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Evidence for sea-level change during and around Marine Isotopic Stage 5e (ca. 125 ka) in southern Africa derives from a wide variety of geomorphic and sedimentological sea-level indicators, supported in the past 2 decades by absolute chronological control. In addition to these proxies, data provided by both terrestrial (dune sediments and archaeological remains) and marine (lagoonal and nearshore littoral sediments) limiting points provide broad constraints on sea level. Here, we review publications describing these data points. Using the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines, we insert in a standardized database all the elements needed to assess former paleo relative sea level, and the chronological constraints associated with them (including uncertainties). Overall, we reviewed 69 studies, from which we extracted 35 sea-level indicators and 25 limiting points. As far as age attribution is concerned, early dating of molluscs and whole-rock beachrock samples using U-Series allowed ating of several sea-level indicators during the 1980s but the more widespread application of Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating since 2004 has yielded many more (and more accurate) dates from several sites. This has helped resolve the nature and timing of MIS5e shorelines and has the potential to further elucidate the apparent presence of two or more sea-level peaks at several South African sites during this interval. The standardized sea-level database presented in this paper is the first of its kind for this region. Future research should be directed to improve the stratigraphic description of LIG shorelines and to obtain better dating, high-accuracy elevation measurements with better palaeo-RSL interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the present environmental conditions, the Nile Valley acts as a 'natural' route between Africa and Eurasia, and is often considered as a corridor of dispersal out of and back into Africa in the past. This paper intends to address the role played by the Nile Valley at the end of the Pleistocene (25-15ka) in the context of modern human dispersals, from an archaeological perspective. Genetic studies based on both modern and ancient DNA indicate pre-Holocene dispersals 'back into Africa' as well as genetic interactions between modern humans across Africa and the Levant. During the Last Glacial, the lowering, or even desiccation of major eastern African lakes, including Lake Victoria, reduced the White Nile to a highly seasonal river, depriving the main Nile from its most important tributary. This had deep consequences, although still debated, on the behaviour of the main Nile and the landscape around the Nile Delta. Despite this shift to more arid conditions, there is abundant evidence for human occupation in the Egyptian Nile Valley and in the arid zone of the Southern Levant at this time. Here, we use lithic data to characterise human occupations in the Nile Valley and test for potential technical diffusion between the Nile Valley and the southern Levant. This study failed to highlight compelling evidence for contacts between the two regions at the end of the Pleistocene. Combining available geological, palaeoenvironmental, anthropological, genetic and archaeological data, we discuss problems encountered when trying to reconcile results from different fields, current limitations of the available data and research perspectives to further address the role of the Nile Valley as a corridor of dispersal or environmental refugium at the end of the Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]