1
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Morrissey P, Mentzer SM, Wurz S. The stratigraphy and formation of Middle Stone Age deposits in Cave 1B, Klasies River Main site, South Africa, with implications for the context, age, and cultural association of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. J Hum Evol 2023; 183:103414. [PMID: 37660505 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Cave 1B, in the Klasies River Main site complex (KRM), is best known for the recovery of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. After initial skepticism over the modernity of this specimen, it is accepted that the mix of archaic and modern traits it displays is characteristic of early Homo sapiens individuals. Different authors have associated this specimen with the Middle Stone Age (MSA) I and II/Mossel Bay cultural phases, but the published data do not allow an unambiguous attribution. KRM 41815's frequent use in studies of the evolution of the human mandible, and its well-developed chin, makes clarifying its age and context important objectives. The field and micromorphology observations presented here provide greater insight into the stratigraphy and formation of the sequence exposed in the PP38 excavation. There are three major divisions: the basal Light Brown Sand (LBS) Member (not excavated), the Rubble Sand (RS) Member (MSA I), and the Shell and Sand Dark Carbonized (SASDC) Submember (MSA II). Cultural stratigraphy based on lithic artifacts remains the only way to make secure (but broad) temporal correlations with the rest of the site complex. This investigation shows that a range of anthropogenic, geogenic, and biogenic processes contributed to the deposition and post-depositional alteration of the identified microfacies. Short depositional hiatuses are reasonably common, and a significant hiatus was identified between the RS and SASDC. The impact of post-depositional processes on the RS is significant, with anthropogenic deposits poorly preserved. In comparison, the SASDC is dominated by hearths contained within deposits rich in reworked anthropogenic materials known as carbonized partings. Small shell disposal features are also present. The distribution of these anthropogenic features suggests continuity in the management of space throughout the MSA II occupations, from before 110 ka. New stratigraphic correlations indicate that KRM 41815 is unambiguously associated with the MSA I. Therefore, it predates 110 ka, with a lower age limit potentially in Marine Isotope Stage 6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Morrissey
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | - Susan M Mentzer
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sarah Wurz
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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2
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Pieruccini P, Forti L, Mecozzi B, Iannucci A, Yu TL, Shen CC, Bona F, Lembo G, Muttillo B, Sardella R, Mazzini I. Stratigraphic reassessment of Grotta Romanelli sheds light on Middle-Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironments and human settling in the Mediterranean. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13530. [PMID: 35941267 PMCID: PMC9358667 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16906-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
During the last century, Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy) has been a reference site for the European Late Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to its geomorphological setting and archaeological and palaeontological content. The beginning of the sedimentation inside the cave was attributed to the Last Interglacial (MISs 5e) and the oldest unearthed evidence of human occupation, including remains of hearths, was therefore referred to the Middle Palaeolithic. Recent surveys and excavations produced new U/Th dates, palaeoenvironmental interpretation and a litho-, morpho- and chrono-stratigraphical reassessment, placing the oldest human frequentation of the cave between MIS 9 and MIS 7, therefore embracing Glacial and Interglacial cycles. These new data provide evidence that the sea reached the cave during the Middle Pleistocene and human occupation occurred long before MISs 5e and persisted beyond the Pleistocene- Holocene boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierluigi Pieruccini
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, Università Di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso, 35, 10125, Turin, Italy
| | - Luca Forti
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra "A. Desio", Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34. 20133, Milan, Italy. .,Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto Di Geoscienze E Georisorse, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Beniamino Mecozzi
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - Alessio Iannucci
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Tsai-Luen Yu
- Marine Industry and Engineering Research Center, National Academy of Marine Research, Kaohsiung, 806614, Taiwan, ROC.,High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Chuan-Chou Shen
- High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC.,Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Fabio Bona
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra "A. Desio", Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34. 20133, Milan, Italy.,Museo Civico Dei Fossili Di Besano, Via Prestini 5, 21050, Besano, Varese, Italy
| | | | - Brunella Muttillo
- Dipartimento Di Studi Umanistici, Università Di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d'Este, 32, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Raffaele Sardella
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Ilaria Mazzini
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto Di Geologia Ambientale E Geoingegneria, Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, 00015, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
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3
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Pomeroy E, Hunt CO, Reynolds T, Abdulmutalb D, Asouti E, Bennett P, Bosch M, Burke A, Farr L, Foley R, French C, Frumkin A, Goldberg P, Hill E, Kabukcu C, Lahr MM, Lane R, Marean C, Maureille B, Mutri G, Miller CE, Mustafa KA, Nymark A, Pettitt P, Sala N, Sandgathe D, Stringer C, Tilby E, Barker G. Issues of theory and method in the analysis of Paleolithic mortuary behavior: A view from Shanidar Cave. Evol Anthropol 2020; 29:263-279. [PMID: 32652819 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 06/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Mortuary behavior (activities concerning dead conspecifics) is one of many traits that were previously widely considered to have been uniquely human, but on which perspectives have changed markedly in recent years. Theoretical approaches to hominin mortuary activity and its evolution have undergone major revision, and advances in diverse archeological and paleoanthropological methods have brought new ways of identifying behaviors such as intentional burial. Despite these advances, debates concerning the nature of hominin mortuary activity, particularly among the Neanderthals, rely heavily on the rereading of old excavations as new finds are relatively rare, limiting the extent to which such debates can benefit from advances in the field. The recent discovery of in situ articulated Neanderthal remains at Shanidar Cave offers a rare opportunity to take full advantage of these methodological and theoretical developments to understand Neanderthal mortuary activity, making a review of these advances relevant and timely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Pomeroy
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Chris O Hunt
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Tim Reynolds
- Department of History, Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | | | - Eleni Asouti
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | | | - Marjolein Bosch
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ariane Burke
- Département d'Anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Lucy Farr
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Robert Foley
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Charles French
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Amos Frumkin
- Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Paul Goldberg
- Centre for Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.,Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Evan Hill
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - Ceren Kabukcu
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Marta Mirazón Lahr
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ross Lane
- Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, UK
| | - Curtis Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Bruno Maureille
- CNRS, UMR5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Ministry of Culture, Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Giuseppina Mutri
- The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.,International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO), Rome, Italy
| | - Christopher E Miller
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Kaify Ali Mustafa
- General Directorate of Antiquities in Kurdistan, Kurdish Regional Government, Erbil, Iraq
| | - Andreas Nymark
- Department of History, Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Paul Pettitt
- Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Nohemi Sala
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain
| | - Dennis Sandgathe
- Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Chris Stringer
- CHER, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Emily Tilby
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Graeme Barker
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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4
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Zilhão J, Angelucci DE, Igreja MA, Arnold LJ, Badal E, Callapez P, Cardoso JL, d'Errico F, Daura J, Demuro M, Deschamps M, Dupont C, Gabriel S, Hoffmann DL, Legoinha P, Matias H, Monge Soares AM, Nabais M, Portela P, Queffelec A, Rodrigues F, Souto P. Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers. Science 2020; 367:367/6485/eaaz7943. [PMID: 32217702 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Marine food-reliant subsistence systems such as those in the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) were not thought to exist in Europe until the much later Mesolithic. Whether this apparent lag reflects taphonomic biases or behavioral distinctions between archaic and modern humans remains much debated. Figueira Brava cave, in the Arrábida range (Portugal), provides an exceptionally well preserved record of Neandertal coastal resource exploitation on a comparable scale to the MSA and dated to ~86 to 106 thousand years ago. The breadth of the subsistence base-pine nuts, marine invertebrates, fish, marine birds and mammals, tortoises, waterfowl, and hoofed game-exceeds that of regional early Holocene sites. Fisher-hunter-gatherer economies are not the preserve of anatomically modern people; by the Last Interglacial, they were in place across the Old World in the appropriate settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Zilhão
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain. .,Universitat de Barcelona, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain.,Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - D E Angelucci
- Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, via Tommaso Gar 14, 38122 Trento, Italy
| | - M Araújo Igreja
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal.,Laboratório de Arqueociências (LARC), Direcção Geral do Património Cultural, Calçada do Mirante à Ajuda 10A, 1300-418 Lisboa, Portugal.,Environmental Archaeology Group, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (ENVARCH, CIBIO/InBIO), University of Oporto, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 7, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - L J Arnold
- Environment Institute and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), Department of Earth Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - E Badal
- Universitat de València, Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain
| | - P Callapez
- Departamento de Ciências da Terra (CITEUC), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - J L Cardoso
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal.,Universidade Aberta, Rua da Escola Politécnica 147, 1269-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - F d'Errico
- CNRS (UMR 5199-PACEA), Université de Bordeaux, Bât. B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France.,SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), Sydnesplassen 12/13, 4 Etage, Postboks 7805, 5020 University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - J Daura
- Universitat de Barcelona, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain.,Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - M Demuro
- Environment Institute and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), Department of Earth Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - M Deschamps
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5608-TRACES, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de la Recherche, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - C Dupont
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 6566-CReAAH, Laboratoire Archéosciences, Bât. 24-25, Université de Rennes 1-Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
| | - S Gabriel
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal.,Laboratório de Arqueociências (LARC), Direcção Geral do Património Cultural, Calçada do Mirante à Ajuda 10A, 1300-418 Lisboa, Portugal.,Environmental Archaeology Group, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (ENVARCH, CIBIO/InBIO), University of Oporto, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 7, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - D L Hoffmann
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.,Geoscience Center, Isotope Geology Division, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - P Legoinha
- Geobiotec, Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - H Matias
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - A M Monge Soares
- Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, 2695-066 Bobadela, Portugal
| | - M Nabais
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal.,Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - P Portela
- Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, 2695-066 Bobadela, Portugal
| | - A Queffelec
- CNRS (UMR 5199-PACEA), Université de Bordeaux, Bât. B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - F Rodrigues
- Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa (UNIARQ), Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - P Souto
- Sociedade Torrejana de Espeleologia e Arqueologia, Quinta da Lezíria, 2350-510, Torres Novas, Portugal
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5
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Biittner KM, Sawchuk EA, Miller JM, Werner JJ, Bushozi PM, Willoughby PR. Excavations at Mlambalasi Rockshelter: a Terminal Pleistocene to Recent Iron Age Record in Southern Tanzania. THE AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2017; 34:275-295. [PMID: 32025077 PMCID: PMC6979695 DOI: 10.1007/s10437-017-9253-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The Mlambalasi rockshelter in the Iringa Region of southern Tanzania has rich artifactual deposits spanning the Later Stone Age (LSA), Iron Age, and historic periods. Middle Stone Age (MSA) artifacts are also present on the slope in front of the rockshelter. Extensive, systematic excavations in 2006 and 2010 by members of the Iringa Region Archaeological Project (IRAP) illustrate a complex picture of repeated occupations and reuse of the rockshelter during an important time in human history. Direct dates on Achatina shell and ostrich eggshell (OES) beads suggest that the earliest occupation levels excavated at Mlambalasi, which are associated with human burials, are terminal Pleistocene in age. This is exceptional given the rarity of archaeological sites, particularly those with human remains and other preserved organic material, from subtropical Africa between 200,000 and 10,000 years before present. This paper reports on the excavations to date and analysis of artifactual finds from the site. The emerging picture is one of varied, ephemeral use over millennia as diverse human groups were repeatedly attracted to this fixed feature on the landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - P. M. Bushozi
- University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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6
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Stahlschmidt MC, Miller CE, Ligouis B, Goldberg P, Berna F, Urban B, Conard NJ. The depositional environments of Schöningen 13 II-4 and their archaeological implications. J Hum Evol 2015; 89:71-91. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2013] [Revised: 08/10/2014] [Accepted: 07/12/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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7
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Marean CW. The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2015; 77:17-40. [PMID: 25498601 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2013] [Revised: 12/11/2013] [Accepted: 02/04/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The systematic exploitation of marine foods by terrestrial mammals lacking aquatic morphologies is rare. Widespread ethnographic and archaeological evidence from many areas of the world shows that modern humans living on coastlines often ratchet up the use of marine foods and develop social and technological characteristics unusual to hunter-gatherers and more consistent with small scale food producing societies. Consistent use of marine resources often is associated with reduced mobility, larger group size, population packing, smaller territories, complex technologies, increased economic and social differentiation, and more intense and wide-ranging gifting and exchange. The commitment to temporally and spatially predictable and dense coastal foods stimulates investment in boundary defense resulting in inter-group conflict as predicted by theory and documented by ethnography. Inter-group conflict provides an ideal context for the proliferation of intra-group cooperative behaviors beneficial to the group but not to the altruist (Bowles, 2009). The origins of this coastal adaptation marks a transformative point for the hominin lineage in Africa since all previous adaptive systems were likely characterized by highly mobile, low-density, egalitarian populations with large territories and little boundary defense. It is important to separate occasional uses of marine foods, present among several primate species, from systematic and committed coastal adaptations. This paper provides a critical review of where and when systematic use of coastal resources and coastal adaptations appeared in the Old World by a comparison of the records from Africa and Europe. It is found that during the Middle Stone Age in South Africa there is evidence that true coastal adaptations developed while there is, so far, a lack of evidence for even the lowest levels of systematic coastal resource use by Neanderthals in Europe. Differences in preservation, sample size, and productivity between these regions do not explain the pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, PO Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.
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8
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Stahlschmidt MC, Miller CE, Ligouis B, Hambach U, Goldberg P, Berna F, Richter D, Urban B, Serangeli J, Conard NJ. On the evidence for human use and control of fire at Schöningen. J Hum Evol 2015; 89:181-201. [PMID: 26087650 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2014] [Revised: 08/11/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
When and how humans began to control fire has been a central debate in Paleolithic archaeology for decades. Fire plays an important role in technology, social organization, subsistence, and manipulation of the environment and is widely seen as a necessary adaptation for the colonization of northern latitudes. Many researchers view purported hearths, burnt wooden implements, and heated flints from Schöningen as providing the best evidence for the control of fire in the Lower Paleolithic of Northern Europe. Here we present results of a multianalytical study of the purported hearths along with a critical examination of other possible evidence of human use or control of fire at Schöningen. We conclude that the analyzed features and artifacts present no convincing evidence for human use or control of fire. Our study also shows that a multianalytical, micro-contextual approach is the best methodology for evaluating claims of early evidence of human-controlled fire. We advise caution with macroscopic, qualitative identification of combustion features, burnt flint, and burnt wood without the application of such techniques as micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, organic petrology, luminescence, and analysis of mineral magnetic parameters. The lack of evidence for the human control of fire at Schöningen raises the possibility that fire control was not a necessary adaptation for the human settlement of northern latitudes in the Lower Paleolithic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mareike C Stahlschmidt
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Christopher E Miller
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Bertrand Ligouis
- Laboratories for Applied Organic Petrology (LAOP), Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Hambach
- BayCEER & Lehrstuhl für Geomorphologie, Universität Bayreuth, Universit€atsstraße 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Paul Goldberg
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Francesco Berna
- Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Daniel Richter
- BayCEER & Lehrstuhl für Geomorphologie, Universität Bayreuth, Universit€atsstraße 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Brigitte Urban
- Leuphana University Lüneburg, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany; Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Institute for Pre- and Protohistory and Archaeology of the Middle Ages, University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Jordi Serangeli
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
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9
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The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2010: the fourth season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2009 fieldwork. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.1017/s0263718900000273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe paper reports on the fourth (2010) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results of analyses of artefacts and organic materials collected in the 2009 season. Ground-based LiDar has provided both an accurate 3D scan of the Haua Fteah cave and information on the cave's morphometry or origins. The excavations in the cave focussed on Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age ‘Pre-Aurignacian’ layers below the base of the Middle Trench beside the McBurney Deep Sounding (Trench D) and on Final Palaeolithic ‘Oranian’ layers beside the upper part of the Middle Trench (Trench M). Although McBurney referred to the upper part of the Deep Sounding as more or less sterile, the 2010 excavations found evidence for small-scale but regular human presence in the form of stone artefacts and debitage, though given the sedimentary context the latter are unlikely to represent in situ knapping. The excavations of Trench M extended from the basal Capsian layers investigated in 2009 through Oranian layers to the transition with the Dabban Upper Palaeolithic. Some 17,000 lithic pieces have been studied from the Capsian and Oranian layers excavated in Trench M, in an area measuring less than 2 m by 1 m by 1.1 m deep, along with numerous animal bones, molluscs, and macrobotanical remains, as well as occasional shell beads. Preliminary studies of the lithics, bones, molluscs, and plant remains are revealing the changing character of late Pleistocene (Oranian) and early Holocene (Capsian) occupation in the Haua Fteah. Alongside the work in the Haua Fteah, the project continued its assessment of the Quaternary and archaeological sequences of the Cyrenaican coastland and completed a transect survey of surface lithic materials and their landform contexts from the pre-desert across the Gebel Akhdar to the coast, with a new focus on the al-Marj basin. Significant differences are emerging in patterns of Middle Palaeolithic and later hominin occupation and palaeodemography.
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Demuro M, Arnold LJ, Parés JM, Pérez-González A, Ortega AI, Arsuaga JL, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Carbonell E. New luminescence ages for the Galería Complex archaeological site: resolving chronological uncertainties on the acheulean record of the Sierra de Atapuerca, northern Spain. PLoS One 2014; 9:e110169. [PMID: 25338076 PMCID: PMC4206284 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2014] [Accepted: 09/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The archaeological karstic infill site of Galería Complex, located within the Atapuerca system (Spain), has produced a large faunal and archaeological record (Homo sp. aff. heidelbergensis fossils and Mode II lithic artefacts) belonging to the Middle Pleistocene. Extended-range luminescence dating techniques, namely post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR) dating of K-feldspars and thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence (TT-OSL) dating of individual quartz grains, were applied to fossil-bearing sediments at Galería. The luminescence dating results are in good agreement with published chronologies derived using alternative radiometric dating methods (i.e., ESR and U-series dating of bracketing speleothems and combined ESR/U-series dating of herbivore teeth), as well as biochronology and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions inferred from proxy records (e.g., pollen data). For the majority of samples dated, however, the new luminescence ages are significantly (∼50%) younger than previously published polymineral thermoluminescence (TL) chronologies, suggesting that the latter may have overestimated the true burial age of the Galería deposits. The luminescence ages obtained indicate that the top of the basal sterile sands (GIb) at Galería have an age of up to ∼370 thousand years (ka), while the lowermost sub-unit containing Mode II Acheulean lithics (base of unit GIIa) was deposited during MIS 9 (mean age = 313±14 ka; n = 4). The overlying units GIIb-GIV, which contain the richest archaeopalaeontological remains, were deposited during late MIS 8 or early MIS 7 (∼240 ka). Galería Complex may be correlative with other Middle Pleistocene sites from Atapuerca, such as Gran Dolina level TD10 and unit TE19 from Sima del Elefante, but the lowermost archaeological horizons are ∼100 ka younger than the hominin-bearing clay breccias at the Sima de los Huesos site. Our results suggest that both pIR-IR and single-grain TT-OSL dating are suitable for resolving Middle Pleistocene chronologies for the Sierra de Atapuerca karstic infill sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Demuro
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Chemistry and Physics, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Lee J. Arnold
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Chemistry and Physics, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
- The Environment Institute and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Josep M. Parés
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
| | | | - Ana I. Ortega
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
| | - Juan L. Arsuaga
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Eudald Carbonell
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
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Aldeias V, Goldberg P, Dibble HL, El-Hajraoui M. Deciphering site formation processes through soil micromorphology at Contrebandiers Cave, Morocco. J Hum Evol 2014; 69:8-30. [PMID: 24650737 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2013] [Revised: 12/11/2013] [Accepted: 12/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Contrebandiers Cave preserves a Late Pleistocene sequence containing Middle Stone Age (MSA) so-called Maghrebian Mousterian and Aterian occupations, spanning from ∼126 to 95 ka (thousands of years ago), followed by spatially restricted Iberomaurusian industries. Micromorphological analyses, complemented by instrumental mineralogical identification and fabric orientation, allowed for the reconstruction of the main site formation processes at the site. Initial deposition is characterized by local reworking of marine shelly sands dating to Marine Isotopic Stage 5e (MIS5e). The subsequent stratification reveals sedimentary dynamics predominantly associated with gravity-driven inputs and contributions from weathering of the encasing bedrock, at the same time that anthropogenic sediments were being accumulated. The allochthonous components reflect soil degradation and vegetation changes around the cave during the last interglacial. Human occupations seems to be somewhat ephemeral in nature, with some stratigraphic units apparently lacking archaeological components, while in others the human-associated deposits (e.g., burned bones, charcoal, and ashes) can be substantial. Ephemeral breaks in sedimentation and/or erosion followed by stabilization are mainly discernible microscopically by the presence of phosphatic-rich laminae interpreted as short-lived surfaces, peaks of increased humidity and colonization by plants. More substantial erosion affects the uppermost Aterian layers, presumably due to localized reconfigurations of the cave's roof. The subsequent Iberomaurusian deposits are not in their primary position and are associated with well-sorted silts of aeolian origin. While the effects of chemical diagenesis are limited throughout the whole stratigraphic sequence, physical bioturbation (e.g., by wasps, rodents, and earthworms) is more pervasive and leads to localized movement of the original sedimentary particles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera Aldeias
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Hayden Hall 240 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316, USA.
| | - Paul Goldberg
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeology, 675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Harold L Dibble
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398, USA; Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Box 874101, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85282, USA
| | - Mohamed El-Hajraoui
- Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, 10001 Rabat, Morocco
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Wu X, Zhang C, Goldberg P, Cohen D, Pan Y, Arpin T, Bar-Yosef O. Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China. Science 2012; 336:1696-700. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1218643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 216] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The invention of pottery introduced fundamental shifts in human subsistence practices and sociosymbolic behaviors. Here, we describe the dating of the early pottery from Xianrendong Cave, Jiangxi Province, China, and the micromorphology of the stratigraphic contexts of the pottery sherds and radiocarbon samples. The radiocarbon ages of the archaeological contexts of the earliest sherds are 20,000 to 19,000 calendar years before the present, 2000 to 3000 years older than other pottery found in East Asia and elsewhere. The occupations in the cave demonstrate that pottery was produced by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered during the Late Glacial Maximum. These vessels may have served as cooking devices. The early date shows that pottery was first made and used 10 millennia or more before the emergence of agriculture.
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Stiner MC, Munro ND. On the evolution of diet and landscape during the Upper Paleolithic through Mesolithic at Franchthi Cave (Peloponnese, Greece). J Hum Evol 2011; 60:618-36. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2010] [Revised: 12/14/2010] [Accepted: 12/17/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Marean CW, Bar-Matthews M, Fisher E, Goldberg P, Herries A, Karkanas P, Nilssen PJ, Thompson E. The stratigraphy of the Middle Stone Age sediments at Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2011; 59:234-55. [PMID: 20934084 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2008] [Revised: 05/31/2010] [Accepted: 05/21/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B) has provided the earliest archaeological evidence for the exploitation of marine shellfish, along with very early evidence for use and modification of pigments and the production of bladelets, all dated to approximately 164 ka (Marean et al., 2007). This makes PP13B a key site in studies of the origins of modern humans, one of a handful of sites in Africa dating to Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS 6), and the only site on the coast of South Africa with human occupation confidently dated to MIS 6. Along with this MIS 6 occupation there are rich archaeological sediments dated to MIS 5, and together these sediments are differentially preserved in three different areas of the cave. The sediments represent a complex palimpsest of geogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic input and alteration that are described and interpreted through the use of a variety of macrostratigraphic, micromorphologic, and geochemical techniques. Three independent dating techniques allow us to constrain the age range of these sediments and together provide the stratigraphic context for the analyses of the material that follow in this special issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.
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Abstract
Having begun graduate work in anthropology and prehistoric archaeology at a time (early 1950s) and place (University of Chicago) where the two were closely linked, I subsequently participated in work devoted to early agricultural economies in Western Asia and Eastern North America; to the relations among archaeology, history, and science; and to the place of anthropological archaeology in the contemporary world. In this article I discuss my personal experiences within each of these areas of endeavor.
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Initial excavation and dating of Ngalue Cave: A Middle Stone Age site along the Niassa Rift, Mozambique. J Hum Evol 2009; 57:63-74. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2008] [Revised: 03/19/2009] [Accepted: 03/22/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Jacobs Z, Roberts RG. Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological deposits. Evol Anthropol 2007. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.20150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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