The interior regions of South Africa have had less attention devoted to archaeological research than coastal regions, and palaeoenvironmental studies are also more limited. As such, little is known about the interaction between human behaviours and past environments in these semi-arid regions. Here, we present an archaeobotanical and mineralogical study from the Middle Stone Age site of Mwulu’s Cave, Limpopo Province. Our study shows the importance of using taphonomical approaches prior to interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages, while provides with novel information on the plants used by ancient inhabitants of Mwulu’s. The grass phytolith composition is of environmental significance, where a shift from C₄ Panicoideae to C₃ grasses is observed in the last occupation event. This tentatively suggests a shift in rainfall regime, from summer rainfall conditions to an increase in winter rain, during Marine Isotope Stage 5b in the Polokwane region, or a decrease in rainfall seasonality. Although we are unable to chronostratigraphically associate this change in the plant composition, our study adds evidence in support of previous propositions for an expansion of the winter rainfall zone into the interior regions of South Africa.

中文翻译：

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Mwulu洞穴（南非林波波）中石器时代遗址的植物分类学，植物区系开发和古环境：一种考古植物学和矿物学方法

与沿海地区相比，南非内部地区对考古研究的关注较少，而古环境研究也更为有限。因此，对于这些半干旱地区中人类行为与过去环境之间的相互作用知之甚少。在这里，我们介绍了林波波省姆武卢洞穴的中石器时代遗址的考古植物学和矿物学研究。我们的研究表明，在解释古植物组合之前，应先使用透声方法，同时提供有关姆武卢族古代居民使用的植物的新颖信息。禾本科植物的硅藻土成分具有环境意义，其中从C ₄ Panicoideae转变为C ₃在最后的职业事件中观察到草。初步表明，在波罗克瓦尼地区的海洋同位素第5b阶段，降雨方式从夏季降雨条件转变为冬季降雨增加，或者降雨季节减少。尽管我们无法在时间地层上将这种植物组成的变化联系起来，但我们的研究为支持将冬季降雨区扩展到南非内部地区的先前主张提供了证据。