Archaeological evidence for the reassessment of the ages of the Makgadikgadi palaeolakes
M. J. McFarlane, Phillip Segadika · Botswana notes and records · 2001
Earlier studies of palaeo-lake strandlines of the Makgadikgadi area are briefly summarised. North ofGweta the cutting of a palaeolake floor, attributed to the 945m level (palaeo-Lake Makgadikgadi), has removed the overburden of weathered Middle Kalahari sediments to expose unweathered silcrete with a veneer of silcrete cobbles 'corestones' at the base of the weathering profile. The discovery of a new Early Stone Age factory site, which takes advantage of this favourably rounded gravel on the palaeolake floor, provides grounds for a reassessment of the palaeolake chronology. Its location between the strandlines attributed to the 945m level (palaeo-Lake Makgadikgadi, 40-35,000 BP) and the 920m level (palaeo-Lake Thamalakane, 17-13,000 BP) shows that the palaeo lake floor on which it occurs must predate 200,000 BP.