The potential of archaeobotanical, specifically anthracological, investigations is still largely untapped for research on past land use and land cover in sub-Saharan Africa. Botanical macro-remains such as fruits and seeds, but also vegetative plant parts like tubers, hold important information about subsistence, while wood and wood charcoal tell us about past wood procurement. In addition, both sets of data are proxies for past climate and environment. In the Republic of South Africa, numerous archaeobotanical, and specifically anthracological, studies have been conducted, from Tusenius (1989) to recently Puech et al. (2021). Elsewhere in southern Africa, only a few studies exist from sites in Namibia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe (e.g., Chikumbirike et al., 2016; Eichhorn, 2002; Ekblom et al., 2014). This book helps to narrow this research gap with archaeobotanical studies from two sites in Namibia and the first ever archaeobotanical study in Botswana.

Past Environments and Plant Use in Holocene Southern Africa, resulting from the author’s Ph.D. thesis, delivers first data on palaeoenvironment and plant economies for the Late Stone Age (LSA) of the Kgalagadi (or Kalahari) and neighboring regions to the west. Drawing on both vegetative and generative plant parts (preserved charred and uncharred), and through comparison with the archaeozoological evidence, the author concludes that the environment has been quite similar for the last 3500 years, with low human impact. Herders reaching the region about 2000 years ago did not affect the vegetation in a manner visible in the archaeobotanical evidence so far. Despite its semi-arid character, the region was rich in food and other ecological resources, which people exploited sustainably.

The introduction summarizes the scope of the research and explains the choice of the methodological approach, and then, the first two chapters of the book describe the environmental and the archaeological background of the study region. Chapter 1 reviews the general geomorphology, soils, and past and present climate, as well as the vegetation and fauna of southern Africa. It provides an extensive review of current literature, but not all publications referred to in the accompanying table are listed in the references, just as in some references in later chapters. After an overview of the prehistory of southern Africa, Chapter 2 presents the three sites, two rockshelters in Namibia (Leopard Cave and Geduld) just outside the Kgalagadi Basin, and the open-air site Toteng 1 in Botswana, at the center of the region. For each site, the chapter outlines research history, specifies stratigraphy and dating, and describes the archaeological material, faunal and human remains, and the present-day environment.

Sourcing of the archaeobotanical material is described in Chapter 3. The author carried out sampling along with the excavations (Leopard Cave) or used material that had already been recovered in the past (Geduld). For Toteng 1, excavated without botanical sampling, the author undertook great efforts to obtain archaeobotanical material, including the excavation of a new trench. The chapter further describes sampling and processing strategies, with flotation performed at Leopard Cave and Toteng 1, but possibly not at Geduld. Charcoal analysis was performed relying on the type concept, which classifies wood charcoal to types based on allocations to modern taxa using IAWA features (IAWA Committee, 1989). Wood anatomical atlases and databases (e.g., InsideWood, 2004-onwards) were used for comparison. Here, it would have been useful to further compare the anthracological results with Barbara Eichhorn’s work from northern Namibia, readily available online (Eichhorn, 2002). Though published in German, the diagrams and SEM images of identified taxa speak for themselves. For the identification of the carpological remains, the author could then draw on her own knowledge of the flora, and comparative material in various herbaria and reference collections. It is well worth emphasizing the tremendous efforts the author invested in building up a reference collection of fruits/seeds as well as of wood—the prerequisite for every well-grounded archaeobotanical study. The author collected material from almost 50 species, all backed by herbarium vouchers.

Chapter 4 summarizes the results of an ethnobotanical study on plant exploitation conducted among two present-day communities in the Erongo region, close to the Namibian sites. The interviews underline the relevance of ethnographic investigations for the interpretation of archaeological wood charcoal assemblages as they stress the relevance of social norms for wood choice. Unfortunately, the methodology remains a bit vague: the questionnaire is not published, and the comparability of the approaches within the two communities is not elaborated on. Moreover, the table summarizing the results does not fit the more detailed tables per community.

Chapter 5 presents detailed descriptions of the identified wood charcoal types and the results of the archaeobotanical analyses per site. This begins with a table of quantitative and qualitative wood anatomical features of the 20 identified charcoal types, ordered alphabetically according to family. The catalogue of charcoal types follows; the descriptions are based on IAWA features and supplemented by six high-quality SEM images each. One possible point of confusion is that descriptions of the same type, but from different excavations, display different features. Moreover, the utility of the catalogue for other researchers would have benefited tremendously from highlighting the diagnostic features (i.e., those distinguishing the types from each other). Thankfully, this is done for some types in the following discussion (Chapter 6). Two nicely illustrated plates documenting the carpological remains mark the transition to the evaluation of the results. The results of the analysis of c. 3000 wood charcoal fragments and c. 750 carpological remains are displayed in several clear tables for each site and find category. Some finds of other vegetative plant parts, such as five bulbs of Lapeirousia sp., Iridaceae, supplement the data.

The discussion (Chapter 6) brings together these different lines of evidence to make two points. First, LSA groups exploited vegetal resources for food and fuel from vegetation comparable to that of today, including bushveld and stream bank plant communities. Second, climatic conditions seem to have been similar across the Kgalagadi Basin. Moreover, a comparison of carpological and anthracological data is seen to suggest that the LSA communities excluded certain useful arboreal taxa from use as fuelwood, possibly to protect them as resources for non-timber products. The mopane tree (Colophospermum mopane) serves as an example; its wood is regarded as underrepresented in the charcoal assemblage of Geduld, because the tree might have been protected from felling as it hosts the “mopane worm,” a highly appreciated protein resource. The discussion ends by considering the carpological record as a possible indicator of seasonal occupation of the rockshelters as food-processing stations. The discussion is quite short; it could have made more use of the data given in the introductory chapters, reflecting more extensively on the possible differences or similarities in environment and archaeological evidence, as well as preservation or recovery issues at the different sites.

The first part of the Appendix is a valuable resource for those unacquainted with wood anatomical terminology. This is followed by a short characterization of the families attested in the archaeobotanical record. The subsequent catalogue of the charcoal reference collection constitutes the largest part of the appendix. The sequence of the descriptions remains unclear, and Sclerocarya birrea does not form part of the catalogue, although its wood is listed as part of the reference collection (Chapter 3, Table 14). This is unfortunate since the description of this type in the archaeological catalogue (Chapter 5) leaves some question marks: diagnostic features such as the presence of radial canals, reduced borders of vessel-ray pits, and their gash-like appearance are neither listed, nor displayed, in the SEM images. In addition, the transverse section seems atypical, with distinct paratracheal aliform and confluent axial parenchyma, rather than being scanty or even absent. A comparison with a description in the reference catalogue could have provided clarification concerning the identification. Together, the catalogues on archaeological (Chapter 5) and reference material (Appendix) have the potential to serve as important resources for further anthracological studies in southern Africa. However, they should be used critically, as the wood anatomical descriptions may be misleading in some cases. An example is the description of Ximenia americana in the reference catalogue, which wrongly states the presence of radial canals in rays. In fact, neither do the SEM images show this feature nor does the list of used IAWA features include 130 (“Radial canals”). Such inaccuracies in wood anatomical descriptions do not, however, cast doubt on the identifications in general; they rather refer to specific points of nomenclature and recording.

Despite these shortcomings, the book is an example of how archaeobotanical investigations, and anthracological ones specifically, can and do contribute to answering questions about past environments and past plant use. The author has done pioneering work to further our understanding of regional developments beyond better-studied South Africa. The research in this book is diligent, and the results are generally consistent. As stated by the author, further investigations will be necessary to substantiate the hypotheses brought forward for plant exploitation and palaeovegetation in southern Africa during the Late Holocene.