Mpondoland on the South African east coast is a particularly dynamic region in terms of climate change as it is influenced by both temperate and tropical circulation and climate systems. We present a sediment record that indicates regional climatic change and anthropogenic influence during the last ∼5500 yr. Catchment data allow an understanding of signal transmission from the catchment to the site of the marine core. Plant-wax isotope distributions and elemental composition, as well as palynological, burned phytolith and micro-charcoal data, are used to infer paleoclimatic shifts and reconstruct past human activity. Whereas previous studies have often disregarded early anthropogenic drivers of environmental change, our study provides palynological evidence of human impacts and geochemical evidence of increased erosion starting as early as ∼1500 years ago. Downcore proxy analysis suggests that particularly humid conditions persisted from ∼900 to ∼300 cal yr BP, encompassing both the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. We suggest that humidity during the Medieval Climate Anomaly was sourced from a poleward shift of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies and the South African high-pressure cell, allowing for the southward expansion of the Southern Indian Ocean Convergence Zone. During the Little Ice Age, the equatorward movement of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies probably brought increased rainfall to areas that are normally beyond the northern limit of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies. Comparison of our record to available regional archives of centennial-scale late Holocene climate variability in South Africa demonstrates that Mpondoland is located at a transition zone of tropical and sub-tropical climatic influences.

就气候变化而言，南非东海岸的姆蓬多兰（Mpondoland）是一个特别活跃的地区，因为它受到温带和热带环流以及气候系统的影响。我们提供了一个沉积物记录，该记录表明了最后一个5500年期间的区域气候变化和人为影响。流域数据使人们能够理解从流域到海洋核心地点的信号传输。植物蜡的同位素分布和元素组成，以及孢粉，烧过的植物石板和微木炭数据，可用于推断古气候变化并重建人类过去的活动。尽管先前的研究经常忽略了人为因素对环境变化的早期驱动作用，我们的研究提供了人类影响的古生物学证据，侵蚀的地球化学证据最早可追溯到1500年前。下层代理分析表明，特别是潮湿的条件在BP持续约900至300 cal yr，包括中世纪的气候异常和小冰期。我们认为，中世纪气候异常期间的湿度来自南半球西风和南非高压单元的极移，从而使南印度洋收敛带向南扩张。在小冰河时期，南半球西风的赤道运动可能使通常超出南半球西风北限的地区降雨增加。