New study shows âdryâ Kalahari was more important to human evolution than previously thought Researchers from South Africa, Canada, UK, Australia and Austria have been working to understand what the climate of Kalahari was like 105,000 years ago. Text Size: A+ The Kalahari is a huge expanse of desert in southern Africa, stretching across Botswana and into the northernmost part of South Africaâs Northern Cape province. Itâs in the Northern Cape that we studied and described a new archaeological site, Ga-Mohana Hill, for research just published in Nature. Our international team, made up of researchers from South Africa, Canada, the UK, Australia and Austria, has found evidence for complex symbolic behaviours 105,000 years ago.