Zimbabwe at 18 000 BP

Zimbabwe is a reasonably well-defined geographic region, bounded to the north by the Zambesi River, to the east by the eastern highlands, to the south by the Limpopo and Shashi rivers and to the west by the Kalahari sandveld. In area the country extends over 390 000 km and lies mainly between 300 and 1500 m above sea-level. Rainfall is largely determined by the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which is at its southern limit over Zimbabwe in summer, and this is when the country receives most of its rain (Hattle 1971). Precipitation in most areas ranges between 400 and 1000 mm per annum, but the influence of the ITCZ is weakest in the southern regions. Southern Zimbabwe is therefore drought-prone, receiving on average less than 400 mm a year ( Lineham 1965 ). Mean annual temperatures range from about 15° to 27°C ( Torrance 1965 ), and generally the central plateau and eastern mountains are cooler than the lower-lying Zambesi and Limpopo valleys.