Original version
Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin Behavior, Geography, and Chronology. 2023, 717-735, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20290-2_46
Abstract
Northern Malawi encompasses the southern extensional graben of the East African Rift System and the western shores of Lake Malawi (Niassa). The region has experienced significant shifts in vegetation and hydrology throughout the Pleistocene, owing to changes in global climate and local feedback mechanisms. This impacted human populations, for which the archaeological record begins between about 85 and 99 thousand years ago (ka) in the form of abundant Middle Stone Age (MSA) stone artifacts in the northernmost District of Karonga. These artifacts occur in alluvial fan deposits that may have formed as landscape features in response to human–environment feedback cycles of vegetation burning and erosion. Although there are likely earlier Pleistocene deposits, these have not been studied, nor dated, in sufficient detail to understand how they relate to other parts of the record. This chapter reviews the history of research and current interpretations of the archaeological record of northern Malawi, with a focus on the Karonga District.