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Gcwihaba

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Gcwihaba[pronunciation?] is a cave in Botswana located in Okavango Delta region . The Gcwihaba Caves were part of the Kalahari landscape around 2 million years ago, at least for the entire period of the Pleistocene.[1]The name of the cave is a San word and stands for "hyena's lair".[2] The cave is situated 10 km away from the Namibian border.[2] In 1932 it was first shown to a European, Ghanzi region farmer Martinus Drotsky, and the main cavern was named Drotsky's cavern after him.[3] Gwchihaba is a Botswana National Monument under the Monuments, Relics and Antiquities Act, and has been put forward to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.[1][4] It is the type locality of the mineral gwihabaite (IMA1994-011).[5]

Even though nothing was found in the first 50 cm of cave during the excavations to affirm that the cave was settled as a camp, 51 stone artefacts (33 of them made from travertine)  were released in the upper  50 cm of the cave. 50-80 cm of the cave is called The Terminal Pleistocene charcoal layer. More cultural relics were observed in this layer. Bones of African bullfrogs and pieces of ostrich eggshell were among the findings.[6]


References

  1. ^ a b Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Gcwihaba Caves". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  2. ^ a b "Cultural Tourism and Livelihood Diversification: The Case of Gcwihaba Caves and XaiXai Village in the Okavango Delta, Botswana". Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change. 2009.
  3. ^ "Gcwihaba caves". Botswana Tourism. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  4. ^ Sporton, Deborah, ed. (2002). Sustainable Livelihoods in Kalahari Environments: A Contribution to Global Debates. Oxford University Press. p. 180. ISBN 9780198234197.
  5. ^ "Gwihabaite". Mindat. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  6. ^ Robbins, L.H.; Murphy, M.L.; Stevens, N.J.; Brook, G.A.; Ivester, A.H.; Haberyan, K.A.; Klein, R.G.; Milo, R.; Stewart, K.M.; Matthiesen, D.G.; Winkler, A.J. (1996). "Paleoenvironment and Archaeology of Drotsky's Cave: Western Kalahari Desert, Botswana". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23: 7–22. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0002.


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