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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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Early, intensive marine resource exploitation by Middle Stone Age humans at Ysterfontein 1 rockshelter, South Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2020042118. [PMID: 33846250 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020042118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern human behavioral innovations from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) include the earliest indicators of full coastal adaptation evidenced by shell middens, yet many MSA middens remain poorly dated. We apply 230Th/U burial dating to ostrich eggshells (OES) from Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1, Western Cape, South Africa), a stratified MSA shell midden. 230Th/U burial ages of YFT1 OES are relatively precise (median ± 2.7%), consistent with other age constraints, and preserve stratigraphic principles. Bayesian age-depth modeling indicates YFT1 was deposited between 119.9 to 113.1 thousand years ago (ka) (95% CI of model ages), and the entire 3.8 m thick midden may have accumulated within ∼2,300 y. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes of OES indicate that during occupation the local environment was dominated by C3 vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES 230Th/U ages and stable isotopes shows the following: 1) YFT1 is the oldest shell midden known, providing minimum constraints on full coastal adaptation by ∼120 ka; 2) despite rapid sea-level drop and other climatic changes during occupation, relative shellfish proportions and sizes remain similar, suggesting adaptive foraging along a changing coastline; 3) the YFT1 lithic technocomplex is similar to other west coast assemblages but distinct from potentially synchronous industries along the southern African coast, suggesting human populations were fragmented between seasonal rainfall zones; and 4) accumulation rates (up to 1.8 m/ka) are much higher than previously observed for dated, stratified MSA middens, implying more intense site occupation akin to Later Stone Age middens.
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Gravel-Miguel C, Murray JK, Schoville BJ, Wren CD, Marean CW. Exploring variability in lithic armature discard in the archaeological record. J Hum Evol 2021; 155:102981. [PMID: 33848696 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Revised: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The invention of projectile technology had important ramifications for hominin evolution. However, the number of stone points that could have been used as projectiles fluctuates in archaeological assemblages, making it difficult to define when projectile technology was first widely adopted and how its usage changed over time. Here we use an agent-based model to simulate a hunter-gatherer foraging system where armatures are dropped according to their usage. We explore the impact of interactions between human behaviors and the environmental constraints of a data-informed landscape on the distribution and number of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. We ran 2400 simulations modeling different population sizes, rates of hunting with projectiles, and tool curation levels. For each simulation, we recorded the location of dropped armatures and calculated the number and percentage of used armatures that were discarded at habitation camps vs. lost during hunting. We used linear regression to identify the demographic, behavioral, and environmental factor(s) that best explained changes in these numbers and percentages. The model results show that in a well-controlled environment, most armatures used as projectile weapons are lost or discarded at hunting sites; only ∼4.5% of used armatures (or ∼2 armatures per year of simulation) are discarded in habitation camps where they would likely be excavated. These findings suggest that even rare hafted armatures found in the Early and Middle Stone Age could indicate a well-established use of such tools. Our model shows that interactions between reoccupation of archaeological sites, population size, rate of hunting with projectile weapons, and tool curation levels strongly influence the count of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. Therefore, we argue that fluctuations in the counts of armatures documented at archaeological sites should be evaluated within their demographic and environmental contexts to better understand if they reflect spatiotemporal changes in hunting behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudine Gravel-Miguel
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA; Département d'anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
| | - John K Murray
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Benjamin J Schoville
- School of Social Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
| | - Colin D Wren
- Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
| | - Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA; African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Eastern Cape, South Africa
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Esteban I, Marean CW, Fisher EC, Karkanas P, Cabanes D, Albert RM. Phytoliths as an indicator of early modern humans plant gathering strategies, fire fuel and site occupation intensity during the Middle Stone Age at Pinnacle Point 5-6 (south coast, South Africa). PLoS One 2018; 13:e0198558. [PMID: 29864147 PMCID: PMC5986156 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2018] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The study of plant remains in archaeological sites, along with a better understanding of the use of plants by prehistoric populations, can help us shed light on changes in survival strategies of hunter-gatherers and consequent impacts on modern human cognition, social organization, and technology. The archaeological locality of Pinnacle Point (Mossel Bay, South Africa) includes a series of coastal caves, rock-shelters, and open-air sites with human occupations spanning the Acheulian through Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA). These sites have provided some of the earliest evidence for complex human behaviour and technology during the MSA. We used phytoliths-amorphous silica particles that are deposited in cells of plants-as a proxy for the reconstruction of past human plant foraging strategies on the south coast of South Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, emphasizing the use and control of fire as well as other possible plant uses. We analysed sediment samples from the different occupation periods at the rock shelter Pinnacle Point 5-6 North (PP5-6N). We also present an overview of the taphonomic processes affecting phytolith preservation in this site that will be critical to conduct a more reliable interpretation of the original plant use in the rock shelter. Our study reports the first evidence of the intentional gathering and introduction into living areas of plants from the Restionaceae family by MSA hunter-gatherers inhabiting the south coast of South Africa. We suggest that humans inhabiting Pinnacle Point during short-term occupation events during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 built fast fires using mainly grasses with some wood from trees and/or shrubs for specific purposes, perhaps for shellfish cooking. With the onset of MIS 4 we observed a change in the plant gathering strategies towards the intentional and intensive exploitation of dry wood to improve, we hypothesise, combustion for heating silcrete. This human behaviour is associated with changes in stone tool technology, site occupation intensity and climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Esteban
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- ERAAUB. Dept. Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Curtis W. Marean
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States of America
| | - Erich C. Fisher
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States of America
| | - Panagiotis Karkanas
- The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece
| | - Dan Cabanes
- Department of Anthropology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Biological Sciences Building, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Human Evolutionary Studies. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Biological Sciences Building, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Rosa M. Albert
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- ERAAUB. Dept. Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
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Smith EI, Jacobs Z, Johnsen R, Ren M, Fisher EC, Oestmo S, Wilkins J, Harris JA, Karkanas P, Fitch S, Ciravolo A, Keenan D, Cleghorn N, Lane CS, Matthews T, Marean CW. Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba eruption about 74,000 years ago. Nature 2018. [DOI: 10.1038/nature25967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Wilkins J, Brown KS, Oestmo S, Pereira T, Ranhorn KL, Schoville BJ, Marean CW. Lithic technological responses to Late Pleistocene glacial cycling at Pinnacle Point Site 5-6, South Africa. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0174051. [PMID: 28355257 PMCID: PMC5371328 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2016] [Accepted: 03/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
There are multiple hypotheses for human responses to glacial cycling in the Late Pleistocene, including changes in population size, interconnectedness, and mobility. Lithic technological analysis informs us of human responses to environmental change because lithic assemblage characteristics are a reflection of raw material transport, reduction, and discard behaviors that depend on hunter-gatherer social and economic decisions. Pinnacle Point Site 5-6 (PP5-6), Western Cape, South Africa is an ideal locality for examining the influence of glacial cycling on early modern human behaviors because it preserves a long sequence spanning marine isotope stages (MIS) 5, 4, and 3 and is associated with robust records of paleoenvironmental change. The analysis presented here addresses the question, what, if any, lithic assemblage traits at PP5-6 represent changing behavioral responses to the MIS 5-4-3 interglacial-glacial cycle? It statistically evaluates changes in 93 traits with no a priori assumptions about which traits may significantly associate with MIS. In contrast to other studies that claim that there is little relationship between broad-scale patterns of climate change and lithic technology, we identified the following characteristics that are associated with MIS 4: increased use of quartz, increased evidence for outcrop sources of quartzite and silcrete, increased evidence for earlier stages of reduction in silcrete, evidence for increased flaking efficiency in all raw material types, and changes in tool types and function for silcrete. Based on these results, we suggest that foragers responded to MIS 4 glacial environmental conditions at PP5-6 with increased population or group sizes, 'place provisioning', longer and/or more intense site occupations, and decreased residential mobility. Several other traits, including silcrete frequency, do not exhibit an association with MIS. Backed pieces, once they appear in the PP5-6 record during MIS 4, persist through MIS 3. Changing paleoenvironments explain some, but not all temporal technological variability at PP5-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayne Wilkins
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Private Bag, South Africa.,Centre for Coastal Paleoscience, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| | - Kyle S Brown
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Private Bag, South Africa
| | - Simen Oestmo
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Telmo Pereira
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Campus Gambelas, Faro, Portugal
| | - Kathryn L Ranhorn
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Benjamin J Schoville
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Private Bag, South Africa.,Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Curtis W Marean
- Centre for Coastal Paleoscience, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa.,Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
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Schoville BJ, Brown KS, Harris JA, Wilkins J. New Experiments and a Model-Driven Approach for Interpreting Middle Stone Age Lithic Point Function Using the Edge Damage Distribution Method. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0164088. [PMID: 27736886 PMCID: PMC5063385 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2016] [Accepted: 09/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Middle Stone Age (MSA) is associated with early evidence for symbolic material culture and complex technological innovations. However, one of the most visible aspects of MSA technologies are unretouched triangular stone points that appear in the archaeological record as early as 500,000 years ago in Africa and persist throughout the MSA. How these tools were being used and discarded across a changing Pleistocene landscape can provide insight into how MSA populations prioritized technological and foraging decisions. Creating inferential links between experimental and archaeological tool use helps to establish prehistoric tool function, but is complicated by the overlaying of post-depositional damage onto behaviorally worn tools. Taphonomic damage patterning can provide insight into site formation history, but may preclude behavioral interpretations of tool function. Here, multiple experimental processes that form edge damage on unretouched lithic points from taphonomic and behavioral processes are presented. These provide experimental distributions of wear on tool edges from known processes that are then quantitatively compared to the archaeological patterning of stone point edge damage from three MSA lithic assemblages-Kathu Pan 1, Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, and Die Kelders Cave 1. By using a model-fitting approach, the results presented here provide evidence for variable MSA behavioral strategies of stone point utilization on the landscape consistent with armature tips at KP1, and cutting tools at PP13B and DK1, as well as damage contributions from post-depositional sources across assemblages. This study provides a method with which landscape-scale questions of early modern human tool-use and site-use can be addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J. Schoville
- Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Kyle S. Brown
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Jacob A. Harris
- Institute for Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, United States of America
| | - Jayne Wilkins
- Human Evolution Research Institute, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
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Grine FE. The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2. AFRICA FROM MIS 6-2 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Marean CW. The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2015; 77:17-40. [PMID: 25498601 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2013] [Revised: 12/11/2013] [Accepted: 02/04/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The systematic exploitation of marine foods by terrestrial mammals lacking aquatic morphologies is rare. Widespread ethnographic and archaeological evidence from many areas of the world shows that modern humans living on coastlines often ratchet up the use of marine foods and develop social and technological characteristics unusual to hunter-gatherers and more consistent with small scale food producing societies. Consistent use of marine resources often is associated with reduced mobility, larger group size, population packing, smaller territories, complex technologies, increased economic and social differentiation, and more intense and wide-ranging gifting and exchange. The commitment to temporally and spatially predictable and dense coastal foods stimulates investment in boundary defense resulting in inter-group conflict as predicted by theory and documented by ethnography. Inter-group conflict provides an ideal context for the proliferation of intra-group cooperative behaviors beneficial to the group but not to the altruist (Bowles, 2009). The origins of this coastal adaptation marks a transformative point for the hominin lineage in Africa since all previous adaptive systems were likely characterized by highly mobile, low-density, egalitarian populations with large territories and little boundary defense. It is important to separate occasional uses of marine foods, present among several primate species, from systematic and committed coastal adaptations. This paper provides a critical review of where and when systematic use of coastal resources and coastal adaptations appeared in the Old World by a comparison of the records from Africa and Europe. It is found that during the Middle Stone Age in South Africa there is evidence that true coastal adaptations developed while there is, so far, a lack of evidence for even the lowest levels of systematic coastal resource use by Neanderthals in Europe. Differences in preservation, sample size, and productivity between these regions do not explain the pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, PO Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.
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Karkanas P, Brown KS, Fisher EC, Jacobs Z, Marean CW. Interpreting human behavior from depositional rates and combustion features through the study of sedimentary microfacies at site Pinnacle Point 5-6, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2015; 85:1-21. [PMID: 26024567 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2013] [Revised: 09/22/2014] [Accepted: 04/10/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Using fine and coarse resolution geoarchaeological studies at the Middle Stone Age site of PP5-6 at Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay, South Africa, we discovered different patterns of anthropogenic input and changes in behavior through time. Through the microfacies approach, we documented the various geogenic and anthropogenic processes that formed the deposits of the site. By deciphering large scale rate differences in the production of these microfacies we estimated anthropogenic input rates and therefore gained understanding of occupational duration and intensity. The PP5-6 sediments document occupations characterized by small groups and short visits during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. This part of the sequence is characterized by numerous single (and mostly intact) hearth structures in a roofspall-rich matrix. During this time the sea was very close to the site and the people were focused on exploiting the rocky shores. With the advent of the glacial conditions of MIS4, the occupation of the site became much more intense. The occurrence of thick palimpsests of burnt remains, sometimes disturbed by small-scale sedimentary gravity processes, supports this conclusion. As sea level dropped and the coastline retreated, the geogenic input shifted to predominately aeolian sediments, implying an exposed shelf probably associated with a rich but more distant coastal environment. The occupants of PP5-6 turned their preference to silcrete as a raw material and they began to make microlithic stone tools. Since sites dating to MIS4 are abundant in the Cape, we suggest that populations during MIS4 responded to glacial conditions with either demographic stability or growth as well as technological change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Karkanas
- Ephoreia of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology of Southern Greece, Ardittou 34b, 11636 Athens, Greece; The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies, Souidias 54, 10676 Athens, Greece.
| | - Kyle S Brown
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Erich C Fisher
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, PO Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4101, USA
| | - Zenobia Jacobs
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Curtis W Marean
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa; Faculty of Science, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape 6031, South Africa
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11
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Coalescence and fragmentation in the late Pleistocene archaeology of southernmost Africa. J Hum Evol 2014; 72:26-51. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 144] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2013] [Revised: 03/04/2014] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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12
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Jerardino A, Navarro RA, Galimberti M. Changing collecting strategies of the clam Donax serra Röding (Bivalvia: Donacidae) during the Pleistocene at Pinnacle Point, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2014; 68:58-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2013] [Revised: 11/12/2013] [Accepted: 12/22/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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13
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Wurz S. Technological Trends in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa between MIS 7 and MIS 3. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1086/673283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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14
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Guérin G, Murray AS, Jain M, Thomsen KJ, Mercier N. How confident are we in the chronology of the transition between Howieson's Poort and Still Bay? J Hum Evol 2013; 64:314-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2012] [Revised: 01/17/2013] [Accepted: 01/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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16
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Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Brown KS, Chazan M. Evidence for Early Hafted Hunting Technology. Science 2012; 338:942-6. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1227608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 211] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jayne Wilkins
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada
| | - Benjamin J. Schoville
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Post Office Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4101, USA
| | - Kyle S. Brown
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Post Office Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4101, USA
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Michael Chazan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada
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Single-grain OSL chronologies for Middle Palaeolithic deposits at El Mnasra and El Harhoura 2, Morocco: Implications for Late Pleistocene human–environment interactions along the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa. J Hum Evol 2012; 62:377-94. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2011] [Revised: 11/21/2011] [Accepted: 12/05/2011] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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18
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Henshilwood CS, d'Errico F, van Niekerk KL, Coquinot Y, Jacobs Z, Lauritzen SE, Menu M, García-Moreno R. A 100,000-year-old ochre-processing workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Science 2011; 334:219-22. [PMID: 21998386 DOI: 10.1126/science.1211535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 343] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The conceptual ability to source, combine, and store substances that enhance technology or social practices represents a benchmark in the evolution of complex human cognition. Excavations in 2008 at Blombos Cave, South Africa, revealed a processing workshop where a liquefied ochre-rich mixture was produced and stored in two Haliotis midae (abalone) shells 100,000 years ago. Ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones, and hammerstones form a composite part of this production toolkit. The application of the mixture is unknown, but possibilities include decoration and skin protection.
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Marean CW. Introduction to the special issue--the Middle Stone Age at Pinnacle Point site 13B, a coastal cave near Mossel Bay (Western Cape Province, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2011; 59:231-3. [PMID: 20934083 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2010] [Accepted: 06/03/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Marean CW, Bar-Matthews M, Fisher E, Goldberg P, Herries A, Karkanas P, Nilssen PJ, Thompson E. The stratigraphy of the Middle Stone Age sediments at Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2011; 59:234-55. [PMID: 20934084 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2008] [Revised: 05/31/2010] [Accepted: 05/21/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B) has provided the earliest archaeological evidence for the exploitation of marine shellfish, along with very early evidence for use and modification of pigments and the production of bladelets, all dated to approximately 164 ka (Marean et al., 2007). This makes PP13B a key site in studies of the origins of modern humans, one of a handful of sites in Africa dating to Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS 6), and the only site on the coast of South Africa with human occupation confidently dated to MIS 6. Along with this MIS 6 occupation there are rich archaeological sediments dated to MIS 5, and together these sediments are differentially preserved in three different areas of the cave. The sediments represent a complex palimpsest of geogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic input and alteration that are described and interpreted through the use of a variety of macrostratigraphic, micromorphologic, and geochemical techniques. Three independent dating techniques allow us to constrain the age range of these sediments and together provide the stratigraphic context for the analyses of the material that follow in this special issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.
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Rector AL, Reed KE. Middle and late Pleistocene faunas of Pinnacle Point and their paleoecological implications. J Hum Evol 2011; 59:340-57. [PMID: 20934090 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2008] [Revised: 04/07/2010] [Accepted: 07/02/2009] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The Western Cape region of South Africa is home to a unique type of mediterranean vegetation called fynbos, as well as some of the earliest sites of modern human occupation in southern Africa. Reconstructing the paleohabitats during occupations of these early anatomically modern Homo sapiens is important for understanding the availability of resources to the humans during the development of behaviors that are often considered advanced. These reconstructions are critical to understanding the nature of the changes in the environment and resources over time. Here we analyze the craniodental fossils of the larger mammals recovered from two Pleistocene assemblages in the Pinnacle Point complex, Mossel Bay, Western Cape Region, South Africa. We reconstruct the paleohabitats as revealed by multivariate analyses of the mammalian community structures. Pinnacle Point 30 is a carnivore assemblage and Pinnacle Point 13B includes early evidence of a suite of modern human behavior; together they present an opportunity to identify environmental change over time at a localized geographic scale. Further, this is the first such study to include dated Western Cape localities from Marine Isotope Stage 6, a time of environmental pressure that may have marginalized human populations. Results indicate that environmental change in the Western Cape was more complex than generalized C(4) grassland expansions replacing fynbos habitats during glacial lowered sea levels, and thus, resources available to early modern humans in the region may not have been entirely predictable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy L Rector
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA.
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Taphonomic analysis of the Middle Stone Age faunal assemblage from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, Western Cape, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:321-39. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2008] [Revised: 04/03/2010] [Accepted: 07/02/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Thompson E, Williams HM, Minichillo T. Middle and late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age lithic technology from Pinnacle Point 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2010; 59:358-77. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2008] [Revised: 05/25/2010] [Accepted: 05/21/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Multidimensional GIS modeling of magnetic mineralogy as a proxy for fire use and spatial patterning: Evidence from the Middle Stone Age bearing sea cave of Pinnacle Point 13B (Western Cape, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2010; 59:306-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2008] [Revised: 05/25/2010] [Accepted: 05/29/2010] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Karkanas P, Goldberg P. Site formation processes at Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa): resolving stratigraphic and depositional complexities with micromorphology. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:256-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2008] [Revised: 06/16/2009] [Accepted: 02/02/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Shellfish gathering, marine paleoecology and modern human behavior: perspectives from cave PP13B, Pinnacle Point, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:412-24. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 144] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2008] [Revised: 03/17/2010] [Accepted: 12/22/2008] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Marean CW. Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Western Cape Province, South Africa) in context: The Cape Floral kingdom, shellfish, and modern human origins. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:425-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 237] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2009] [Revised: 06/25/2010] [Accepted: 03/19/2010] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Watts I. The pigments from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, Western Cape, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:392-411. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2008] [Revised: 04/09/2010] [Accepted: 05/21/2010] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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