A preliminary 3000-year palaeotemperature series is presented for South Afr
ica. The series has been derived using the correlation in recent times betw
een the colour variation in annual growth layers of a stalagmite taken from
a cave in the Makapansgat Valley and an area-averaged regional annual maxi
mum temperature series. A statistical transfer function was applied to the
variation in colour banding in the stalagmite over the last 3000 years. The
time periods from no 1500 to 1800, and from 800-200 BC are shown to have b
een the coolest episodes in the last three millennia, with temperatures up
to 1 degreesC lower than at present. Medieval warming with a maximum at aro
und no 1500 and a pronounced warm episode around 100 BC were prominent feat
ures of the record.