TY - JOUR
T1 - Biogeochemical evidence for targeted landscape use in ancient foragers of Malawi
AU - Bertacchi, Alex
AU - Zipkin, Andrew
AU - Ambrose, Stanley
AU - Scaffidi, Beth
AU - Asael, Dan
AU - Benmamoun, Zachary
AU - Davis, Jacob
AU - Farr, Jeremy
AU - Fort, Matthew
AU - Giblin, Julia
AU - Johnson, Thomas
AU - Kaliba, Potiphar
AU - Lundstrom, Craig
AU - Mapemba, Fredrick
AU - Mwafulirwa, Rafael
AU - Thompson, Jessica C.
N1 - We thank the Malawi Department of Museum and Monuments for granting research permission. Access was facilitated by local authorities Paramount Chief Inkosi ya Makosi M’Mbelwa V, Inkosi Chindi, Inkosi Kampingo Sibande, Inkosana Thomas Nkosi, and the Mzimba Heritage Association. We are grateful to the local community for welcoming us and participating in the fieldwork alongside international students and our long-term Malawian collaborators Joseph Tembo, Henry Kalinga, Daudi Mwangomba, and Samson Kanyika. We thank Menno Welling (African Heritage Ltd. – Research & Consultancy, Zomba, Malawi) for help with field logistics; Noah Planavsky (Yale University) for access to laboratory spaces; Jiuyuan Wang, Boriana Kalderon-Asael, and Alice Knaf (Yale University) for advice on the enamel portion of the project. A grant to S.A., A.Z., and J.C.T. from the National Science Foundation (Grant BCS# 1725123) funded the collection and processing of plant and soil samples for the Kasitu isoscape. Enamel processing was supported by grants to A.B. from the National Science Foundation (Grant BCS# 2211151), the Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies, and the Smith Fund. The broader field project was supported by grants to J.C.T. by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant no. 9437), the National Geographic Society (NGS-53412R-18), Emory University, Yale University, and Hyde Family Foundations.
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - The Zambezian Biome of southern-central Africa was an important environmental setting for ancient human interactions and biogeographic dispersals. Here, we assess herbivore migratory behavior and habitat selection with a ~ 2,500 km2 isoscape of bioavailable strontium (87Sr/86Sr) for the Kasitu Valley of northern Malawi, and a probabilistic spatial assignment of fossil herbivore enamel from four sites dated to the last 25,000 calibrated years BP. The results show a very large range in bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr values in the study area (0.7248-0.8521) and reveal that foragers hunted small game locally and procured most large prey in the Afromontane grasslands to the southeast of the study area and along narrow riparian corridors. We found no evidence of migratory behavior in species that exhibit this behavior today. Ancient foragers likely hunted prey that were available year-round, consistent with zooarchaeological and genetic evidence for reduced mobility at the end of the Pleistocene.
AB - The Zambezian Biome of southern-central Africa was an important environmental setting for ancient human interactions and biogeographic dispersals. Here, we assess herbivore migratory behavior and habitat selection with a ~ 2,500 km2 isoscape of bioavailable strontium (87Sr/86Sr) for the Kasitu Valley of northern Malawi, and a probabilistic spatial assignment of fossil herbivore enamel from four sites dated to the last 25,000 calibrated years BP. The results show a very large range in bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr values in the study area (0.7248-0.8521) and reveal that foragers hunted small game locally and procured most large prey in the Afromontane grasslands to the southeast of the study area and along narrow riparian corridors. We found no evidence of migratory behavior in species that exhibit this behavior today. Ancient foragers likely hunted prey that were available year-round, consistent with zooarchaeological and genetic evidence for reduced mobility at the end of the Pleistocene.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019091016
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019091016#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1038/s43247-025-02795-z
DO - 10.1038/s43247-025-02795-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105019091016
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 6
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 818
ER -