). The concept for the special issue is agreed in principle with the journals editor-in-chief so now it is our task to collate a collection of manuscripts suitable to published in this international peer reviewed journal. The special issue will be based around papers discussed and presented at the MAA workshop in Rome and session at the INQUA congress in Rome in July 2023, but we are also happy to consider other manuscripts that fit within the MAA project area.
To find out if your manuscript idea might fit either explore the MAA web pages or contact a member of the editorial team:
During the Mapping Ancient Africa workshop in Rome I conducted short interviews with the scientists involved. The first of these, Alfred Houngnon can be viewed here, below are four more, and more will follow as I get them uploaded. I hope they provide interesting insights into the diverse range of skills and backgrounds our scientists have.
Interview 2: Busisiwe Hlophe (University of the Witwatersrand)
Interview 3: Angela Effion (University of the Witwatersrand)
Interview 4: Bahru Zinaye Asegahegn (University of Cologne)
Interview 5: Michela Leonardi (University of Cambridge)
To find out more about the Mapping Ancient Africa project click here.
On Wednesday 19 July 2023 the Mapping Ancient Africa session of the INQUA Rome congress took place. We were delighted to have an full program of speakers despite some late cancellations. The first session featured seven speakers.
No panic as we set up for session 1…
The first two talks focused on southern Africa. The first talk by Liviu Giosan (Woodshole Oceanographic Institute) focused on new sediment cores extracted from the Okavango – Makgadikgadi region and new efforts to obtain sediment cores that can provide information on the dispersal of hominins. Brian Chase (CNRS) then looks us to the Karoo highlighting recent findings that suggest that this currently arid region was more habitable in the past and that a proliferation of stone tools suggests past peoples utilised the region extensively (Carr et al., 2023).
Mapping Ancient Africa participants at the INQUA Rome ice breaker event ready for action! Left to right: Bahru Zinaye Asegahegn, Alfred Houngnon, Busisiwe Hlophe.
The Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) project has a double session of talks and a poster session at the INQUA congress in Rome 2023. Our session will be on Wednesday 19 July. Unfortunately a number of the originally planned speakers could not make it to Rome due to a combination of not obtaining visas, logistical challenges and ill health. We wish them all well and hope that they will continue to be involved in the project. Further, many thanks to all those who have agreed to step up and give a presentation at a late notice. Below is an updated schedule correct as of Sunday 16 July based on the information contained on the INQUA Rome App; if you are aware of any further problems or changes please let me know ASAP!
Giosan et al. When the desert was a lake: Providing context for Homo sapiens development in the northern Kalahari
Chase et al. Paleolakes and socioecological implications of glacial “greening” of the South African interior
Blinkhorn et al. Evaluating refugia in recent human evolution in Africa
Aureli et al. Homo sapiens behaviour and adaptation in East Africa. New evidence from an open-air site in a modern Ethiopian savannah environment: the GOT10 site
Effiom et al. Late Holocene palaeoecological studies at Lake St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal
Tallavaara et al. Pan-African Climate and Vegetation over the Quaternary and Implications for Human Distribution
Quick et al. Palaeoenvironments of the Cape Floristic Region: New research & current developments
The Mapping Ancient Africa workshop took place on the 12-13 July 2023 at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. At this INQUA funded workshop we played with palaeoclimate models and discussed past environmental change across the continent. Here are some picture of us in action. To find out more click here.
Day 1: Modelling past climate through the pastclim package, and reconstructing past climate through CREST
Day 2: Planning the proposed special issue and the future of the project
Interfacing palaeoclimate models through the “pastclim” R package. Lead by Michela Leonardi.
Reconstrucing palaeclimate on the basis of ancient pollen data using the CREST program. Lead by Manu Chevalier.
The aim of the workshop was to promote interaction between scientists working across Africa and across disciplines (palaeoclimate, palaeoecology, archaeology, modelling). The plenary session was joined by participants who could not make it to Italy via Zoom. This session was recorded and you can watch it below. In the plenary session outputs from the workshop, the planned special issue of Quaternary International, and the future of the Mapping Ancient Africa project were discussed.
The Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) project has a double session of talks and a poster session at the INQUA congress in Rome 2023. Our session will be on Wednesday 19 July.
Giosan et al. When the desert was a lake: Providing context for Homo sapiens development in the northern Kalahari
Chase et al. Paleolakes and socioecological implications of glacial “greening” of the South African interior
Biddulph et al. Spatiotemporal variability in the initiation and development of peatlands across the central Congo Basin
Blinkhorn et al. Evaluating refugia in recent human evolution in Africa
Aureli et al. Homo sapiens behaviour and adaptation in East Africa. New evidence from an open-air site in a modern Ethiopian savannah environment: the GOT10 site
Dembele Climatic fluctuations during the last millenium and their impact on political history and human settlements in West Africa
Porchier et al. Annually resolved hydroclimate variability in the East African Rift Valley at a time critical for hominin dispersion
Effiom et al. Late Holocene palaeoecological studies at Lake St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal
The Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) workshop in Rome will take place on the 12 and 13 July 2023. The workshop supported by International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) and hosted by the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. During the workshop we will be working towards aims of the MAA project to strengthen the research community of Quaternary scientists working across Africa, and to further our scientific goals of understanding past climate change. To achieve this we will work collaboratively to:
simulate past climate change in Africa,
develop the proposed Special Issue of Quaternary International, and
plan the next steps for the MAA project.
Twenty-seven people are registered for the workshop and we look forward to seeing them in Rome. If you are not registered for the workshop but still want to participate this is possible. On the 13 July between 15:00 and 18:00 CEST the workshop sessions will be online via Zoom. To obtain the Zoom link either visit the MAA Slack channel, or contact William Gosling. During the online part of the meeting we will present the outputs from the palaeoclimate mapping activity, the plans for the special issue, and outline the ideas future of MAA. Feedback from the wider MAA community will be very welcome.
The thirteenth Mapping Ancient Africa seminar was delivered by Andrea Manica on the 18th May 2023. In the seminar Andrea introduced the pastclim R package and gave examples of how it can be applied to address questions related to human evolution and dispersal.
Ecology of the past 