Five-year-old girl swallowed by sinkhole in Cape Town, South Africa.

A five-year-old girl has been rescued after being swallowed by a sinkhole at Wetland in the Khayelitsha Township of Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday 3 July 2006. The girl, who has not been named, was reportedly visiting her aunt in the area, when a section of road collapsed beneath her, leading her to fall into the hole and be covered over with sand. Local residents acted quickly, and were able to dig her out with handtools before serious harm occurred. 

A sinkhole which opened up in the Wetlands area of Khayelitsha on Friday 3 July 2026, swallowing a five-year-old girl. Siyavuya Khaya/Cape Argus.

Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.

However, on this occasion the problem is thought to have been caused by a bulk sewer pipeline which lies beneath the area. The informal settlement at Wetland has been built over this pipeline, which is in a poor state of maintenance, in need of upgrading, and has suffered a number of sinkhole-related problems as sections of the pipeline have collapsed. Officials from the City of Cape Town, which is responsible for the pipeline, report that they expect more collapses on the pipeline, which they struggle to access because of the presence of the settlement.

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The distribution and conservation status of Wild Rooibos Plants, Aspalathus linearis.

Rooibos Tea is a traditional herbal drink from South Africa, not marketed internationally. It is made from the leaves of the Rooibos Plant, Aspalathus  linearis, a type of Cape Gorse which grows wild in dry areas of the northwestern part of the Fynbos Biome, part of the wider Cape Floristic Region. Although traditionally harvested from wild plants, the modern Rooibos industry is built around large scale cultivation of the plant, with only a tiny amount of the total crop harvested from the wild.

Thus the Rooibos Plant is considered to be an economically significant plant in South Africa. Although the commercial harvest is tied to agricultural production, this the wild population preserves a  wider genetic heritage, which may become important should the commercial crop be threatened by disease or climate change. However, while quite a lot of research has been published into Rooibos, most of this relates to commercial cultivation, leaving us with little understanding of the ecology, distribution, or conservation status of the wild plants.

In a paper published in the South African Journal of Science on 26 November 2025, Tineke Kraaij of the Natural Resource Science and Management Cluster at Nelson Mandela University, Vernon Visser of the Centre for Statistics in Ecology, Environment and Conservation, and National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, at the University of Cape Town, and Gerhard Pretorius of NaturaLibra Environmental Services, present the results of a study which looked at the current distribution, potential distribution, population size, and threats to the population size of Wild Rooibos Plants in South Africa, with a view to creating a baseline against which future monitoring of the species could be measured.

Rooiboss is grows in areas with cold wet winters and hot dry summers, with annual rainfall levels of between 300 and 600 mm, and at elevations of between 450 and 900 m. It is found as far north as Vanrhynsdorp and as far south as Betty's Bay and the Cape Peninsula, and anecdotally grows as far east as Riviersonderend and Bredasdorp, 

Wild Rooibos is an extremely variable species (potentially being a species cluster - a group of closely related species difficult to tell apart - rather than a true species), and can be difficult to differentiate from closely related African Gorse species such as Golden Tea, Aspalathus pendula, or Lebeck's Roiibos, Aspalathus lebeckioides. Wild Rooibos also has several different ecotypes, strains of the plant with different morphologies and environmental preferences, further complicating efforts to understand the distribution of the species.

The ecotypes of Wild Rooibos vary in habit, fire-survival strategy, vegetative and reproductive morphology, biochemistry, and genetics. They can be loosely grouped into four main forms, 'Erect' or 'Upright', 'Prostrate', 'Bush' or 'Shrub', and 'Tree' (although 'Tree' is sometimes regarded as a variant on the 'Erect' or 'Upright' form). A 'Salignus' form is also sometimes recognised, this having a Willow-like growth with multiple lanky stems reaching 2-3 m tall and a sparse canopy. The Prostrate and Shrub forms are wider than they are tall, and tend to have many branches close to the ground, and can resprout after a fire. The Erect, Tree, and Saliginus forms are tall, and only regrow from seeds. In addition to these, there is the commercially grown 'Nortier' form, a cultivar bred from the Erect form, which is tall like its parent, but also has the dense branching of the Bush form, giving it a large harvestable biomass. 

Exemplary images of the different ecotypes or growth forms of Wild Rooibos, Aspalathus linearis, namely the (a) Bush or Shrub form, (b) Prostrate form, (c) Erect (including Upright or Tree) form, and (d) Salignus form. Kraaij et al. (2025).

These different ecotypes have different distributions. The Bush, Prostrate and Tree types occur towards the northern part of the species’ range, and the Prostrate, Erect and Salignus types toward the south. The Erect and Salignus types favour higher elevations, above 400-600 m. The Bush ecotype is predominant in areas with low rainfall (less than 200 mm per year), while the Salignus ecotype favours wetter areas (more than 500 mm per year), and lower elevations. Different ecotypes often coexist in the same region, but seldom close to one-another. 

Kraaij et al. built up a map of the distribution of Wild Rooibos and its various ecotypes, using data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and CapeNature databases, previously published research, and fieldwork carried out by Gerhard Pretorius. As much as possible, sites with historic records of the plants were visited to establish their continuing presence (or absence). Additional observations were made along roads connecting historic observation sites.

This data was then used to build a model of the potential distribution of the species, and the Bush, Prostrate, Erect, and Saligus ecotypes. This was achieved by mapping the presence of the plants against a range of variables, including precipitation in the  warmest quarter; precipitation in the coldest quarter; maximum temperature of the warmest month; minimum temperature of the coldest month; topographical slope; soil electrical conductivity; soil potassium, sodium, phosphorus, carbon, and nitrogen levels, soil pH; and the proportion of sand in the soil. 

Of the 235 sites where the species was historically recorded, it was found to now be absent from 30, and present at 47. In addition, 99 new locations where the species was present were identified. The species was not found at an outlier north of Nieuwoudtville and one east of Vanrhynsdorp, and some locations around Citrusdal, not was it found south of Malmesbury, at Franschoek, on the Cape Peninsula, or in the Gordon’s Bay and Betty’s Bay areas. It was confirmed at De Doorns, the easternmost location where it was previously recorded. Kraaij et al. note that the absence of the species at a site where it was historically recorded does not imply local extinction; it is possible that the previous records were miss-identifications. Notably, the habitat at some of these locations appeared completely unsuitable for Rooibos, with very steep slopes, clay soils, or wetlands, and a plant assemblage different from that associated with Rooibos plants. Some records of the plant in southern areas listed on iNaturalist could be verified, suggesting that it is not absent from the claimed southern extent of its range, but the species mainly occurs in the area between Nieuwoudtville in the north, Groot Winterhoek in the south, Wupperthal and the Tra-Tra mountains in the east, and just southeast of Graafwater in the west.

Results of field verification of historical location records of Wild Rooibos, showing where Rooibos was present, absent or not verified, as well as new location records. Kraaij et al. (2025).

The Wild Rooibos population was predicted to extend from Nieuwoudtville in the north to just southeast of Ceres, with the bulk of its distribution around Clanwilliam and Citrusdal, which was largely in line with predictions based upon previous reports. In total the species occupied an area of about 6000 km², with individual ecotypes occupying areas of between 1500 and 2500 km². The Salignus ectotype was the most abundant, predicted to occupy an area of about 254 600 km², followed by the Prostrate ecotype, 161 200 km², the Bush ecotype, 121 100 km², and the Erect ecotype, 119 900 km². Because each ecotype and the species as a whole were modelled separately, the species total does equal the total for each ecotype minus the overlap between different ecotypes. 

Overlap between ecotypes was only substantial in the core area of the distribution range. The Bush and Prostrate ecotypes had roughly similar distributions, extending east and south of the core area. The Erect and Salignus ecotypes had distributions extending west and north of the core area, with the Salignus ecotype predicted to extend furthest west, beyond Piketberg. The Salignus ecotype was also predicted to be found in the south, around Ceres. 

The distribution of the different ecotypes appeared to be driven by different factors. The distribution of the Bush and Prostrate ecotypes appeared to be influenced by the coldest cool period temperature, with both ecotypes able to cope with sub-zero temperatures. Warm season precipitation was clearly important to these ecotypes as well, with both favouring low summer precipitation. The distribution of the Erect and Salignus ecotypes was most strongly influenced by the concentration of potassium in the soil, with both ecotypes favouring very low concentrations. The Erect ecotype also appeared to need low soil conductivity. The distribution of both Erect and Prostrate Ecotypes was also influenced by the concentration of carbon in the soil with both ecotypes favouring very low levels. Kraaij et al. note that high winter temperatures and wet summers favour the growth of pathogenic Oomycetes such as Pythium spp. and Phytophthora cinnamomi, which are known pests of farmed Rooibos.

Kraaij et al. also produce estimated population sizes for the species and each ecotype. They again note that the total for the species does not match the total for each ecotype added together, as these were calculated separately. Three estimates for each population were made, based upon the minimum, mean, and maximum density of the plants. For the species as a whole, the minimum population was estimated at 14.7 million plants, while the mean was 1.78 billion plants, and the maximum was 17.0 billion plants. The most abundant ecotype, Salignus, was estimated to have a minimum population of 144 million plants, a mean population of 390 million plants, and a maximum population of 630 million plants. For the Prostrate ecotype the figures were, minimum 4.35 million plants, mean 863 million plants, and maximum 4.66 million plants. For the Bush ecotype the figures were minimum 13.3 million plants, mean 325 million plants, and maximum 1.34 billion plants. Finally, for the Erect ecotype, the figures were minimum 3.00 million, mean 189 million, and maximum 833 million plants.

Kraaij et al. recommend, however, that these figures be taken with a good deal of caution, as characterising the species distribution and abundance in the landscape was challenging in many cases, with significant implications for the population estimates. The density of Prostrate plants was particularly hard to estimate, particularly when it was interspersed with other plants. The species has a highly irregular distribution across its range, with plants often forming dense clumps in the midst of apparently similar and equally habitable, but unoccupied, landscapes. Both the size and density of individual populations varied a great deal from site to site. Furthermore, most populations were detected from a moving vehicle, requiring a minimum density for observation; it is possible that less dense populations were overlooked. Finally, Rooibos plants grow in a landscape prone to periodic burning. This does not appear to damage the population as a whole, but the plants do take time to recover after a fire, so their presence is likely to have been missed in areas which had recently burned.

Given these constraints, Kraaij et al. estimate that the populations of the species and each ecotype are probably towards the lower ends of their estimated numbers, but that more detailed surveys of each population would be needed to confirm this.

Much of the population of Wold Rooibos appears to be on protected land. Kraaij estimate that 27% of the total population is found on state or private protected areas, with 38% of the Prostrate ecotype, 33% of the Salignus ecotype, 28% of the Bush ecotype, and 20% of the Erect ecotype occurring on protected land.

About 40% of the Wild Rooiboss population was found to be growing in areas where Kraaij et al. considered that it faced no threats. Another 13% was found in areas where it was prone to illegal harvesting, although this was not thought to present a major threat to the species. About 28% of the population was growing in areas where land transformation presented a threat, although much of this land was probably unsuitable for conservation, and was likely to receive some protection from legislation preventing the clearing of natural vegetation. About 4% of the land where the species grew is potentially threatened by overgrazing, although this does not appear to present a direct threat to Wild Rooibos plants. About 15% of the sites were threatened by invasive plants, particularly Dodder, Cuscuta campestris, a parasitic climbing plant from North America, which can target a wide range of hosts and which is a problematic invasive species in several parts of the world. Cultivated Rooibos fields are known to be prone to invasion by Golden Wreath Wattle, Acacia saligna, and Cyclops Wattle, Acacia cyclops, but while these are a problem in Rooibos fields, they do not seem to be a problem in the natural setting. Potentially, climate change could alter the fire regime in the areas where Wild Rooibos grows. However, the species currently grows in areas where fires are fairly infrequent, with the interval between fires typically significantly longer than the regrowth of the plants, so any shift in fire regime would have to be significant to cause a problem.

Climate change could also potentially alter rainfall patterns and temperature in areas where Wild Rooiboss grows. Since these are variables known to affect the distribution of the plants, this could potentially have a major impact on the species, particularly if winters become warmer and wetter. Two of the populations visited during the study appeared to have suffered widespread mortality events following high summer rainfall events in the summer before being visited. Cultivated Rooibos is also known to be intolerant of waterlogged soils, requiring farmers to implement careful drainage schemes. Since a wetter climate is a predicted outcome of a warming climate in the Western Cape, this could be a major threat to the future of the species. 

Wild Rooiboss does not appear to be at risk from hybridisation. The various ecotypes do not appear to interbreed, even when in close proximity to one-another. Potentially each ecotype could be threatened by inbreeding depression if populations become isolated. As it stands, geneflow within the species is not really understood, though it is likely that geographical barriers such as wide rivers and mountain ranges present a barrier to pollination, and the main distributors of the seeds of the plants are Ants, which do not tend to move long distances. Despite the variety of ecotypes, Wild Rooiboss does not show a great deal of genetic diversity as a species, with even less diversity in the southern part of its range. This lack of diversity could potentially present a threat to the species, and should be considered carefully during any conservation efforts. 

There are more than 9000 fields of Cultivated Rooiboss in South Africa, with 4181 occurring within the natural range of the species as calculated by Kraaij et al. Of the 146 Wild Rooibos populations varified, 55 were found to be within 1 km of Cultivated Rooibos fields. Theoretically, hybridisation between Wild and Cultivated Rooibos is possible, but this was not observed, Cultivated Rooibos plants do not persist well after cultivation ceases, which, combined with the apparently limited gene flow between ecotypes, suggests that hybridisation with the Cultivated form does not present a major threat to Wild Rooiboss populations. 

Wild Rooibos has a limited and fragmented distribution, but within this range appears to be common. The total wild population of the species is estimated to be more than 15 million plants. About 27% of the species distribution lies within protected areas. The species does not appear to be threatened by illegal overharvesting, invasive plants, overgrazing, or fire regimes, nor by hybridisation with the Cultivated form. The potential for habitat transformation appears to present only a minor threat to the species. By far the greatest threat to Wild Rooibos appears to be the potential effects of global warming, potentially bringing warmer, wetter conditions unfavourable to the species. This could well cause the range inhabited by the species to contract, with little potential for migration to better climates without Human intervention. 

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United Nations recognises three conservation projects as new World Restoration Flagships.

The United Nations has recognised three conservation projects as World Restoration Flagships, according to a press release issued by the United Nations Environment Program on 4 December 2025. World Restoration Flagships are projects intended to have large-scale and long-term impacts, held up as examples which embody the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). World Restoration Flagships already cover an area of over 10 million km², an area larger than China.

The first new project recognised is the Shellfish Reef Building Program in Australia. This project, a partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the Australian Government, aims to restore reefs of Oysters and Mussels which were once found around much of the southern coast of Australia but which have been greatly depleted by over-harvesting, sedimentation and pollution.

Globefish amongst Mussels and restored shellfish reef in Dromana, Port Phillip Bay. Jarrod Boord/Streamline Media in Reef Builder (2024).

Since its inception in 2020, the Reef Builder Program has worked with local communities to restore reefs at thirteen locations along the southern coastline of Australia; it aims to restore 30% of Australia's original shellfish reefs by 2030. The project has generated over 425 jobs, and about US$10 million in income for over 50 small and medium sized businesses, as well as helping local communities to reconnect to nature and promote stewardship over the natural environment.

The second project recognised is the Respectful Returns Initiative in Canada, a partnership between Parks Canada and local and Indigenous communities, which aims to restore damaged rivers and streams in seven national parks along Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. 

Salmon being released into the Bay of Fundy as part of the Respectful Returns Initiative. Parks Canada.

Since its initiation in 2010, the Respectful Returns Initiative has restored over 650 km² of land and 228 km of waterways, created over 100 jobs, supported research projects by three universities, and formed partnerships with 32 local organisations and community groups. The Salmon population has increased at six of the seven locations where the Initiative works. The Initiative aims to both protect Salmon and to strengthen the connection between the population and their environment. 

The third project recognised is the Thicket Restoration Movement in South Africa, a collaboration uniting over 60 initiatives in Eastern and Western Cape provinces, which aims to restore over 8000 km² of indigenous subtropical thicket by 2030.

Replanting a Kuzuko Thicket in South Africa. AfriCarbon. 

These thickets serve as a grazing resource for both wild Mammals and livestock, particularly under drought conditions, which is an important consideration following the drought of 2023/4, which is the worst the region has suffered in over 100 years. It is a particularly important resource for threatened species such as Black Rhinoceros and African Bush Elephant, and is also a significant carbon reserve, with soils covered by thicket retaining notably more carbon than exposed soils. It is estimated that restoring these thickets sequesters around eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The project is also predicted to directly create over 1000 jobs in rural communities, as well as improving the lives of around two million people.

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Genetic analysis of individuals from the Oakhurst Rockshelter suggest 9000 years of genetic isolation in South Africa.

Modern Southern African populations contain genetic diversity which records the deepest branching events known in the genetic history of extant Humans. The region also has a long archaeological record, with archaic Homo sapiens first appearing here around 260 000 years ago and Anatomically Modern Humans around 120 000 years ago. Because of this, the ancient Human populations of Southern Africa have been the subject of numerous archaeological and palaeogenomic studies, by scientists hoping to gain insights into population structures during the later stages of Human evolution. However, this interest in the most ancient Human genomes recoverable has left somewhat of a gap in the study of more recent, Holocene populations.

The Holocene has seen significant changes in technology and culture within Southern Africa. During the last 2000 year new populations have migrated into the area, bringing with them pastoralism and crop-farming. This began with the arrival of herders from East Africa, and was followed by farming populations from West Africa, who also brought the Bantu language group to the region. As well as  setting up  new communities with new ways of living, both of these groups contributed to the genetic structure of the original populations, so that all  extant San and Khoe populations draw at least 9% of their genetic material from outside Southern Africa. 

In a paper published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution on 19 September 2024, Joscha Gretzinger of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Victoria Gibbon of the Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology at the University of Cape Town, Sandra Penske also of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Judith Sealy of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town, Adam Rohrlach, also of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Domingo Salazar-García of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Cape Town, and the Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga at the Universitat de València, and Johannes Krause and Stephan Schiffels, again of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, present the results of a study in which they obtained genetic samples from a series of individuals from the Oakhurst rockshelter in South Africa, and compared these to other genetic samples from historic and living populations in South Africa.

The Oakhurst Rock Shelter is located 7 km from the southern coast of South Africa, close to the town of George in Western Cape Province. It was first excavated in the 1930s, and has yielded a remarkable sequence of archaeological remains, now known to represent about 12 000 years of accumulation. The Early Holocene layers here have yielded an assemblage of macrolithic tools which has been named the 'Oakhurst Complex' in reference to the site, which has been discovered at many sites across South Africa. Around 8000 years ago, this Oakhurst Assemblage was replaced by a set of microlithic tools, which have been named the Wilton Assemblage, which persisted throughout the remainder of the Middle and Late Holocene, with minor variations. Around 2000 years ago, ceramics also begin to appear at the site. 

As well as the numerous cultural artefacts, the Oakhurst Rock Shelter has also yielded 46 sets of Human remains, adult and juvenile, deposited throughout the archaeological sequence, including the oldest dated set of Human remains to have yielded DNA in South Africa, which are 10 000 years old. Gretzinger et al. obtained genetic material from 13 individuals from the Oakhurst Rock Shelter, all of which have been radiocarbon dated from their bone collagen, yielding ages of between 10 000 and 1300 years; nine of these dates are from previous studies, while four are new dates obtained by Gretzinger et al.. The generic sex was determined for all thirteen individuals, with the mitochondrial haplogroup obtained for nine individuals and the Y chromosome haplogroup for five.

Because mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria, organelles outside the cell nucleus, it is passed directly from mother to child without being sexually recombined each generation, enabling precise estimations of when individuals shared common ancestors, at least through the female line. It is also possible to trace direct ancestry through the male line, using DNA from the Y chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son without sexual recombination.

Gretzinger et al. next created a haplotype population tree including ancient DNA from the nine Oakhurst individuals with mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, as well as samples from other archaeological sites in Africa, and modern populations. Most of the samples used were from previous studies, and are publicly available, however, some of the sequences were obtained from San skeletal material held by the University of Cape Town, and used only with permission of the San communities from which they were obtained. Access to this data is only available to other researchers with the permission of the University of Cape Town Skeletal Repository Committee and the relevant San communities. 

This recovered the Oakhurst individuals as being on the deepest branching limb of the living Human tree, which also includes living San populations, but closest to other ancient individuals from South Africa than to any living population. They also note that they recovered an ancient divide between San populations living north and south of the Kalahari, and that all the ancient South African populations, including the Oakhurst individuals, are on the same branch as the San populations from south of the Kalahari.

Maximum likelihood tree showing genetic affinities between ancient and present-day southern Africans, generated using TreeMix of genome sequences from present-day and ancient populations, excluding populations with evidence of asymmetrical allele sharing with non-Africans indicative of recent gene flow. Branches of ancient individuals/groups are truncated for better readability. Gretzinger et al. (2024).

Looking at the wider genomes, Gretzinger et al. found that San and Khoekhoe populations split into three principle groups, with the Kx`a-speaking Ju|’Hoan and !Xuun forming a northern cluster, Khoe-Kwadi-speaking Nama, and Tuu-speaking ‡Khomani and Karretjiemense forming a southern cluster (Karretjiemense is an Afrikaans word meaning 'people of the cart', but is how these people self-identify), while the Tuu-speaking Taa, Kx`a-speaking ǂHoan, and Khoe-Kwadi-speaking Gǀui and Gǁana form a central group. Eight of the Oakhurst individuals lie within the southern cluster, as do four other Later Stone Age skeletons with published genomes from South Africa, although the oldest individual in the dataset show a slightly greater affinity for the northern cluster. Notably, within the southern cluster, the Oakhurst individuals showed the greatest affinity to populations still living close to the area today, with the youngest individual, OAK007, dated to 1344 years before the present, showing the greatest affinity for living populations, sharing more and longer identical by descent segments with the Karretjiemense and ‡Khomani than with any other tested population.

Comparison of the genomes of the Oakhurst individuals to other, previously published, ancient African genomes, Gretzinger et al. found that all South African Later Stone Age genomes were closer to one-another that to those of any other ancient African. The youngest individual, OAK007, was most closely related to two other Later Stone Age individuals, from St. Helena and Faraoskop, both of which have been dated to about 2000 years before the present. Together, these three individuals form a sister group to two further individuals from Ballito Bay on the eastern coast of KwaZulu-Natal, thought to be of similar age. Older genomes from Oakhurst become steadily less closely related to these individuals as they get older, as well as less closely related to the genomes of historical San samples from Sutherland, Western Cape Province. However, the genome of a 1200-year-old pastoralist from South Africa clustered with Later Stone Age genomes from Malawi, while those of four Iron Age farmers from South Africa clustered most closely with Later Stone Age genomes from Cameroon. 

Next Gretzinger et al. looked for potential ingression of non-San genetic sequences into the Oakhurst individuals, finding no trace of affinity to populations in either East of West Africa, and a consistent grouping with southern rather than northern San groups, the genetic gulf between which groups appears to have been widening steadily since their split around 20 000 years ago, before the drying of the Lake Makgadikgadi palaeo-wetland, which once covered most of central Botswana.

All of the Oakhurst individuals dating to between 10 000 and 1344 years before the present, form part of a single clade (group with shared common ancestry), which also includes individuals from St. Helena, Faraoskop, and Ballito Bay dating to between 2200 and 1300 years before the present. However, the genomes of individuals from South Africa from between 1300 and 1200 years before the present show a significant discontinuity with earlier individuals, with a second discontinuity observed between 1200 and 400 years before the present. Gretzinger et al. attribute these discontinuities to the influxes of first pastoralists from East Africa and then farmers from West Africa into the region. However, they find no trace of West African ancestry in three individuals from Sutherland dating to the late nineteenth century, while about 11% of their genome appears to be of East African ancestry, a proportion similar to that seen in living ‡Khomani individuals from the Northern Cape Province, who typically have genomes comprising about 9% East African genetic material.

Based upon this, Gretzinger et al. observe that no evidence of any genetic influx from outside of modern South Africa recorded at Oakhurst Rock Shelter between 10 000 and 13 000 years before the present, a remarkable period of genetic continuity lasting almost 9000 years. Despite this, the Oakhurst individuals show no signs of being genetically isolated, The level of conditional nucleotide diversity (the  extent to which each member of a pair of chromosomes differs from its partner, used as a measure of inbreeding within a population( maintained within the Oakhurst samples is lower than that found in  Later Stone Age population from Malawi, Kenya and Cameroon, but comparable to other Later Stone Age populations from Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and greater than is seen in ancient hunter gatherer populations from Serbia, Japan, and Brazil, as well as modern San and Khoe populations. This is non consistent with a model of long-term isolation, instead indicating to the presence of a much larger population of Later Stone Age hunters in South Africa before about 1300 years before the present, when other groups are generally accepted to have begun to arrive in the region, and a subsequent dramatic reduction in the size of that population.

Reconstructing the demographic history of South Africa over the past 2000 years is complicated, with at least two significant prehistoric population influxes, and substantial genetic exchange with both other parts of Africa and other continents following the establishment of the first European settlements in about 1650. To try to address this, Gretzinger et al. created a model using genomes from Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers in South Africa, the Luxmanda archaeological site in Tanzania, which has been dated to about 3000 years before the present, and modern Mende populations from West Africa.

They then developed a best-fit model which enabled them to group populations into primarily West Africa or Primarily East African (excluding populations with a substantial amount of genetic material from both sources), in order to estimate dates for the admixtures of the West and East African components. They found that San and Khoe populations began to absorb genes from East Africa substantially before those from West Africa, with an estimated date of 1068 years before the present. This is consistent with the East African ancestry recovered the 1200-year-old pastoralist remains from Kasteelberg, on the southwest coast of South Africa near St. Helena Bay, and the estimated date of admixture of 1228 years before the present recovered from the nineteenth century Sutherland material. 

The arrival of West African genes in South Africa appears to have been considerably more recent, with living Bantu-speaking groups such as the Herero, Tswana, and Kgalagadi, producing an estimated admixture date around 808 years before the present, while 400-year-old remains attributed to Iron Age farmers from KwaZulu-Natal yielded an estimated admixture date around 832 years before the present. Living San and Khoe groups yielded a more recent estimated admixture date, of about 578 years before present. Gretzinger et al. suggest that this may reflect either several waves of West African arrivals, or a continuous flow, with an initial admixture of San and Khoe genetic material into the ancestors of modern Bantu-speaking groups and a subsequent flow of West African genes into the ancestors of modern San and Khoe populations.

All groups show considerably more Later Stone Age ancestry on their X chromosomes than on their autosomal (non-sex determining) chromosomes, with this signal being stronger in San and Khoe populations than the Bantu-speaking groups. This implies that in most cases, the contribution from Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers was from the female side. The extent to which this is true appeared to vary between living populations, with the living Damara (a Khoekhoe-speaking people from northwestern Namibia) having had about 1.4 female Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers in their ancestry for each male, the ǂHoan (a Kxʼa language-speaking group from Botswana) having about 2.28 Later Stone Age hunter gatherer females per male in their ancestry, the Shua (a Khoe-speaking group from central Botswana) having about 4 Later Stone Age hunter gatherer females per male in their ancestry, the Haiǁom (a Khoekhoe speaking group from Namibia) having about 5.2 Later Stone Age hunter gatherer females per male in their ancestry. This also applies to South Africa Bantu-speaking groups (for whom the overall contribution of Later Stone Age hunter gatherer genetic material is lower), with about 2.1 females per male having contributed genetic material to the extant population. 

This female bias can also be seen in the historical Sutherland genomes and the 1200-year-old pastoralist remains from Kasteelberg, although, surprisingly, not to the four Iron Age KwaZulu-Natal individuals, who have a higher proportion of Later Stone Age hunter gatherer genetic material on their autosomal chromosomes than on their X chromosomes, indicating a higher proportion of male Later Stone Age hunter gatherer ancestors than female ones. This is different to the situation seen in all other groups in South Africa and Botswana for which a trend could be determined, and may reflect a change in the way different groups were integrating in the past 400 years compared to the nature of such interactions during the arrival of the first farmers into the region.

Gretzinger et al. finally note a recent admixture of male northwest European DNA into San/Khoe and mixed groups from Colesberg and Wellington. The estimated date for these ingressions is 199 years before the present, despite the known arrival of Dutch and British migrants into the region from the mid-1600s onwards, something which led to a collapse in San and Khoe genetic, linguistic and cultural diversity. In addition to severely disrupting existing population structures, the European arrivals introduced a range of new populations into the region, all of which have contributed to modern population structures to some extent. As an example, Gretzinger et al. note that mixed-ancestry South Africans from Colesberg drew an average of 24.4% of their ancestry from South Asia, 2.8% from East Asia, 8.2% from Northern Europe, and about 35.5% from Later Stone Age hunter gatherers. Some San and Khoe groups also have a significant proportion of European ancestry, with the Karretjiemense drawing an average of 5.61% of their ancestry from Europe, the ‡Khomani on average 9.45%, and the Nama on average 6.83%. This suggests that southern San populations were particularly affected by intermixture with Europeans, with these groups having a higher proportion of European ancestry that other San or Khoe populations, comparable to that of the mixed-ancestry South Africans sampled. Thus, the modern populations most closely related to the Oakhurst individuals appear to be particularly affected by genetic ingression from other populations.

Demographic changes in the San and Khoe populations of southern Africa: Summary of the inferred population history of the San and Khoe in southern Africa. Sex symbols indicate male- and female-biased reproduction. Note that pastoralism and farming both appeared in present-day South Africa at about the same time, 2,000 years ago. Gretzinger et al. (2024).

The question of population continuity within Later Stone Age communities in Southern Africa has engaged archaeologists for over a century. In the past two decades, the application of genetic methodology to archaeological problems has helped to unravel the demographic histories of Stone Age populations in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, revealing episodes of large-scale migration in these regions, during which indigenous populations were either replaced by or absorbed into the new population. These biological replacements of populations also appear to have been vectors for the spread of new technologies. In South Africa, in contrast, there appears to have been a surprisingly long period of genetic continuity, with on detected influx of genetic material from elsewhere for at least 9000 years, from the beninning of the Holocene till around 1200 years ago, during which time the Southern San remained isolated from Northern and Central San populations as much as from other populations elsewhere in Africa.

This implies that the cultural changes seen at the Oakhurst Rockshelter, such as the transition from the Oakhurst to the Wilton technocomplex, were a result of entirely local inovation. It has previously been observed that there have been slight fluctuations in craniofacial size in Later Stone Age populations in coastal South Africa, something which has been interpreted as a sign of genetic discontinuity, something which Gretzinger et al.'s results contradict. Since the population was not a small isolated one which might be subject to strong effects from genetic drift, it seems likely that these variations were driven by changes in the local environment.

The 9000 years of genetic and cultural isolation experienced by Later Stone Age hunter gatherers in South Africa seems to have ended quite abruptly, with the spread of herding communities from East Africa shortly followed by the arrival of farming communities from West Africa. Most parts of South Africa do not record any genetic trace of these arrivals before about 1300 years ago. However, there is evidence for changes in settlement patterns and other cultural behaviours in this coastal South Africa from about 2000 years ago, which have been interpreted as a response to the arrival of herding in the area. In Europe, a similar cultural shift is seen at the Neolithic-Mesolithic boundary, with a genetic admixture between the incoming farming population and the extant hunter gatherer population not being recorded for about 2000 years after the cultural shift. This implies that in Europe at least, farming and hunter gatherer populations were able to live alongside one-another for a long period of time before beginning to intermix, something which may also have been true in South Africa. Alternatively, pastoralism may have been culturally transmitted from East Africa to Southern Africa long before the spread of East African populations into the region.

However, from about 1200 years ago onwards, there has been substantial migration into Southern Africa from other regions, and substantial ingression of new genetic material into all populations, with the effect that all living San and Khoe populations are admixed with one or both of East African Pastoralist and West African Farmer ancestry. This process was accelerated by the arrival of European settlers in the mid-seventeenth century, which led to widespread population collapse among hunter gatherer populations in Southern Africa. Combined with a loss of oral traditions, these events have greatly obscured the prehistoric population structure of southern Africa. 

Genetic methods such as those used by Gretzinger et al. provide a way to study these ancient population structures, showing that the San and Khoe inhabitants of South Africa are the direct decendants of the Early Holocene inhabitants of the region, despite considerable disruption to their lifestyle and population structure by later migrants to the region.

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Evidence for shoes in the Middle Stone Age of the Cape Coast, South Africa.

The appearance of clothing is considered to be one of the key stages in the development of Modern Humans, and the development of footwear, a complex form of clothing, is in itself an important technological leap. However, the exact time when footwear first appeared is unknown, with the first foot-coverings presumed to have been made of perishable materials unlikely to have survived. In the absence of preserved footwear, ichnology (the study of tracks and traces) provides the most plausible technique for detecting the first use of footwear among Hominins.

The oldest known shoes in the archaeological record are sandals made of woven Sagebrush bark from Oregon in the United States, the oldest of which have been dated to between 10 500 and 9200 years old. Also from the United States, a variety of sandals, moccasins, and slip-on footwear have been uncovered in Missouri, dating from between 8000 and 1000 years ago. The oldest shoe from Eurasia is a leather wrap-around shoe from southeastern Armenia, dated to between 5600 and 5400 years ago. Also from Eurasia, ‘Ötzi the Iceman' a frozen natural mummy found in the High Alps on the border between Austria and Italy, dated to more than 5000 years old, had a complete set of clothing, including complex footwear made from Bear-skin, Deer hide, and tree bark. A pair of Cow-hide sandals from Israel has also been dated to more than 5000 years ago.

Hominin trackways are known from many sites around the world, and can be identified by features such as the alignment and shape of the hallux, relative digit lengths, and the presence of a prominent medial longitudinal arch. However, these identifying features are based upon the assumption that the track-maker was unshod, and it is unlikely that all would be present were they to have been wearing some form of foot-covering. Thus, unsurprisingly, the majority of known Hominin tracks are considered to have been made by unshod tracemakers, although a few exceptions are known.

The oldest apparently shod Human tracks in the Americas are in Jaguar Cave, Tennessee, which are thought to be about 5000 years old. In Europe such traces include traces associated with a Magdalenian (Upper Palaeolithic) tool assemblage in Fontanet Cave, France, which appear to have been made by an individual wearing a soft shoe or sock. Also in France, Cussac Cave, footprints associated with a Gravettian assemblage and dated to between 38 000 and 31 000 years ago lack any digit impressions, despite these being present on both Human handprints and Bear footprints within the same cave, leading to the possibility that the trace-makers may have been shod.

Footprints without digit impressions are also known from a third site in France, Le Rozel, although these are about 80 000 years old, implying that the trace-makers were Neanderthals rather than Modern Humans. Possible evidence for footwear use by Neanderthals comes from Theopetra Cave in Greece, where a mixture of shod and unshod traces appears to have been left by a group of children around 130 000 years ago.

In South Africa, a number of possible footwear traces have been found on the Cape Coast, an area noted for its excellent Pleistocene tracks, including one trace which appears to show a clear sandal-imprint.

The use of clothing is thought to have been developed by Hominins inhabiting cool environments during Pleistocene cold spells, although the perishable nature of the material from which such cloths are likely to have been made, makes it unlikely that any preserved material will ever be found. Instead, tools used for the processing of skins, leather, and textiles are used as proxies for the materials themselves. This begins with the appearance of scrapers presumed to have been used for the preparation of skins, shortly followed by bone awls, needles and eyed needles, which imply the manufacture of increasingly complex clothing. Based upon this, it has been calculated that the first simple clothing probably appeared around 800 000 years ago, long before the emergence of Modern Humans, with several different Hominin species probably manufacturing and wearing cloths, with the possibility that footwear appeared at the same time. Molecular clock analysis suggests that Body Lice probably diverged from Head Lice between 170 000 and 80 000 years ago, by which time is is assumed that Humans were habitually wearing cloths all the time.

The Contrebandiers Cave site in Morocco, which has been dated to between 120 000 and 90 000 years ago, has yielded a variety of bone tools thought to have been used for the processing of leather and furs, but for the most part Pleistocene sites with evidence for tools likely to have been used in clothing manufacture and tracks made by Hominins are restricted to two areas, Western Europe and the Cape Coast of South Africa.

Such tools in Europe are known from the Middle Palaeolithic of southwestern France, with the oldest dating to about 51 400 years ago, and other examples between 48 000 and 41 000 years ago. These tools were presumably made by Neanderthals, and include lissoirs, tools which can be used to process hides, giving a smooth, tough, and reasonably impermeable finish (although not the same as modern commercially produced leathers).

The oldest sites in South Africa yielding tools which could have been made for making cloths are at Klasies River and Blombos Cave on the Cape Coast, with the Klasies River site dated to about 100 000 years ago and Blombos Cave mostly to about 80 000 years ago, although one awl, made from the bone of a Bird, was dated to at least 125 000 years ago.

Although these tools are taken as the earliest tools which are clearly associated with clothing manufacture, in both Europe and South Africa earlier stone tools could have been used to cut or pierce hides during the manufacture of simple garments, as could sharpened shell tools known from the Cape Coast. However, the fact that the oldest surviving footwear was made from woven Sagebrush rather than leather does suggest that caution should be applied when judging what ancient populations would have seen as suitable materials for making footwear.

It has also been suggested that wearing shoes might affect the way in which the foot develops, something which has been implied for a set of Human remains from Tianyuan in China dated to about 50 000 years ago, although the phalanges of the foot are seldom well preserved, limiting the number of instances in which this method can be applied.

Another Upper Palaeolithic site at Sunghir, in northern Russia, yielded a buried individual with remnant body decoration implying leggings or boots, as well as having extremely gracile lateral phalanges, something thought to be associated with habitual shoe wearing. This was particularly surprising as all Upper Palaeolithic Hominin tracks from Eurasia appear to have been made by barefoot trace-makers.

The relationship between footwear and foot morphology is complicated. Individuals who minimise their use of footwear are thought to have stronger foot muscles, and fewer pathologies of the feet, but this would be unlikely to result in any detectable skeletal difference between someone who never wore shoes and someone who occasionally did so, or even somebody who habitually wore very lightweight shoes.

In a paper published in the journal Ichnos on 28 August 2023, Charles Helm of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, Martin Lockley, also of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, and of the Dinosaur Trackers Research Group at the University of Colorado Denver, Hayley Cawthra, again of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, and of the Minerals and Energy Unit at the South African Council for Geoscience, Jan De Vynck, again of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, and of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mark Dixon, again of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, Renée Rust, again of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, and of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Willo Stear and Monique Van Tonder, once again of the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, and Bernhard Zipfel, also of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, describe three Middle Stone Age sites on South Africa’s Cape Coast where tracks appear to have been made by Hominins wearing shoes, and discuss ways in which future studies of this topic could be approached.

Map of the Cape Coast of South Africa, showing Cenozoic deposits and places mentioned in the text. Helm et al. (2023).

Scientists from the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience have been studying the trace fossils of the Cape Coast since 2007. Here, a 350 km section of coast has frequent coastal aeolianites (wind-blown sand deposits) which have been buried by subsequent similar deposits than set with a carbonate cement, preserving a record of the people and animals which moved over them during the Middle Stone Age. As well as trackways left by Hominins, these studies revealed imprints left by Crocodiles, Giraffe, breeding Sea Turtles and very large Tortoises, none of which have left skeletal remains in the area.

The Cape Coast region has a remarkably rich archaeological record, tracing the appearance and development of numerous stages considered key steps on the way to Modern Human behaviour, including personal adornments, jewellery, the heat treatment of stone tools, art, and the use of abstract symbols. Palaeoclimatic studies of the same region indicate that the coastal plains upon which these deposits were laid down went through a cycle of exposure and inundation throughout the Pleistocene, which probably helped to maintain an ideal Hominin environment in the region. 

Prior to this project, Hominin tracks had previously been discovered at Langebaan on the west coast of South Africa, and Nahoon on the east coast of the country. Extensive study of the Cape Coast has produced four new track localities, and while another probable set of tracks has recently been identified at Langebaan. Combined with a set of tracks on an ancient lakebed in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia, this represents the entire global inventory of tracks more than 46 000 years old which are attributed to Modern Humans.

All of the Hominin tracks on the Cape Coast are within the aeolianites of the Waenhuiskrans Formation, which together with the cemented foreshore, shoreface and lagoon deposits of the Klein Brak Formation, comprise the Bredasdorp Group. These deposits have been dated to between 400 000 and 36 000 years old, although the majority belong to Marine Isotope Stage 5, making them between 130 000 and 80 000 years old. To the east of Robberg, the correlate of the Waenhuiskrans Formation is the Nahoon Formation, which forms part of the Algoa Group. These Pleistocene aeolianites split readily along their bedding planes, so that tracks are often exposed on fallen blocks on the coast. Thes blocks are ephemeral, quickly being eroded away by the action of the waves.

Due to this ephemeral nature, tracks needed to be recorded quickly when exposed. This was done by recording their locality with a GPS unit and taking numerous photographs, which were then used to build photogrammetric models. Exposed trackways and footprints were also measured for track length, track width, track depth, pace length, stride length, and thickness of foresets, and individual footprints were examined for evidence of strap attachment points. 

In addition, studies were made of newly created tracks on sandy surfaces on the Cape Coast, with varying levels of moisture, slope, and firmness, and a variety of shoe types, including shoes with an open soft sole, an open hard sole, a closed soft sole and a closed hard sole. The best match for the fossil footprints was made by using an open hard soled shoe on soft, moist sand.

Shoe designs for this study were based upon shoes made by examples of sandals made by San peoples of southern Africa from the collections of the Blombos Museum of Archaeology in South Africa and Zambezi Heritage Museum in Namibia. The shoe which gave the closest results to the preserves footprints was based upon two such sandals, and was made from two layers of Cow-hide glued together, and laced by piercing three holes through this sole, one between the big toe and the adjacent digit, and two about half way along the length of the shoe, one at each side. The laces were made from the same Cow-hide as the upper part of the shoe, and were threaded through the holes and knotted underneath, protruding below, although in the museum examples prolonged use had levelled out the knots with the base of the sole. These sandals proved easy to attach to the foot.

Helm et al. present details of three footprint-bearing sites on the Cape Coast, these being, from west to east, Kleinkrantz, Goukamma, and Woody Cape.

At Kleinkrantz a slab measing 55 cm x 55 cm and 20 cm thick with apparent footprints on its upper surface, was found lying on a modern coast dune beneath a vegetated slope, which in turn lies beneath a cliff with an exposure of the Waenhuiskrans Formation. There was no sign of a recent rockfall, and samples taken from the Waenhuiskrans Formation in this area have been dated to between 148 000 and 79 000 years old.

(A) The Kleinkrantz site in the Garden Route National Park; scale bar is 10 cm. (B) Photogrammetry colour mesh of the Kleinkrantz site, using 48 images. Photos were taken average 36.4 cm from the surface. The reprojection error is 0.39 pix. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Arrows indicate possible strap attachment point impressions. Helm et al. (2023).

This slab has two similar depressions, one in front of the other, each with crisp three crisp and well-defined margins, two straight parallel, the third near semicircular. One of these appears to have been a double impression, with a slightly narrower impression overlying an slightly wider one. The wider of these is 9 cm wide, the narrower 7 cm, while the single impression is 8 cm wide. Both features are at least 16 cm long. The narrowest impression also has three depressions within it consistent with the position of the strap knots on the experimental sandal.

Two other possible track prints are also present, although these are more amorphous, and were apparently made by a person travelling in a different direction, though again possible strap-attachment knot impressions are present. 

The second site lies within the Goukamma Nature Reserve, between Sedgefield and Knysna, where the Waenhuiskrans Formation has been dated to between 136 000 and 79 000 years old, although recent dates obtained suggest parts of the formation may be as young as 73 000 years old. Here a fallen slab has three footprints with crisp margins and no signs of digits, one of which particularly resembles the imprint of a shod foot. This print measures 11.5 cm in length and 6 cm in width.

(A) The Goukamma surface; scale bar = 10 cm. (B) Angled view of the Goukamma site; scale bar is 10 cm. (C) Photogrammetry colour mesh of the Goukamma site, using 59 images. Photos were taken average 29.9 cm from the surface. The reprojection error is 0.39 pix. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Helm et al. (2023).

The third site, Woody Cape, is situated in the coastal portion of the Addo Elephant National Park. Here a detached slab from the Nahoon Formation shows a trackway comprising four footprints, one of which is partial. The prints are 10-12 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, with a pace length of 19 cm. Raised areas to the left of each print imply some downslope movement.

Photogrammetry colour mesh of the Woody Cape site, using 37 images. Photos were taken average 29.2 cm from the surface. The reprojection error is 0.57 pix. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Helm et al. (2023).

Helm et al. also attempted to recreate a trackway similar to the Pleistocene examples, using a hard-soled sandal based upon museum specimens, on a modern, moist, soft, level dune surface. This produced footprints with slight out-toeing about 26 cm in length, with a width of 11.5 cm and a pace length of 63 cm. The front and back margins of the prints were semicircular, the sides parallel. Strap attachment marks can be seen.

Photogrammetry colour mesh of the neoichnological trackway (level surface, hard-soled sandal, soft substrate) using 63 images. Photos were taken average 37 cm from the surface. The reprojection error is 2.07 pix. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Helm et al. (2023).

Helm et al. accept that the evidence they provide cannot be seen as irrefutable, however, the presence of similar tracks at three separate sites, combined with the recreation of similar prints with a pair of modern sandals based upon a historic design, does strongly suggest that similar sandals were being worn by Humans in the area more than 70 000 years ago. All three sets of footprints appear to have been made by trackmakers smaller than modern adult Humans, suggesting that they were either adults of smaller stature, or children.

A pair of sandals on exhibit in the Blombos Museum of Archaeology in Still Bay, viewed from above (A), and below (B), showing strap attachment points; scale bars are 10 cm. Helm et al. (2023).

The tracks of bare feet are distinctive, due to the presence of digits and the raised arch of the foot. The impression likely to have been made by a shoe of unknown design is less easy to predict, but it is likely to have followed the general plan of a Hominin footprint, i.e. twice as long as wide, and soft foot-coverings may still preserve the presence of an arch, and rounded front and back margins. It is also quite likely that the front portion of the print will be wider than the rear portion, and that the curve of the front and back parts of the foot will be different. Trackways will reflect the fact that Hominins are bipeds with a narrow stride. In some cases, distinctive traces may be made by the footwear, such as attachment marks from straps.

A pair of sandals on exhibit in the Zambezi Heritage Museum in Katima Mulilo, Namibia, viewed from above (A), and below (B), showing strap attachment points; scale bars are 10 cm. Helm et al. (2023).

Previous attempts to recreate impressions likely to have been made by ancient footwear mostly concentrated on the use of soft leather shoes by persons walking over clay substrates. These studies found that shod tracks were typically longer and narrower than unshod tracks, and that this became more exaggerated as the substrate got moister and the footprints deeper. Shod footprints were also typically simpler than unshod ones, most obviously in the lack of toe-prints. 

These findings may have some implications for studies being carried out on the Cape Coast of South Africa, where some footprints have been considered questionable due to their apparently elongate shape.

Historic sandals in the collections of museums shed light on the appearance of shoes within the region in the recent past, and therefore possibly those that might have been used by people in the remote past armed with similar resources and environmental challenges. These sandals are remarkably symmetrical, with little difference between the width of the front and rear portions of the shoe. The pair from the Zambezi Heritage Museum in Namibia are believed to have been made from Buffalo hide in the 1920s.

The San people who made these sandals are known to have used a variety of Animal skins, with different groups using specific hides, including Eland, Hartebeest, and Wildebeest, while other Animals, such as Gemsbok, were avoided by all groups. Furthermore, different types of sandals were made for different purposes, including special shoes for seniors, shoes for uphill travel, and running sandals with a hook under the toe giving extra purchase when running over soft sand (possibly in imitation of the foot of an Ostrich, the fastest bipedal Animal present in the region).

A pair of ‘running sandals’ in the Fourie Collection in Museum Africa, accession number MM40-69-2416; scale bar is 10 cm. Justine Wintjes in Helm et al. (2023).

Rock art in Southern Africa also provides a record of the use of footwear in the region, albeit one that only stretches back a few thousand years. The artwork at Baviaanskloof in Eastern Cape Province is thought to be about 2000 years old, and includes a 21 cm high figure interpreted as a shaman, naked apart of a pair of laced sandals and a kaross (cloak made from Animal skin). The fact that a largely naked figure is wearing elaborate sandals suggests that these were important items to the people of the region.

(A) A male figure, apparently with footwear and shoelaces (magnified in inset), in a San pictograph from Baviaanskloof.  (B) Rock art of footwear that appears to depict shoelaces, Baviaanskloof. Helm et al. (2023).

In total, four figures with footwear are present within at Baviaanskloof, two of which have identifiable laces. Sandals can also be seen in the rock art of the western US, where Pueblo petroglyphs made between 1000 and 1200 AD also depict footwear.

Helm et al. note that the identification of tracks made by Hominins with footwear can be difficult, and suggest a set of criteria which may make this easier for future researchers. Firstly, any trackway examined should be of sufficient length for the study to be useful. Secondly, Hominins are bipedal, with a narrow gait, and any track made by them should reflect this. Thirdly, Hominin footprints are roughly twice as long as wide, regardless of footwear. Fourthly, Hominin tracks tend to have rounded fronts and backs. Fifthly, any trackway analysed for the presence of footwear should be of sufficient quality, with crisp margins. Sixthly, shod footprints will lack the diagnostic features of unshod footprints, such as digit marks. Finally, the footprints may have diagnostic features associated with the footwear, such as strap attachment points.

See also...

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