Tropical West Southern Africa (4,365 – 2,638 BCE) Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic — First Livestock at the Margins and Wetland–Pasture Pairing

Geographic and Environmental Context:

Tropical West Southern Africa includes the far-northern zones of Botswana and Namibia, including the Okavango Delta, the Zambezi–Chobe–Caprivi Strip wetlands, the Etosha Pan basin and surrounding thornveld, and the Namib’s Skeleton Coast fringe.

Anchors: Okavango Delta (Boro–Thamalakane–Khwai distributaries), Zambezi–Chobe–Cuando/ Kwando–Linyanti–Caprivi channels and floodplains, Etosha Pan (Oshigambo–Oshivelo margins, Ekuma–Omuramba inlets), Owambo/ Cuvelai seasonal rivers, and the Skeleton Coast (surf-battered gravel plains, fog-fed lichen fields, seal rookeries).

• Pastoral streams from the north/ northwest reached the Caprivi fringe; Okavango floodplain edges offered seasonal grazing; Etosha margins served as dry-season pasture.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Slight drying trend; flood pulses remained annual but sometimes reduced.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Sheep/goat appear in small numbers among forager camps near Caprivi–Okavango by late in this window;

• Herding remained supplemental to fishing/ gathering/ hunting.

Technology & Material Culture

• Pottery begins to appear in small quantities (cooking/ storage); continued microlithic hunting kit; leather water bags complement OES flasks.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Pastoral–forager exchange corridors along Zambezi–Chobe and Okavango levees; hides, meat, fish traded for stock access/ milk.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Rock art starts to display domestic animal forms near flood edges; ritual proscriptions govern water access and grazing.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Wetland–pasture complementarity spreads risk; milk/ meat add protein buffers to flood-season storage.

Transition

By 2,638 BCE, mixed forager–pastoral mosaics had formed along the Okavango–Caprivi–Etosha belt.