Gcwihaba
Gcwihaba is a cave in Botswana located in Okavango Delta region. The cave is situated 10 km away from the Namibian border.[1] 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.[2] Gwchihaba is a Botswanan National Monument, and has been put forward to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.[3] It is the type locality of the mineral gwihabaite (IMA1994-011).[4]
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.[5]
References
- "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.
- "Gcwihaba caves". Botswana Tourism. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Gcwihaba Caves". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
- "Gwihabaite". Mindat. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
- "Paleoenvironment and Archaeology of Drotsky's Cave: Western Kalahari Desert, Botswana". Journal of Archaeological Science. 1996.