Our research uses sediment records from wetlands to understand past environmental change. Pollen grains are used as a proxy indicator of past vegetation, and tiny charcoal fragments are an indicator of fire history. Together, these proxies provide insights into long-term ecological processes, and, when combined with supporting information from archaeology and palaeoclimate studies, can help us understand how climates and human activity shape the environment through time. Our main research areas for this theme include the Drakensberg Mountains, and the Maputaland Coastal Plain. We have also looked at evidence from Mapungubwe, the Soutpansberg, and have ongoing interests in East African mountain environments. 

Dabengwa, A.N., Archibald, S., Finch, J., Scott, L., Gillson, L., Bond, W.J. (2022). Sedimentary charcoal studies from southern Africa’s grassy biomes: a potential resource for informing the management of fires and ecosystems. African Journal of Range and Forage Science. DOI: 10.2989/10220119.2021.2016965 

Finch, J.M., Hill, T.R., Meadows, M.E., Lodder, J., Bodmann, L. (2022). Fire and montane vegetation dynamics through successive phases of human occupation in the northern Drakensberg, South Africa. Quaternary International 611-612, 66-76. 

Hahn, A., Neumann, F.H., Miller, C., Finch, J.M., Frankland, T., Cawthra, H. Schefuß, E., Zabel, M. (2021). Mid- to Late Holocene climatic and anthropogenic influences in Mpondoland, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106938  

Norström, E., Kylander, M., Sitoe, S.R., Finch, J.M. (2021). Chronostratigraphic palaeoclimate phasing based on southern African wetlands: From the escarpment to the eastern seaboard. South African Journal of Geology 124, 977-994. 

Hill, T.R., Finch, J.M. (2021). Modern pollen-vegetation relationships in the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. In: Runge, J., Gosling, W.D., Lezine, A.-M., Scott, L. (eds) Palaeoecology of Africa Special Volume 35: Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics. 275-292. Routledge.  

Miller, C., Finch, J., Hill, T., Peterse, F., Humphries, M., Zabel, M., Schefuß, E. (2019). Late quaternary climate variability at Mfabeni peatland, eastern South Africa. Climate of the Past 15, 1153-1170.