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Paige J, Perreault C. 3.3 million years of stone tool complexity suggests that cumulative culture began during the Middle Pleistocene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2319175121. [PMID: 38885385 PMCID: PMC11214059 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319175121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Cumulative culture, the accumulation of modifications, innovations, and improvements over generations through social learning, is a key determinant of the behavioral diversity across Homo sapiens populations and their ability to adapt to varied ecological habitats. Generations of improvements, modifications, and lucky errors allow humans to use technologies and know-how well beyond what a single naive individual could invent independently within their lifetime. The human dependence on cumulative culture may have shaped the evolution of biological and behavioral traits in the hominin lineage, including brain size, body size, life history, sociality, subsistence, and ecological niche expansion. Yet, we do not know when, in the human career, our ancestors began to depend on cumulative culture. Here, we show that hominins likely relied on a derived form of cumulative culture by at least ~600 kya, a result in line with a growing body of existing evidence. We analyzed the complexity of stone tool manufacturing sequences over the last 3.3 My of the archaeological record. We then compare these to the achievable complexity without cumulative culture, which we estimate using nonhuman primate technologies and stone tool manufacturing experiments. We find that archaeological technologies become significantly more complex than expected in the absence of cumulative culture only after ~600 kya.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Paige
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO65211
| | - Charles Perreault
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ85281
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2
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Clark J, Linares-Matás G. Snakes, Flakes, and Ladders: From Surprise to Innovation in the Palaeolithic. Comment on Manrique, Friston, and Walker (2024), "Snakes and Ladders in paleoanthropology". Phys Life Rev 2024; 50:46-48. [PMID: 38924821 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- James Clark
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, CB2 1QH United Kingdom.
| | - Gonzalo Linares-Matás
- Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, Saint Andrew's Street, CB2 3AP United Kingdom
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3
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Hoshi H, Ishii A, Shigihara Y, Yoshikawa T. Binocularly suppressed stimuli induce brain activities related to aesthetic emotions. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1339479. [PMID: 38855441 PMCID: PMC11159128 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1339479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Aesthetic emotions are a class of emotions aroused by evaluating aesthetically appealing objects or events. While evolutionary aesthetics suggests the adaptive roles of these emotions, empirical assessments are lacking. Previous neuroscientific studies have demonstrated that visual stimuli carrying evolutionarily important information induce neural responses even when presented non-consciously. To examine the evolutionary importance of aesthetic emotions, we conducted a neuroscientific study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure induced neural responses to non-consciously presented portrait paintings categorised as biological and non-biological and examined associations between the induced responses and aesthetic ratings. Methods MEG and pre-rating data were collected from 23 participants. The pre-rating included visual analogue scales for object saliency, facial saliency, liking, and beauty scores, in addition to 'biologi-ness,' which was used for subcategorising stimuli into biological and non-biological. The stimuli were presented non-consciously using a continuous flash suppression paradigm or consciously using binocular presentation without flashing masks, while dichotomic behavioural responses were obtained (beauty or non-beauty). Time-frequency decomposed MEG data were used for correlation analysis with pre-rating scores for each category. Results Behavioural data revealed that saliency scores of non-consciously presented stimuli influenced dichotomic responses (beauty or non-beauty). MEG data showed that non-consciously presented portrait paintings induced spatiotemporally distributed low-frequency brain activities associated with aesthetic ratings, which were distinct between the biological and non-biological categories and conscious and non-conscious conditions. Conclusion Aesthetic emotion holds evolutionary significance for humans. Neural pathways are sensitive to visual images that arouse aesthetic emotion in distinct ways for biological and non-biological categories, which are further influenced by consciousness. These differences likely reflect the diversity in mechanisms of aesthetic processing, such as processing fluency, active elaboration, and predictive processing. The aesthetic processing of non-conscious stimuli appears to be characterised by fluency-driven affective processing, while top-down regulatory processes are suppressed. This study provides the first empirical evidence supporting the evolutionary significance of aesthetic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hideyuki Hoshi
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
- Precision Medicine Centre, Hokuto Hospital, Obihiro, Japan
| | - Akira Ishii
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
| | | | - Takahiro Yoshikawa
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
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4
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Morita M, Nishikawa Y, Tokumasu Y. Human musical capacity and products should have been induced by the hominin-specific combination of several biosocial features: A three-phase scheme on socio-ecological, cognitive, and cultural evolution. Evol Anthropol 2024:e22031. [PMID: 38757853 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2024] [Revised: 04/14/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Various selection pressures have shaped human uniqueness, for instance, music. When and why did musical universality and diversity emerge? Our hypothesis is that "music" initially originated from manipulative calls with limited musical elements. Thereafter, vocalizations became more complex and flexible along with a greater degree of social learning. Finally, constructed musical instruments and the language faculty resulted in diverse and context-specific music. Music precursors correspond to vocal communication among nonhuman primates, songbirds, and cetaceans. To place this scenario in hominin history, a three-phase scheme for music evolution is presented herein. We emphasize (1) the evolution of sociality and life history in australopithecines, (2) the evolution of cognitive and learning abilities in early/middle Homo, and (3) cultural evolution, primarily in Homo sapiens. Human musical capacity and products should be due to the hominin-specific combination of several biosocial features, including bipedalism, stable pair bonding, alloparenting, expanded brain size, and sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masahito Morita
- Evolutionary Anthropology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Health Sciences of Mind and Body, University of Human Arts and Sciences, Saitama, Japan
| | - Yuri Nishikawa
- Evolutionary Anthropology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yudai Tokumasu
- Evolutionary Anthropology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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5
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Ndiaye M, Lespez L, Tribolo C, Rasse M, Hadjas I, Davidoux S, Huysecom É, Douze K. Two new Later Stone Age sites from the Final Pleistocene in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0294346. [PMID: 38547134 PMCID: PMC10977785 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The understanding of cultural dynamics at work at the end of the Final Pleistocene in West Africa suffers from a significant lack of excavated and dated sites, particularly in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones. While the Later Stone Age shows varied behavioral developments in different parts of the continent, the chrono-cultural framework of this period remains largely unknown in West Africa. We report on archaeological, geomorphological, and chronological research on two Final Pleistocene Later Stone Age sites in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal. Optically stimulated luminescence ages place the site of Toumboura I-2017 between 17 ± 1 and 16 ± 1 ka and the Ravin de Sansandé site between 13 ± 1 ka and 12 ± 1.1 ka. The excavated lithics show typical Later Stone Age industries, characterized by chaînes opératoires of core reduction mainly producing flakes and bladelets as well as blades and laminar flakes. Segments dominate the toolkits but a few backed bladelets and end-scrapers on flake blanks were recognized. Local raw materials were used, with a preference for chert and quartz, as well as greywacke. These Later Stone Age lithic assemblages are the oldest known in Senegal so far and add to the small number of sites known in West Africa for this period, which are mainly located farther south, in sub-tropical ecozones. The Later Stone Age sites of the Falémé Valley are contemporaneous with typical Middle Stone Age technologies in Senegal dated to at least the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Our results thus provide new archaeological evidence highlighting the complex cultural processes at work during the Final Pleistocene in West Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matar Ndiaye
- Department of Human Sciences, Laboratory of Prehistory and Protohistory, Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN), University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Laurent Lespez
- Department of Geography, Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, University Paris-Est Creteil, Meudon, France
| | - Chantal Tribolo
- Department of Archaeosciences Bordeaux, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Pessac, France
| | - Michel Rasse
- Department of Geography, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée (ARCHÉORIENT), University Lumière - Lyon II, Lyon, France
| | - Irka Hadjas
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP), ETH-Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Davidoux
- Department of Geography, Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, University Paris-Est Creteil, Meudon, France
| | - Éric Huysecom
- Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa & Anthropology (ARCAN), University of Geneva, Genève, Switzerland
| | - Katja Douze
- Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa & Anthropology (ARCAN), University of Geneva, Genève, Switzerland
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6
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Schmidt P, Pappas I, Porraz G, Berthold C, Nickel KG. The driving force behind tool-stone selection in the African Middle Stone Age. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2318560121. [PMID: 38408239 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2318560121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
In the Stone Age, the collection of specific rocks was the first step in tool making. Very little is known about the choices made during tool-stone acquisition. Were choices governed by the knowledge of, and need for, specific properties of stones? Or were the collected raw materials a mere by-product of the way people moved through the landscape? We investigate these questions in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa, analyzing the mechanical properties of tool-stones used at the site Diepkloof Rock Shelter. To understand knapping quality, we measure flaking predictability and introduce a physical model that allows calculating the relative force necessary to produce flakes from different rocks. To evaluate their quality as finished tools, we investigate their resistance during repeated use activities (scraping or cutting) and their strength during projectile impacts. Our findings explain tool-stone selection in two emblematic periods of the MSA, the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, as being the result of a deep understanding of these mechanical properties. In both cases, people chose those rocks, among many others, that allowed the most advantageous trade-off between anticipated properties of finished tools and the ease of acquiring rocks and producing tools. The implications are an understanding of African MSA toolmakers as engineers who carefully weighed their choices taking into account workability and the quality of the tools they made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Schmidt
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
| | - Ioannis Pappas
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany
| | - Guillaume Porraz
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UMR 7269 Lampea, Aix-en-Provence F-13094, France
- Faculty of Humanities, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2017, South Africa
| | - Christoph Berthold
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, Competence Center Archaeometry-Baden Wuerttemberg, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
| | - Klaus G Nickel
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, Competence Center Archaeometry-Baden Wuerttemberg, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
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7
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Girard C. The tri-flow adaptiveness of codes in major evolutionary transitions. Biosystems 2024; 237:105133. [PMID: 38336225 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 01/27/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Life codes increase in both number and variety with biological complexity. Although our knowledge of codes is constantly expanding, the evolutionary progression of organic, neural, and cultural codes in response to selection pressure remains poorly understood. Greater clarification of the selective mechanisms is achieved by investigating how major evolutionary transitions reduce spatiotemporal and energetic constraints on transmitting heritable code to offspring. Evolution toward less constrained flows is integral to enduring flow architecture everywhere, in both engineered and natural flow systems. Beginning approximately 4 billion years ago, the most basic level for transmitting genetic material to offspring was initiated by protocell division. Evidence from ribosomes suggests that protocells transmitted comma-free or circular codes, preceding the evolution of standard genetic code. This rudimentary information flow within protocells is likely to have first emerged within the geo-energetic and geospatial constraints of hydrothermal vents. A broad-gauged hypothesis is that major evolutionary transitions overcame such constraints with tri-flow adaptations. The interconnected triple flows incorporated energy-converting, spatiotemporal, and code-based informational dynamics. Such tri-flow adaptations stacked sequence splicing code on top of protein-DNA recognition code in eukaryotes, prefiguring the transition to sexual reproduction. Sex overcame the spatiotemporal-energetic constraints of binary fission with further code stacking. Examples are tubulin code and transcription initiation code in vertebrates. In a later evolutionary transition, language reduced metabolic-spatiotemporal constraints on inheritance by stacking phonetic, phonological, and orthographic codes. In organisms that reproduce sexually, each major evolutionary transition is shown to be a tri-flow adaptation that adds new levels of code-based informational exchange. Evolving biological complexity is also shown to increase the nongenetic transmissibility of code.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Girard
- Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, United States.
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8
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Schmidt P, Iovita R, Charrié-Duhaut A, Möller G, Namen A, Dutkiewicz E. Ochre-based compound adhesives at the Mousterian type-site document complex cognition and high investment. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadl0822. [PMID: 38381827 PMCID: PMC10881035 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Ancient adhesives used in multicomponent tools may be among our best material evidences of cultural evolution and cognitive processes in early humans. African Homo sapiens is known to have made compound adhesives from naturally sticky substances and ochre, a technical behavior proposed to mark the advent of elaborate cognitive processes in our species. Foragers of the European Middle Paleolithic also used glues, but evidence of ochre-based compound adhesives is unknown. Here, we present evidence of this kind. Bitumen was mixed with high loads of goethite ochre to make compound adhesives at the type-site of the Mousterian, Le Moustier (France). Ochre loads were so high that they lowered the adhesive's performance in classical hafting situations where stone implements are glued to handles. However, when used as handheld grips on cutting or scraping tools, a behavior known from Neanderthals, high-ochre adhesives present a real benefit, improving their solidity and rigidity. Our findings help understand the implications of Pleistocene adhesive making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Schmidt
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Radu Iovita
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Armelle Charrié-Duhaut
- Laboratoire de spectrométrie de masse des interactions et des systèmes (LSMIS), Strasbourg University, CNRS, CMC UMR, Strasbourg 7140, France
| | - Gunther Möller
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Abay Namen
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
| | - Ewa Dutkiewicz
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Berlin, Germany
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9
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Yeshurun R, Doyon L, Tejero JM, Walter R, Huber H, Andrews R, Kitagawa K. Identification and quantification of projectile impact marks on bone: new experimental insights using osseous points. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES 2024; 16:43. [PMID: 38404950 PMCID: PMC10884158 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-024-01944-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Shifts in projectile technology potentially document human evolutionary milestones, such as adaptations for different environments and settlement dynamics. A relatively direct proxy for projectile technology is projectile impact marks (PIM) on archaeological bones. Increasing awareness and publication of experimental data sets have recently led to more identifications of PIM in various contexts, but diagnosing PIM from other types of bone-surface modifications, quantifying them, and inferring point size and material from the bone lesions need more substantiation. Here, we focus on PIM created by osseous projectiles, asking whether these could be effectively identified and separated from lithic-tipped weapons. We further discuss the basic question raised by recent PIM research in zooarchaeology: why PIM evidence is so rare in archaeofaunal assemblages (compared to other human-induced marks), even when they are explicitly sought. We present the experimental results of shooting two ungulate carcasses with bone and antler points, replicating those used in the early Upper Paleolithic of western Eurasia. Half of our hits resulted in PIM, confirming that this modification may have been originally abundant. However, we found that the probability of a skeletal element to be modified with PIM negatively correlates with its preservation potential, and that much of the produced bone damage would not be identifiable in a typical Paleolithic faunal assemblage. This quantification problem still leaves room for an insightful qualitative study of PIM. We complement previous research in presenting several diagnostic marks that retain preservation potential and may be used to suggest osseous, rather than lithic, projectile technology. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-024-01944-3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reuven Yeshurun
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology and School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, 3103301 Haifa, Israel
| | - Luc Doyon
- UMR5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, MCC, CNRS, 33615 Pessac CEDEX, France
| | - José-Miguel Tejero
- Seminari d’Estudis I Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Rudolf Walter
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Ice Age Studio Hohle Fels, Schelklingen, Germany
| | - Hannah Huber
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Robin Andrews
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Keiko Kitagawa
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP), Tübingen, Germany
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10
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Kadowaki S, Wakano JY, Tamura T, Watanabe A, Hirose M, Suga E, Tsukada K, Tarawneh O, Massadeh S. Delayed increase in stone tool cutting-edge productivity at the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in southern Jordan. Nat Commun 2024; 15:610. [PMID: 38326315 PMCID: PMC10850154 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44798-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Although the lithic cutting-edge productivity has long been recognized as a quantifiable aspect of prehistoric human technological evolution, there remains uncertainty how the productivity changed during the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. Here we present the cutting-edge productivity of eight lithic assemblages in the eastern Mediterranean region that represent a chrono-cultural sequence including the Late Middle Paleolithic, Initial Upper Paleolithic, the Early Upper Paleolithic, and the Epipaleolithic. The results show that a major increase in the cutting-edge productivity does not coincide with the conventional Middle-Upper Paleolithic boundary characterized by the increase in blades in the Initial Upper Paleolithic, but it occurs later in association with the development of bladelet technology in the Early Upper Paleolithic. Given increasing discussions on the complexity of Middle-Upper Paleolithic cultural changes, it may be fruitful to have a long-term perspective and employ consistent criteria for diachronic comparisons to make objective assessment of how cultural changes proceeded across conventional chrono-cultural boundaries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seiji Kadowaki
- Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
| | - Joe Yuichiro Wakano
- School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences, Meiji University, Nakano 4-21-1, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, 164-8525, Japan
| | - Toru Tamura
- Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Central 7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan
| | - Ayami Watanabe
- Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Masato Hirose
- Laboratory of Archaeology, Kiso Regional Union, Nagano, 399-6101, Japan
| | - Eiki Suga
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Tsukada
- Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Oday Tarawneh
- Department of Antiquities, Third Circle, Jabal Amman, Amman, Jordan
| | - Sate Massadeh
- Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Third Circle, Jabal Amman, Amman, Jordan
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11
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Sedrati M, Morales JA, Duveau J, M'rini AE, Mayoral E, Díaz-Martínez I, Anthony EJ, Bulot G, Sedrati A, Le Gall R, Santos A, Rivera-Silva J. A Late Pleistocene hominin footprint site on the North African coast of Morocco. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1962. [PMID: 38263453 PMCID: PMC10806055 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52344-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Footprints represent a relevant vestige providing direct information on the biology, locomotion, and behaviour of the individuals who left them. However, the spatiotemporal distribution of hominin footprints is heterogeneous, particularly in North Africa, where no footprint sites were known before the Holocene. This region is important in the evolution of hominins. It notably includes the earliest currently known Homo sapiens (Jebel Irhoud) and the oldest and richest African Middle Stone Age hominin sites. In this fragmented ichnological record, we report the discovery of 85 human footprints on a Late Pleistocene now indurated beach surface of about 2800 m2 at Larache (Northwest coast of Morocco). The wide range of sizes of the footprints suggests that several individuals from different age groups made the tracks while moving landward and seaward across a semi-dissipative bar-trough sandy beach foreshore. A geological investigation and an optically stimulated luminescence dating of a rock sample extracted from the tracksite places this hominin footprint surface at 90.3 ± 7.6 ka (MIS 5, Late Pleistocene). The Larache footprints are, therefore, the oldest attributed to Homo sapiens in Northern Africa and the Southern Mediterranean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mouncef Sedrati
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France.
| | - Juan A Morales
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, Huelva, Spain
- Centro Científico Tecnológico de Huelva, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Jérémy Duveau
- DFG Center for Advanced Studies ''Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking Linguistic, Cultural and Biological Trajectories of the Human Past'', Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique, CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris, France
| | | | - Eduardo Mayoral
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, Huelva, Spain
- Centro Científico Tecnológico de Huelva, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Ignacio Díaz-Martínez
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
| | - Edward J Anthony
- CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix Marseille University, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Glen Bulot
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France
| | - Anass Sedrati
- Lixus Archaeological Site, Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, Larache, Morocco
| | - Romain Le Gall
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France
| | - Ana Santos
- Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo, Campus de Llamaquique, Oviedo, Spain
| | - Jorge Rivera-Silva
- Centro de Investigación, Tecnología e Innovación (CITIUS), Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
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Archer W, Presnyakova D, Aldeias V, Colarossi D, Hutten L, Lauer T, Porraz G, Rossouw L, Shaw M. Late Acheulean occupations at Montagu Cave and the pattern of Middle Pleistocene behavioral change in Western Cape, southern Africa. J Hum Evol 2023; 184:103435. [PMID: 37774470 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103435] [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: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023]
Abstract
Patterns of so-called modern human behavior are increasingly well documented in an abundance of Middle Stone Age archaeological sites across southern Africa. Contextualized archives directly preceding the southern African Middle Stone Age, however, remain scarce. Current understanding of the terminal Acheulean in southern Africa derives from a small number of localities that are predominantly in the central and northern interior. Many of these localities are surface and deflated contexts, others were excavated prior to the availability of modern field documentation techniques, and yet other relevant assemblages contain low numbers of characteristic artifacts relative to volume of excavated deposit. The site of Montagu Cave, situated in the diverse ecosystem of the Cape Floral Region, South Africa, contains the rare combination of archaeologically rich, laminated and deeply stratified Acheulean layers followed by a younger Middle Stone Age occupation. Yet little is known about the site owing largely to a lack of contextual information associated with the early excavations. Here we present renewed excavation of Levels 21-22 at Montagu Cave, located in the basal Acheulean sequence, including new data on site formation and ecological context, geochronology, and technological variability. We document intensive occupation of the cave by Acheulean tool-producing hominins, likely at the onset of interglacial conditions in MIS 7. New excavations at Montagu Cave suggest that, while Middle Stone Age technologies were practiced by 300 ka in several other regions of Africa, the classic Acheulean persisted later in the Fynbos Biome of the southwestern Cape. We discuss the implications of this regionalized persistence for the biogeography of African later Middle Pleistocene hominin populations, for the ecological drivers of their technological systems, and for the pattern and pace of behavioral change just prior to the proliferation of the southern African later Middle Stone Age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Will Archer
- Max Planck Partner Group, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Geology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
| | - Darya Presnyakova
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, UMR 7269, Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA), Aix-en Provence, France
| | - Vera Aldeias
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Debra Colarossi
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom
| | - Louisa Hutten
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Tobias Lauer
- Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Guillaume Porraz
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, UMR 7269, Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA), Aix-en Provence, France
| | - Lloyd Rossouw
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | - Matthew Shaw
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric, and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia
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d'Errico F, van Niekerk KL, Geis L, Henshilwood CS. New Blombos Cave evidence supports a multistep evolutionary scenario for the culturalization of the human body. J Hum Evol 2023; 184:103438. [PMID: 37742522 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103438] [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: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/03/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
The emergence of technologies to culturally modify the appearance of the human body is a debated issue, with earliest evidence consisting of perforated marine shells dated between 140 and 60 ka at archaeological sites from Africa and western Asia. In this study, we submit unpublished marine and estuarine gastropods from Blombos Cave Middle Stone Age layers to taxonomic, taphonomic, technological, and use-wear analyses. We show that unperforated and naturally perforated eye-catching shells belonging to the species Semicassis zeylanica, Conus tinianus, and another Conus species, possibly Conus algoensis, were brought to the cave between 100 and 73 ka. At ca. 70 ka, a previously unrecorded marine gastropod, belonging to the species Tritia ovulata, was perforated by pecking and was worn as an ornamental object, isolated or in association with numerous intentionally perforated shells of the species Nassarius kraussianus. Fluctuations in sea level and consequent variations in the site-to-shoreline distances and landscape modifications during the Middle Stone Age have affected the availability of marine shells involved in symbolic practices. During the M3 and M2 Lower phases, with a sea level 50 m lower, the site was approximately 3.5 km away from the coast. In the later M2 Upper and M1 phases, with a sea level at -60 m, the distance increased to about 5.7 km. By the end of the M1 phase, when the site was abandoned, Blombos Cave was situated 18-30 km from the shoreline. We use the new Blombos evidence and a review of the latest findings from Africa and Eurasia to propose a testable ten-step evolutionary scenario for the culturalization of the human body with roots in the deep past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco d'Errico
- Univ. Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5199, Bâtiment B2, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, F-33615, Pessac Cedex, France; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
| | - Karen Loise van Niekerk
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Lila Geis
- Univ. Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5199, Bâtiment B2, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, F-33615, Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Christopher Stuart Henshilwood
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa
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14
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Coppe J, Taipale N, Rots V. Terminal ballistic analysis of impact fractures reveals the use of spearthrower 31 ky ago at Maisières-Canal, Belgium. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18305. [PMID: 37880379 PMCID: PMC10600151 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45554-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of hunting technology in the deep past fundamentally shaped the subsistence strategies of early human populations. Hence knowing when different weapons were first introduced is important for understanding our evolutionary trajectory. The timing of the adoption of long-range weaponry remains heavily debated because preserved organic weapon components are extremely rare in the Paleolithic record and stone points are difficult to attribute reliably to weapon delivery methods without supporting organic evidence. Here, we use a refined use-wear approach to demonstrate that spearthrower was used for launching projectiles armed with tanged flint points at Maisières-Canal (Belgium) 31,000 years ago. The novelty of our approach lies in the combination of impact fracture data with terminal ballistic analysis of the mechanical stress suffered by a stone armature on impact. This stress is distinct for each weapon and visible archaeologically as fracture proportions on assemblage scale. Our reference dataset derives from a sequential experimental program that addressed individually each key parameter affecting fracture formation and successfully reproduced the archaeological fracture signal. The close match between the archaeological sample and the experimental spearthrower set extends the timeline of spearthrower use by over 10,000 years and represents the earliest reliable trace-based evidence for the utilization of long-distance weaponry in prehistoric hunting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Coppe
- TraceoLab/Prehistory, University of Liège, Place du 20-Août 7 (Bât. A4), 4000, Liège, Belgium.
| | - Noora Taipale
- TraceoLab/Prehistory, University of Liège, Place du 20-Août 7 (Bât. A4), 4000, Liège, Belgium
- F.R.S.-FNRS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Veerle Rots
- TraceoLab/Prehistory, University of Liège, Place du 20-Août 7 (Bât. A4), 4000, Liège, Belgium
- F.R.S.-FNRS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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15
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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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16
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Zanolli C, Taylor AB. Fifty years of paleoanthropology in Journal of Human Evolution: Historical perspectives and future directions. J Hum Evol 2023; 182:103415. [PMID: 37556932 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Clément Zanolli
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France
| | - Andrea B Taylor
- Foundational Biomedical Sciences Department, Touro University California, 1310, Vallejo, CA, 94592, USA; Department of Anthropology, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA.
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17
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d'Errico F, David S, Coqueugniot H, Meister C, Dutkiewicz E, Pigeaud R, Sitzia L, Cailhol D, Bosq M, Griggo C, Affolter J, Queffelec A, Doyon L. A 36,200-year-old carving from Grotte des Gorges, Amange, Jura, France. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12895. [PMID: 37558802 PMCID: PMC10412625 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39897-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The earliest European carvings, made of mammoth ivory, depict animals, humans, and anthropomorphs. They are found at Early Aurignacian sites of the Swabian Jura in Germany. Despite the wide geographical spread of the Aurignacian across Europe, these carvings have no contemporaneous counterparts. Here, we document a small, intriguing object, that sheds light on this uniqueness. Found at the Grotte des Gorges (Jura, France), in a layer sandwiched between Aurignacian contexts and dated to c. 36.2 ka, the object bears traces of anthropogenic modifications indicating intentional carving. Microtomographic, microscopic, three-dimensional roughness and residues analyses reveal the carving is a fragment of a large ammonite, which was modified to represent a caniformia head decorated with notches and probably transported for long time in a container stained with ochre. While achieving Swabian Jura-like miniaturization, the Grotte des Gorges specimen displays original features, indicating the craftsman emulated ivory carvings while introducing significant technical, thematic, and stylistic innovations. This finding suggests a low degree of cultural connectivity between Early Aurignacian hunter-gatherer groups in the production of their symbolic material culture. The pattern conforms to the existence of cultural boundaries limiting the transmission of symbolic practices while leaving space for the emergence of original regional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco d'Errico
- CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux, 33615, Pessac, France.
- Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, 5020, Bergen, Norway.
| | - Serge David
- Centre Jurassien du Patrimoine, 39000, Lons-Le-Saunier, France
| | - Hélène Coqueugniot
- CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux, 33615, Pessac, France
- École Pratique des Hautes Études-Paris Sciences and Lettres University, Chaire d'Anthropologie Biologique, 75014, Paris, France
| | - Christian Meister
- Geology and Paleontology Department, Natural History Museum of Geneva, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Ewa Dutkiewicz
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Romain Pigeaud
- CReAAH, UMR6566, CNRS, Université de Rennes-1, 35042, Rennes CEDEX, France
- CRAL, UMR8566, CNRS, École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Luca Sitzia
- Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá, 1010069, Arica, Chile
- Laboratorio de Análisis e Investigaciones Arqueométricas, Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa, 1010069, Arica, Chile
| | - Didier Cailhol
- CNRS, TRACES, UMR5608, Université Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, 31058, Toulouse CEDEX, France
| | - Mathieu Bosq
- CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux, 33615, Pessac, France
| | - Christophe Griggo
- CNRS, EDYTEM, UMR5204, Université Grenoble Alpes, 73376, Le Bourget-du-Lac CEDEX, France
| | - Jehanne Affolter
- Ar-Geo-Lab, 2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Artehis, UMR6998, Université de Bourgogne, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - Alain Queffelec
- CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux, 33615, Pessac, France
| | - Luc Doyon
- CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux, 33615, Pessac, France.
- Institute of Cultural Heritage, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, China.
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18
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Benítez-Burraco A, Hoshi K, Progovac L. The gradual coevolution of syntactic combinatorics and categorization under the effects of human self-domestication: a proposal. Cogn Process 2023; 24:425-439. [PMID: 37306792 PMCID: PMC10359229 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01140-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The gradual emergence of syntax has been claimed to be engaged in a feedback loop with Human Self-Domestication (HSD), both processes resulting from, and contributing to, enhanced connectivity in selected cortico-striatal networks, which is the mechanism for attenuating reactive aggression, the hallmark of HSD, but also the mechanism of cross-modality, relevant for syntax. Here, we aim to bridge the gap between these brain changes and further changes facilitated by the gradual complexification of grammars. We propose that increased cross-modality would have enabled and supported, more specifically, a feedback loop between categorization abilities relevant for vocabulary building and the gradual emergence of syntactic structure, including Merge. In brief, an enhanced categorization ability not only brings about more distinct categories, but also a critical number of tokens in each category necessary for Merge to take off in a systematic and productive fashion; in turn, the benefits of expressive capabilities brought about by productive Merge encourage more items to be categorized, and more categories to be formed, thus further potentiating categorization abilities, and with it, syntax again. We support our hypothesis with evidence from the domains of language development and animal communication, but also from biology, neuroscience, paleoanthropology, and clinical linguistics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
| | - Koji Hoshi
- Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
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Niang K, Blinkhorn J, Bateman MD, Kiahtipes CA. Longstanding behavioural stability in West Africa extends to the Middle Pleistocene at Bargny, coastal Senegal. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1141-1151. [PMID: 37142742 PMCID: PMC10333124 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02046-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Middle Stone Age (MSA) technologies first appear in the archaeological records of northern, eastern and southern Africa during the Middle Pleistocene epoch. The absence of MSA sites from West Africa limits evaluation of shared behaviours across the continent during the late Middle Pleistocene and the diversity of subsequent regionalized trajectories. Here we present evidence for the late Middle Pleistocene MSA occupation of the West African littoral at Bargny, Senegal, dating to 150 thousand years ago. Palaeoecological evidence suggests that Bargny was a hydrological refugium during the MSA occupation, supporting estuarine conditions during Middle Pleistocene arid phases. The stone tool technology at Bargny presents characteristics widely shared across Africa in the late Middle Pleistocene but which remain uniquely stable in West Africa to the onset of the Holocene. We explore how the persistent habitability of West African environments, including mangroves, contributes to distinctly West African trajectories of behavioural stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khady Niang
- Département d'Histoire, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Centre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
| | - Mark D Bateman
- Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Christopher A Kiahtipes
- Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
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20
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Baumann M, Plisson H, Maury S, Renou S, Coqueugniot H, Vanderesse N, Kolobova K, Shnaider S, Rots V, Guérin G, Rendu W. On the Quina side: A Neanderthal bone industry at Chez-Pinaud site, France. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0284081. [PMID: 37315040 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Did Neanderthal produce a bone industry? The recent discovery of a large bone tool assemblage at the Neanderthal site of Chagyrskaya (Altai, Siberia, Russia) and the increasing discoveries of isolated finds of bone tools in various Mousterian sites across Eurasia stimulate the debate. Assuming that the isolate finds may be the tip of the iceberg and that the Siberian occurrence did not result from a local adaptation of easternmost Neanderthals, we looked for evidence of a similar industry in the Western side of their spread area. We assessed the bone tool potential of the Quina bone-bed level currently under excavation at chez Pinaud site (Jonzac, Charente-Maritime, France) and found as many bone tools as flint ones: not only the well-known retouchers but also beveled tools, retouched artifacts and a smooth-ended rib. Their diversity opens a window on a range of activities not expected in a butchering site and not documented by the flint tools, all involved in the carcass processing. The re-use of 20% of the bone blanks, which are mainly from large ungulates among faunal remains largely dominated by reindeer, raises the question of blank procurement and management. From the Altai to the Atlantic shore, through a multitude of sites where only a few objects have been reported so far, evidence of a Neanderthal bone industry is emerging which provides new insights on Middle Paleolithic subsistence strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hugues Plisson
- PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | | | | | - Hélène Coqueugniot
- PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-PSL University, Paris, France
| | | | - Ksenyia Kolobova
- Paleolithic Department, Institute of archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
| | - Svetlana Shnaider
- ZooSCAN, International Research Laboratory 2013, CNRS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
| | | | - Guillaume Guérin
- Géosciences Rennes UMR 6118, CNRS, University of Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - William Rendu
- ZooSCAN, International Research Laboratory 2013, CNRS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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21
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Mauran G. Red Balloon rock shelter Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage and population's adaption to local resources in the Waterberg (Limpopo, South Africa). ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES 2023; 15:79. [PMID: 37200545 PMCID: PMC10175935 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-023-01778-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Ochre has been found at many Middle Stone Age sites throughout southern Africa. Much work has been done to document these iron-rich raw materials, their modifications and their implications for past communities' behaviours, skills and cognition. However, until recently few works focused on the Middle Stone Age Waterberg ochre assemblages. The paper presents the ochre assemblage recovered at Red Balloon rock shelter, a new Middle Stone Age site on the Waterberg Plateau. The site preserves Middle Stone Age occupations dated around 95,000 years ago. Scanning electron microscopy observations, portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy characterization document the presence of four ochre types. The MSA ochre assemblage recovered is mainly composed of specularite and specular hematite similar to the ones of Olieboomspoort and North Brabant. Microscopic observations and infrared analyses of soil sediment and of post-depositional deposits found on the ochre pieces show that this raw material specificity is of anthropic origin and not the result of post-depositional processes. Optical and digital observations of the archaeological assemblage and its comparison with a preliminary exploratory experimental one highlight the use of abrasion and bipolar percussion to process the ochre pieces at the site. The results point to the know-how and skills of the Middle Stone Age populations who inhabited the Waterberg region around 95,000 years ago. This raises the question of whether the specificities of the Waterberg ochre assemblages correspond to populations' adaptation to the local mountainous mineral resources and the existence of a regional ochre processing tradition. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-023-01778-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guilhem Mauran
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, Wits 2050 South Africa
- PACEA UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, 33600 Pessac, France
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22
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Scerri EML, Will M. The revolution that still isn't: The origins of behavioral complexity in Homo sapiens. J Hum Evol 2023; 179:103358. [PMID: 37058868 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103358] [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: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2023]
Abstract
The behavioral origins of Homo sapiens can be traced back to the first material culture produced by our species in Africa, the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Beyond this broad consensus, the origins, patterns, and causes of behavioral complexity in modern humans remain debated. Here, we consider whether recent findings continue to support popular scenarios of: (1) a modern human 'package,' (2) a gradual and 'pan-African' emergence of behavioral complexity, and (3) a direct connection to changes in the human brain. Our geographically structured review shows that decades of scientific research have continuously failed to find a discrete threshold for a complete 'modernity package' and that the concept is theoretically obsolete. Instead of a continent-wide, gradual accumulation of complex material culture, the record exhibits a predominantly asynchronous presence and duration of many innovations across different regions of Africa. The emerging pattern of behavioral complexity from the MSA conforms to an intricate mosaic characterized by spatially discrete, temporally variable, and historically contingent trajectories. This archaeological record bears no direct relation to a simplistic shift in the human brain but rather reflects similar cognitive capacities that are variably manifested. The interaction of multiple causal factors constitutes the most parsimonious explanation driving the variable expression of complex behaviors, with demographic processes such as population structure, size, and connectivity playing a key role. While much emphasis has been given to innovation and variability in the MSA record, long periods of stasis and a lack of cumulative developments argue further against a strictly gradualistic nature in the record. Instead, we are confronted with humanity's deep, variegated roots in Africa, and a dynamic metapopulation that took many millennia to reach the critical mass capable of producing the ratchet effect commonly used to define contemporary human culture. Finally, we note a weakening link between 'modern' human biology and behavior from around 300 ka ago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor M L Scerri
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07749, Jena, Germany; Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta; Department of Prehistory, University of Cologne, 50931, Cologne, Germany.
| | - Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Burgsteige 11, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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23
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Wang Y, Zhang X, Sun X, Yi S, Min K, Liu D, Yan W, Cai H, Wang X, Curnoe D, Lu H. A new chronological framework for Chuandong Cave and its implications for the appearance of modern humans in southern China. J Hum Evol 2023; 178:103344. [PMID: 36947893 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103344] [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: 07/26/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023]
Abstract
Chuandong Cave is an important Late Paleolithic site because it documents the early appearance of bone tools in southern China. We used the single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol for optically stimulated luminescence dating to improve the precision of the chronology for the Chuandong Cave sedimentary sequence. The age of each layer was determined using a Bayesian modeling approach which combined optically stimulated luminescence ages with published AMS 14C dates. The results showed that Layer 10 began accumulating since 56 ± 14 ka and provides the upper age limit for all artifacts from the sequence. Bone awl tools from Layer 8, the earliest grinding bone tools in this site, were recovered within sediments between 40 ± 7 ka and 30 ± 4 ka. Layer 8 also indicates the appearance of modern humans in the Chuandong Cave sequence. Layers 4-2, ranging from 15 ± 3 ka until 11 ± 1 ka and including the Younger Dryas period, contain a few bone awls and an eyed bone needle. The shift from bone awls to eyed bone needles in the Chuandong Cave sequence indicates that modern humans adapted to the changing climate of southern China. We conclude that modern human behavior in bone tools appeared in southern China as early as 40 ± 7 ka, became more sophisticated during the Last Glacial Maximum, and spread more widely across southern China during the Younger Dryas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanan Wang
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Xinglong Zhang
- Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Guiyang 550003, China
| | - Xuefeng Sun
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
| | - Shuangwen Yi
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Kai Min
- Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Guiyang 550003, China
| | - Dengke Liu
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Wenxuan Yan
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Huiyang Cai
- Guizhou Provincial Museum, Guiyang 550081, China
| | - Xinjin Wang
- Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Guiyang 550003, China
| | - Darren Curnoe
- Australia Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Huayu Lu
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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24
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Townsend C, Ferraro JV, Habecker H, Flinn MV. Human cooperation and evolutionary transitions in individuality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210414. [PMID: 36688393 PMCID: PMC9869453 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
A major evolutionary transition in individuality involves the formation of a cooperative group and the transformation of that group into an evolutionary entity. Human cooperation shares principles with those of multicellular organisms that have undergone transitions in individuality: division of labour, communication, and fitness interdependence. After the split from the last common ancestor of hominoids, early hominins adapted to an increasingly terrestrial niche for several million years. We posit that new challenges in this niche set in motion a positive feedback loop in selection pressure for cooperation that ratcheted coevolutionary changes in sociality, communication, brains, cognition, kin relations and technology, eventually resulting in egalitarian societies with suppressed competition and rapid cumulative culture. The increasing pace of information innovation and transmission became a key aspect of the evolutionary niche that enabled humans to become formidable cooperators with explosive population growth, the ability to cooperate and compete in groups of millions, and emergent social norms, e.g. private property. Despite considerable fitness interdependence, the rise of private property, in concert with population explosion and socioeconomic inequality, subverts potential transition of human groups into evolutionary entities due to resurgence of latent competition and conflict. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cathryn Townsend
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Joseph V. Ferraro
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Heather Habecker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
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25
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Mesfin I, Benjamim MH, Lebatard AE, Saos T, Pleurdeau D, Matos J, Lotter M. Evidence for Earlier Stone Age 'coastal use': The site of Dungo IV, Benguela Province, Angola. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0278775. [PMID: 36827267 PMCID: PMC9955982 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The relationship between Earlier Stone Age (ESA) hominins and the southern African coastal environment has been poorly investigated, despite the high concentration of open-air sites in marine and fluvial terraces of the coastal plain from c. 1Ma onward during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Southern Africa provides some of the earliest evidence of coastal subsistence strategies since the end of the Middle Pleistocene, during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). These coastal MSA sites showcase the role of coastal environments in the emergence and development of modern human behaviors. Given the high prevalence of coastal ESA sites throughout the region, we seek to question the relationship between hominins and coastal landscapes much earlier in time. In this regard, the +100 m raised beaches of the Benguela Province, Angola, are key areas as they are well-preserved and contain a dense record of prehistoric occupation from the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, including sites like Dungo, Mormolo, Sombreiro, Macaca and Punta das Vacas. Accordingly, this paper provides a critical review of the coastal ESA record of southern Africa and a detailed presentation of the Dungo IV site, through a qualitative technological analysis coupled with a quantitative inter-site comparison with contemporary southern African coastal plain sites. Through our detailed technological analyses, we highlight the influence of coastal lithological resources on the technical behaviors of hominin groups, and we propose the existence of a "regional adaptive strategy" in a coastal landscape more than 600 000 years ago. Finally, we argue for the integration of coastal landscapes into hominins' territories, suggesting that adaptation to coastal environments is actually a slower process which begins with "territorialization" well before the emergence and development of Homo sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isis Mesfin
- Fyssen Foundation - Museu Nacional de Arqueologia de Benguela, Benguela, Angola
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique – CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia – Alliance Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
- * E-mail: ,
| | | | | | - Thibaud Saos
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique – CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia – Alliance Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - David Pleurdeau
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique – CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia – Alliance Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Jorge Matos
- Instituto Superior Politecnico Jean Piaget, Bairro Nossa Senhora da Graça, Benguela, Angola
| | - Matt Lotter
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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26
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Boeckx C. What made us "hunter-gatherers of words". Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1080861. [PMID: 36845441 PMCID: PMC9947416 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1080861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper makes three interconnected claims: (i) the "human condition" cannot be captured by evolutionary narratives that reduce it to a recent 'cognitive modernity', nor by narratives that eliminates all cognitive differences between us and out closest extinct relatives, (ii) signals from paleogenomics, especially coming from deserts of introgression but also from signatures of positive selection, point to the importance of mutations that impact neurodevelopment, plausibly leading to temperamental differences, which may impact cultural evolutionary trajectories in specific ways, and (iii) these trajectories are expected to affect the language phenotypes, modifying what is being learned and how it is put to use. In particular, I hypothesize that these different trajectories influence the development of symbolic systems, the flexible ways in which symbols combine, and the size and configurations of the communities in which these systems are put to use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Complex Systems, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
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27
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Redshaw J, Ganea PA. Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210333. [PMID: 36314156 PMCID: PMC9620743 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans possess the remarkable capacity to imagine possible worlds and to demarcate possibilities and impossibilities in reasoning. We can think about what might happen in the future and consider what the present would look like had the past turned out differently. We reason about cause and effect, weigh up alternative courses of action and regret our mistakes. In this theme issue, leading experts from across the life sciences provide ground-breaking insights into the proximate questions of how thinking about possibilities works and develops, and the ultimate questions of its adaptive functions and evolutionary history. Together, the contributions delineate neurophysiological, cognitive and social mechanisms involved in mentally simulating possible states of reality; and point to conceptual changes in the understanding of singular and multiple possibilities during human development. The contributions also demonstrate how thinking about possibilities can augment learning, decision-making and judgement, and highlight aspects of the capacity that appear to be shared with non-human animals and aspects that may be uniquely human. Throughout the issue, it becomes clear that many developmental milestones achieved during childhood, and many of the most significant evolutionary and cultural triumphs of the human species, can only be understood with reference to increasingly complex reasoning about possibilities. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Redshaw
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
| | - Patricia A. Ganea
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 1V6
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28
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Langley MC, Suddendorf T. Archaeological evidence for thinking about possibilities in hominin evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210350. [PMID: 36314159 PMCID: PMC9620754 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 09/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of the ability to think about future possibilities must have played an influential role in human evolution, driving a range of foresightful behaviours, including preparation, communication and technological innovation. Here we review the archeological evidence for such behavioural indicators of foresight. We find the earliest signs of hominins retaining tools and transporting materials for repeated future use emerging from around 1.8 Ma. From about 0.5 Ma onwards, there are indications of technical and social changes reflecting advances in foresight. And in a third period, starting from around 140 000 years ago, hominins appear to have increasingly relied on material culture to shape the future and to exchange their ideas about possibilities. Visible signs of storytelling, even about entirely fictional scenarios, appear over the last 50 000 years. Although the current evidence suggests that there were distinct transitions in the evolution of our capacity to think about the future, we warn that issues of taphonomy and archaeological sampling are likely to skew our picture of human cognitive evolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle C. Langley
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, 4111 Queensland, Australia
- Archaeology, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, 4111 Queensland, Australia
| | - Thomas Suddendorf
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, 4072 Queensland, Australia
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29
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Glowacki L. The evolution of peace. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 47:e1. [PMID: 36524358 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species' success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, and ultimately enabling cumulative cultural evolution. Knowledge about the conditions required for peaceful intergroup relationships is critical for understanding the success of our species and building a more peaceful world. How do humans create harmonious relationships across group boundaries and when did this capacity emerge in the human lineage? Answering these questions involves considering the costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression, for oneself, one's group, and one's neighbor. Taking a game theoretical perspective provides new insights into the difficulties of removing the threat of war and reveals an ironic logic to peace - the factors that enable peace also facilitate the increased scale and destructiveness of conflict. In what follows, I explore the conditions required for peace, why they are so difficult to achieve, and when we expect peace to have emerged in the human lineage. I argue that intergroup cooperation was an important component of human relationships and a selective force in our species history beginning at least 300 thousand years. But the preconditions for peace only emerged in the past 100 thousand years and likely coexisted with intermittent intergroup violence which would have also been an important and selective force in our species' history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Glowacki
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA ://www.hsb-lab.org/
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30
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Deschamps M, Martín-Lerma I, Linares-Matás G, Zilhão J. Organization of residential space, site function variability, and seasonality of activities among MIS 5 Iberian Neandertals. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20221. [PMID: 36418334 PMCID: PMC9684422 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24430-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether ethnoarcheological models of hunter-gatherer mobility, landscape use, and structuration of the inhabited space are relevant to the archeology of Neandertals and the Middle Paleolithic remains controversial. The thin lenses of hearth-associated stone tools and faunal remains excavated in sub-complex AS5 of Cueva Antón (Murcia, Spain) significantly advance these debates. Dated to 77.8-85.1 ka, these living floors are interstratified in river-accumulated sands and were buried shortly after abandonment by low-energy inundation events, with minimal disturbance and negligible palimpsest formation. Stone tools were made and ergonomically modified to fit tasks; their spatial distributions and use-wear reveal hearth-focused activities and a division of the inhabited space into resting and working areas. Site function varied with season of the year: units III-i/j1 and III-i/j2-3 record winter visits focused on filleting and hide processing, while woodworking predominated in unit III-b/d, which subsumes visits to the site over the course of at least one winter, one spring, and one summer. These snapshots of Neandertal behavior match expectations derived from the ethnographic and Upper Paleolithic records for the lifeways of hunter-gatherers inhabiting temperate regions with a markedly seasonal climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Deschamps
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263UNIARQ, Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisbon, Portugal ,UMR 5608-TRACES, Maison de la recherche, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Ignacio Martín-Lerma
- grid.10586.3a0000 0001 2287 8496Área de Prehistoria, Facultad de Letras, Universidad de Murcia, Calle Santo Cristo, 1, 30001 Murcia, Spain
| | - Gonzalo Linares-Matás
- grid.4991.50000 0004 1936 8948St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, St. Margaret’s Road, Oxford, OX2 6LE UK ,grid.5335.00000000121885934Present Address: Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AP UK
| | - João Zilhão
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263UNIARQ, Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisbon, Portugal ,grid.425902.80000 0000 9601 989XICREA, Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain ,grid.5841.80000 0004 1937 0247Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, Carrer de Montalegre, 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
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31
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Val A, Collins B. From Veld to Coast: Towards an Understanding of the Diverse Landscapes' Uses by Past Foragers in Southern Africa. JOURNAL OF PALEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY 2022; 5:16. [PMID: 36406469 PMCID: PMC9660208 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-022-00124-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In this brief contribution, we outline the aims of a collection entitled "From veld to coast: towards an understanding of the diverse landscapes' uses by past foragers in southern Africa," and we define its chronological, geographic and thematic framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurore Val
- Abteilung Für Ältere Urgeschichte Und Quartärökologie, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade Do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Benjamin Collins
- Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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32
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Morgan TJH, Suchow JW, Griffiths TL. The experimental evolution of human culture: flexibility, fidelity and environmental instability. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221614. [PMID: 36321489 PMCID: PMC9627710 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The past 2 Myr have seen both unprecedented environmental instability and the evolution of the human capacity for complex culture. This, along with the observation that cultural evolution occurs faster than genetic evolution, has led to the suggestion that culture is an adaptation to an unstable environment. We test this hypothesis by examining the ability of human social learning to respond to environmental changes. We do this by inserting human participants (n = 4800) into evolutionary simulations with a changing environment while varying the social information available to individuals across five conditions. We find that human social learning shows some signs of adaptation to environmental instability, including critical social learning, the adoption of up-and-coming traits and, unexpectedly, contrariness. However, these are insufficient to avoid significant fitness declines when the environment changes, and many individuals are highly conformist, which exacerbates the fitness effects of environmental change. We conclude that human social learning reflects a compromise between the competing needs for flexibility to accommodate environmental change and fidelity to accurately transmit valuable cultural information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J. H. Morgan
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, 777 E University Drive, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Jordan W. Suchow
- School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point Terrace, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
| | - Thomas L. Griffiths
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, 320 Peretsman Scully Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, 417 Computer Science, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
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33
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Domestic spaces as crucibles of Paleolithic culture: An archaeological perspective. J Hum Evol 2022; 172:103266. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Archaeological adhesives made from Podocarpus document innovative potential in the African Middle Stone Age. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2209592119. [PMID: 36161935 PMCID: PMC9546601 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209592119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying the earliest archaeological adhesives has implications for our understanding of human cognition. In southern Africa, the oldest adhesives were made by Homo sapiens in the Middle Stone Age. Chemical studies have shown that these adhesives were made from a local conifer of the Podocarpaceae family. However, Podocarpus does not exude resin, nor any other substance that could have been recognized as having adhesive properties. Therefore, it remains unknown how these adhesives were made. This study investigates how Podocarpus adhesives can be made, comparing their mechanical properties with other naturally available adhesives. We found that Podocarpus tar can only be made by dry distillation of leaves, requiring innovative potential, skill, and knowledge. This contrasts with our finding that the Middle Stone Age environment was rich in substances that can be used as adhesives without such transformation. The apparent preference for Podocarpus tar may be explained by its mechanical properties. We found it to be superior to all other substances in terms of its adhesive properties. In addition, the condensation method that allows producing it can be recognized accidentally, as the processes take place above ground and can be triggered accidentally. Our findings have implications for establishing a link between technology and cognition in the Middle Stone Age.
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35
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Technological and functional analysis of 80-60 ka bone wedges from Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). Sci Rep 2022; 12:16270. [PMID: 36175454 PMCID: PMC9523071 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20680-z] [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: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Fully shaped, morphologically standardized bone tools are generally considered reliable indicators of the emergence of modern behavior. We report the discovery of 23 double-beveled bone tools from ~ 80,000-60,000-year-old archaeological layers at Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We analyzed the texture of use-wear on the archaeological bone tools, and on bone tool replicas experimentally used in debarking trees, processing rabbit pelts with and without an ochre compound, digging in sediment in and outside a cave, and on ethnographic artefacts. Debarking trees and digging in humus-rich soil produce use-wear patterns closely matching those observed on most Sibudu tools. This tool type is associated with three different Middle Stone Age cultural traditions at Sibudu that span 20,000 years, yet they are absent at contemporaneous sites. Our results support a scenario in which some southern African early modern human groups developed and locally maintained specific, highly standardized cultural traits while sharing others at a sub-continental scale. We demonstrate that technological and texture analyses are effective means by which to infer past behaviors and assess the significance of prehistoric cultural innovations.
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36
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Antón SC. JHE 50 th anniversary: What does a journal owe its discipline? J Hum Evol 2022; 169:103232. [PMID: 35872380 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susan C Antón
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003, USA.
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37
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65,000-years of continuous grinding stone use at Madjedbebe, Northern Australia. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11747. [PMID: 35817808 PMCID: PMC9273753 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15174-x] [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: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Grinding stones and ground stone implements are important technological innovations in later human evolution, allowing the exploitation and use of new plant foods, novel tools (e.g., bone points and edge ground axes) and ground pigments. Excavations at the site of Madjedbebe recovered Australia’s (if not one of the world’s) largest and longest records of Pleistocene grinding stones, which span the past 65 thousand years (ka). Microscopic and chemical analyses show that the Madjedbebe grinding stone assemblage displays the earliest known evidence for seed grinding and intensive plant use, the earliest known production and use of edge-ground stone hatchets (aka axes), and the earliest intensive use of ground ochre pigments in Sahul (the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and New Guinea). The Madjedbebe grinding stone assemblage reveals economic, technological and symbolic innovations exemplary of the phenotypic plasticity of Homo sapiens dispersing out of Africa and into Sahul.
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Meneganzin A, Pievani T, Manzi G. Pan-Africanism vs. single-origin of Homo sapiens: Putting the debate in the light of evolutionary biology. Evol Anthropol 2022; 31:199-212. [PMID: 35848454 PMCID: PMC9540121 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
The scenario of Homo sapiens origin/s within Africa has become increasingly complex, with a pan-African perspective currently challenging the long-established single-origin hypothesis. In this paper, we review the lines of evidence employed in support of each model, highlighting inferential limitations and possible terminological misunderstandings. We argue that the metapopulation scenario envisaged by pan-African proponents well describes a mosaic diversification among late Middle Pleistocene groups. However, this does not rule out a major contribution that emerged from a single population where crucial derived features-notably, a globular braincase-appeared as the result of a punctuated, cladogenetic event. Thus, we suggest that a synthesis is possible and propose a scenario that, in our view, better reconciles with consolidated expectations in evolutionary theory. These indicate cladogenesis in allopatry as an ordinary pattern for the origin of a new species, particularly during phases of marked climatic and environmental instability.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Giorgio Manzi
- Department of Environmental BiologySapienza University of RomeRomeItaly
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40
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African mitochondrial haplogroup L7: a 100,000-year-old maternal human lineage discovered through reassessment and new sequencing. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10747. [PMID: 35750688 PMCID: PMC9232647 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13856-0] [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: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Archaeological and genomic evidence suggest that modern Homo sapiens have roamed the planet for some 300–500 thousand years. In contrast, global human mitochondrial (mtDNA) diversity coalesces to one African female ancestor (“Mitochondrial Eve”) some 145 thousand years ago, owing to the ¼ gene pool size of our matrilineally inherited haploid genome. Therefore, most of human prehistory was spent in Africa where early ancestors of Southern African Khoisan and Central African rainforest hunter-gatherers (RFHGs) segregated into smaller groups. Their subdivisions followed climatic oscillations, new modes of subsistence, local adaptations, and cultural-linguistic differences, all prior to their exodus out of Africa. Seven African mtDNA haplogroups (L0–L6) traditionally captured this ancient structure—these L haplogroups have formed the backbone of the mtDNA tree for nearly two decades. Here we describe L7, an eighth haplogroup that we estimate to be ~ 100 thousand years old and which has been previously misclassified in the literature. In addition, L7 has a phylogenetic sublineage L7a*, the oldest singleton branch in the human mtDNA tree (~ 80 thousand years). We found that L7 and its sister group L5 are both low-frequency relics centered around East Africa, but in different populations (L7: Sandawe; L5: Mbuti). Although three small subclades of African foragers hint at the population origins of L5'7, the majority of subclades are divided into Afro-Asiatic and eastern Bantu groups, indicative of more recent admixture. A regular re-estimation of the entire mtDNA haplotype tree is needed to ensure correct cladistic placement of new samples in the future.
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41
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Grosman L, Muller A, Dag I, Goldgeier H, Harush O, Herzlinger G, Nebenhaus K, Valetta F, Yashuv T, Dick N. Artifact3-D: New software for accurate, objective and efficient 3D analysis and documentation of archaeological artifacts. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0268401. [PMID: 35709137 PMCID: PMC9202890 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts. We introduce it here, alongside real archaeological case studies to demonstrate its utility. Artifact3-D equips its users with a range of computational functions for accurate measurements, including orthogonal distances, surface area, volume, CoM, edge angles, asymmetry, and scar attributes. Metrics and figures for each of these measurements are easily exported for the purposes of further analysis and illustration. We test these functions on a range of real archaeological case studies pertaining to tool functionality, technological organization, manufacturing traditions, knapping techniques, and knapper skill. Here we focus on lithic artifacts, but the Artifact3-D software can be used on any artifact type to address the needs of modern archaeology. Computational methods are increasingly becoming entwined in the excavation, documentation, analysis, database creation, and publication of archaeological research. Artifact3-D offers functions to address every stage of this workflow. It equips the user with the requisite toolkit for archaeological research that is accurate, objective, repeatable and efficient. This program will help archaeological research deal with the abundant material found during excavations and will open new horizons in research trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leore Grosman
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- * E-mail:
| | - Antoine Muller
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Itamar Dag
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hadas Goldgeier
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ortal Harush
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Gadi Herzlinger
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Keren Nebenhaus
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Francesco Valetta
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Talia Yashuv
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Nir Dick
- Institute of Archaeology, Mount Scopus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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42
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Way AM, de la Peña P, de la Peña E, Wadley L. Howiesons Poort backed artifacts provide evidence for social connectivity across southern Africa during the Final Pleistocene. Sci Rep 2022; 12:9227. [PMID: 35680943 PMCID: PMC9184481 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12677-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Examining why human populations used specific technologies in the Final Pleistocene is critical to understanding our evolutionary path. A key Final Pleistocene techno-tradition is the Howiesons Poort, which is marked by an increase in behavioral complexity and technological innovation. Central to this techno-tradition is the production of backed artifacts—small, sharp blades likely used as insets in composite tools. Although backed artifacts were manufactured for thousands of years before the Howiesons Poort, this period is marked by a phenomenal increase in their production. In this paper we test both social and environmental hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. We correlate environmental data with changing frequencies of backed artifact production at Sibudu and assess morphological similarity across seven sites in southern Africa. We find that these artifacts are made to a similar template across different regions and that their increased production correlates with multiple paleo-environmental proxies. When compared to an Australian outgroup, the backed artifacts from the seven southern African sites cluster within the larger shape space described by the Australian group. This leads us to argue that the observed standardized across southern Africa is related to cultural similarities and marks a strengthening of long-distance social ties during the MIS4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M Way
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa. .,Geoscience and Archaeology, Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia. .,Department of Archaeology, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
| | - Paloma de la Peña
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa.,McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK.,Center of Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
| | - Eduardo de la Peña
- Department of Plants & Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.,Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora (IHSM-UMA-CSIC), Estación Experimental "La Mayora", Málaga, Spain
| | - Lyn Wadley
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
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Crespi BJ, Flinn MV, Summers K. Runaway Social Selection in Human Evolution. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.894506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Darwin posited that social competition among conspecifics could be a powerful selective pressure. Alexander proposed a model of human evolution involving a runaway process of social competition based on Darwin’s insight. Here we briefly review Alexander’s logic, and then expand upon his model by elucidating six core arenas of social selection that involve runaway, positive-feedback processes, and that were likely involved in the evolution of the remarkable combination of adaptations in humans. We discuss how these ideas fit with the hypothesis that a key life history innovation that opened the door to runaway social selection, and cumulative culture, during hominin evolution was increased cooperation among individuals in small fission-fusion groups.
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44
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Boyette AH, Lew-Levy S, Jang H, Kandza V. Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200490. [PMID: 35249385 PMCID: PMC8899623 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and historical data on the peopling of the Congo Basin. While forest fragmentation led to the increased genetic and geographical divergence of forest foragers, these groups maintained long-distance connectivity. The eventual expansion of Bantu speakers into the Congo Basin provided new opportunities for forging inter-group links, as evidenced by linguistic shifts and historical accounts. Building from our ethnographic work in the northern Republic of the Congo, we show how these inter-group links between forest forager communities as well as trade relationships with neighbouring farmers facilitate adaptation to ecoregions through knowledge exchange. While researchers tend to emphasize forager-farmer interactions that began in the Iron Age, we argue that foragers' cultivation of relational wealth with groups across the region played a major role in the initial occupation of the Congo Basin and, consequently, in cultural evolution among the ancestors of contemporary peoples. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sheina Lew-Levy
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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45
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Taylor N. Riddles wrapped inside an enigma. Lupemban MSA technology as a rainforest adaptation: revisiting the lanceolate point. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200484. [PMID: 35249391 PMCID: PMC8899621 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Central African Stone Age is very poorly known when compared to the higher-resolution records of East and Southern Africa. Early Stone Age (ESA) archaeology is effectively absent from the rainforest zone, with the early Middle Stone Age (MSA) Lupemban industry representing the earliest sustained archaeological signature. Uranium-series dates of approximately 265 ka BP for the Lupemban at Twin Rivers (Zambia), although queried, suggest a precocious late Middle Pleistocene dispersal of early Homo sapiens into the equatorial rainforest belt. Lupemban palaeohabitat interactions and attendant behavioural and technological repertoires are key to its evolutionary significance, but investigation is hampered by the widespread vertical disturbance of stratigraphic profiles and the formation of 'stone-lines'. The Lupemban takes in a range of implement types and technologies, including core-axes, prepared core technology (PCT) points, blades and backed blades. But it is the elongated bifacial lanceolate point-some exquisitely made and many exceeding 30 cm in length-that defines the industry. Remarkably, unequivocal examples of these iconic artefacts have never been the focus of detailed techno-typological scrutiny. In this paper, I advance understanding of the Lupemban by initiating a re-consideration of lanceolate points at Kalambo Falls, Zambia, and discuss their implications for the Lupemban's evolutionary significance. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Taylor
- Department of Anthropology, Turkana Basin Institute, New York, NY, USA
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Mackay A, Armitage SJ, Niespolo EM, Sharp WD, Stahlschmidt MC, Blackwood AF, Boyd KC, Chase BM, Lagle SE, Kaplan CF, Low MA, Martisius NL, McNeill PJ, Moffat I, O'Driscoll CA, Rudd R, Orton J, Steele TE. Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92-80 thousand years ago. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:361-369. [PMID: 35228670 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01667-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Africa's Middle Stone Age preserves sporadic evidence for novel behaviours among early modern humans, prompting a range of questions about the influence of social and environmental factors on patterns of human behavioural evolution. Here we document a suite of novel adaptations dating approximately 92-80 thousand years before the present at the archaeological site Varsche Rivier 003 (VR003), located in southern Africa's arid Succulent Karoo biome. Distinctive innovations include the production of ostrich eggshell artefacts, long-distance transportation of marine molluscs and systematic use of heat shatter in stone tool production, none of which occur in coeval assemblages at sites in more humid, well-studied regions immediately to the south. The appearance of these novelties at VR003 corresponds with a period of reduced regional wind strength and enhanced summer rainfall, and all of them disappear with increasing winter rainfall dominance after 80 thousand years before the present, following which a pattern of technological similarity emerges at sites throughout the broader region. The results indicate complex and environmentally contingent processes of innovation and cultural transmission in southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. .,Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
| | - Simon J Armitage
- Centre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK.,SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Elizabeth M Niespolo
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | | | - Mareike C Stahlschmidt
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Alexander F Blackwood
- Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kelsey C Boyd
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Brian M Chase
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier (ISEM), University of Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.,Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Susan E Lagle
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | | | | | - Naomi L Martisius
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Department of Anthropology, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA
| | - Patricia J McNeill
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ian Moffat
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia
| | - Corey A O'Driscoll
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rachel Rudd
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia.,School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Jayson Orton
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of South Africa, Unisa, South Africa
| | - Teresa E Steele
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. .,Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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47
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Wang Y. 泥河湾盆地下马碑遗址早期现代人出现的新证据. CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN-CHINESE 2022. [DOI: 10.1360/tb-2022-0256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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48
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Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers. Nature 2022; 603:290-296. [PMID: 35197631 PMCID: PMC8907066 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04430-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Multiple lines of genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal Late Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa1–4. Inferences about this period are challenging to make because demographic shifts in the past 5,000 years have obscured the structures of more ancient populations3,5. Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years (doubling the time depth of sub-Saharan African ancient DNA), increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyse these alongside data from 13 other published ancient individuals. The ancestry of the individuals in our study area can be modelled as a geographically structured mixture of three highly divergent source populations, probably reflecting Pleistocene interactions around 80–20 thousand years ago, including deeply diverged eastern and southern African lineages, plus a previously unappreciated ubiquitous distribution of ancestry that occurs in highest proportion today in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers. Once established, this structure remained highly stable, with limited long-range gene flow. These results provide a new line of genetic evidence in support of hypotheses that have emerged from archaeological analyses but remain contested, suggesting increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. DNA analysis of 6 individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years, and of 28 previously published ancient individuals, provides genetic evidence supporting hypotheses of increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene.
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Migliano AB, Vinicius L. The origins of human cumulative culture: from the foraging niche to collective intelligence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200317. [PMID: 34894737 PMCID: PMC8666907 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Various studies have investigated cognitive mechanisms underlying culture in humans and other great apes. However, the adaptive reasons for the evolution of uniquely sophisticated cumulative culture in our species remain unclear. We propose that the cultural capabilities of humans are the evolutionary result of a stepwise transition from the ape-like lifestyle of earlier hominins to the foraging niche still observed in extant hunter-gatherers. Recent ethnographic, archaeological and genetic studies have provided compelling evidence that the components of the foraging niche (social egalitarianism, sexual and social division of labour, extensive co-residence and cooperation with unrelated individuals, multilocality, fluid sociality and high between-camp mobility) engendered a unique multilevel social structure where the cognitive mechanisms underlying cultural evolution (high-fidelity transmission, innovation, teaching, recombination, ratcheting) evolved as adaptations. Therefore, multilevel sociality underlies a 'social ratchet' or irreversible task specialization splitting the burden of cultural knowledge across individuals, which may explain why human collective intelligence is uniquely able to produce sophisticated cumulative culture. The foraging niche perspective may explain why a complex gene-culture dual inheritance system evolved uniquely in humans and interprets the cultural, morphological and genetic origins of Homo sapiens as a process of recombination of innovations appearing in differentiated but interconnected populations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
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50
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Pedagogical Ecology for an Alternative Sustainability: With Insights from Francis of Assisi and Contemporary Life Sciences. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14031395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Sustainability is a widely discussed issue nowadays. The “human factor” appears to be the key to a suitable theory of sustainable development and, even more, to understanding the real scope of the issue at stake. We begin by highlighting that the issue of sustainability and the related ecological crisis ultimately stem from the fundamental view of the human–environment relationships. We tackle such a fundamental view from two apparently distant but converging perspectives: the one of Francis of Assisi (the patron saint of ecologists) and the one of contemporary advancements in evolutionary biology known as the “extended evolutionary theory” (EES). This will allow us to highlight how current life sciences ground a strong form of organism–environment complementarity—a core point for any allegedly comprehensive approach to sustainability and ecology. After that, we focus on recent developments in cultural evolution studies that see culture both as the driving force of (recent) human evolution and as the general context where the human–environment relationships take place and develop. Therefore, we argue that the environment exerts a powerful pedagogical influence on the human being and on humanity as a whole. We conclude by proposing a pedagogical criterion for ecology and sustainable development, according to which the modifications caused by the human being to the environment must be assessed (also) for their pedagogical import.
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