This book represents a major contribution to current research in palaeoecology and archaeology in Africa for a period covering the first developments of Homo sapiens and a major part of the Middle Stone Age (MSA). It is the result of a conference held in 2010 at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. Forty-four authors contributed 19 chapters, organised in four parts according to African ecological zones: 1) coasts (and near-coastal biomes), 2) deserts, and 3) grasslands, woodlands and rainforests; with the fourth part dedicated to transcontinental perspectives.