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Salagnon M, d'Errico F, Rigaud S, Mellet E. Assigning a social status from face adornments: an fMRI study. Brain Struct Funct 2024; 229:1103-1120. [PMID: 38546871 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-024-02786-4] [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: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
For at least 150,000 years, the human body has been culturally modified by the wearing of personal ornaments and probably by painting with red pigment. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the brain networks involved in attributing social status from face decorations. Results showed the fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, and salience network were involved in social encoding, categorization, and evaluation. The hippocampus and parahippocampus were activated due to the memory and associative skills required for the task, while the inferior frontal gyrus likely interpreted face ornaments as symbols. Resting-state functional connectivity analysis clarified the interaction between these regions. The study highlights the importance of these neural interactions in the symbolic interpretation of social markers on the human face, which were likely active in early Homo species and intensified with Homo sapiens populations as more complex technologies were developed to culturalize the human face.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Salagnon
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, GIN, France
- Univ. Bordeaux, PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, Pessac, France
| | - F d'Errico
- Univ. Bordeaux, PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, Pessac, France
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - S Rigaud
- Univ. Bordeaux, PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, Pessac, France
| | - E Mellet
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, GIN, France.
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2
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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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3
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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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4
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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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5
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Casas-Gallego M, Hahn K, Neumann K, Demissew S, Schmidt M, Bodin SC, Bruch AA. Cooling-induced expansions of Afromontane forests in the Horn of Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10323. [PMID: 37365263 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37135-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the changing plant ecosystems that existed in East Africa over the past millennia is crucial for identifying links between habitats and past human adaptation and dispersal across the region. In the Horn of Africa, this task is hampered by the scarcity of fossil botanical data. Here we present modelled past vegetation distributions in Ethiopia from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to present at high spatial and temporal resolution. The simulations show that, contrary to long-standing hypotheses, the area covered by Afromontane forests during the Late Glacial was significantly larger than at present. The combined effect of low temperatures and the relative rainfall contribution sourced from the Congo Basin and Indian Ocean, emerges as the mechanism that controlled the migration of Afromontane forests to lower elevations. This process may have enabled the development of continuous forest corridors connecting populations that are currently isolated in mountainous areas over the African continent. Starting with the Holocene, the expansion of forests began to reverse. This decline intensified over the second half of the Holocene leading to a retreat of the forests to higher elevations where they are restricted today. The simulations are consistent with proxy data derived from regional pollen records and provide a key environmental and conceptual framework for human environmental adaptation research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Casas-Gallego
- Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Department of Geodynamics, Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Karen Hahn
- Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Katharina Neumann
- Department of Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sebsebe Demissew
- National Herbarium of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Marco Schmidt
- Palmengarten der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Stéphanie C Bodin
- Department of Geodynamics, Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Angela A Bruch
- Research Centre "The role of culture in early expansions of humans" of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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6
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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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7
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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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8
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Salagnon M, Cremona S, Joliot M, d’Errico F, Mellet E. Neural correlates of perceiving and interpreting engraved prehistoric patterns as human production: Effect of archaeological expertise. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0271732. [PMID: 35921273 PMCID: PMC9348741 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that engraved abstract patterns dating from the Middle and Lower Palaeolithic served as means of representation and communication. Identifying the brain regions involved in visual processing of these engravings can provide insights into their function. In this study, brain activity was measured during perception of the earliest known Palaeolithic engraved patterns and compared to natural patterns mimicking human-made engravings. Participants were asked to categorise marks as being intentionally made by humans or due to natural processes (e.g. erosion, root etching). To simulate the putative familiarity of our ancestors with the marks, the responses of expert archaeologists and control participants were compared, allowing characterisation of the effect of previous knowledge on both behaviour and brain activity in perception of the marks. Besides a set of regions common to both groups and involved in visual analysis and decision-making, the experts exhibited greater activity in the inferior part of the lateral occipital cortex, ventral occipitotemporal cortex, and medial thalamic regions. These results are consistent with those reported in visual expertise studies, and confirm the importance of the integrative visual areas in the perception of the earliest abstract engravings. The attribution of a natural rather than human origin to the marks elicited greater activity in the salience network in both groups, reflecting the uncertainty and ambiguity in the perception of, and decision-making for, natural patterns. The activation of the salience network might also be related to the process at work in the attribution of an intention to the marks. The primary visual area was not specifically involved in the visual processing of engravings, which argued against its central role in the emergence of engraving production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Salagnon
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, GIN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sandrine Cremona
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, GIN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Marc Joliot
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, GIN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Francesco d’Errico
- PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, Université Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Emmanuel Mellet
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, GIN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- * E-mail:
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9
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Scerri EML, Roberts P, Yoshi Maezumi S, Malhi Y. Tropical forests in the deep human past. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200500. [PMID: 35249383 PMCID: PMC8899628 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Since Darwin, studies of human evolution have tended to give primacy to open 'savannah' environments as the ecological cradle of our lineage, with dense tropical forests cast as hostile, unfavourable frontiers. These perceptions continue to shape both the geographical context of fieldwork as well as dominant narratives concerning hominin evolution. This paradigm persists despite new, ground-breaking research highlighting the role of tropical forests in the human story. For example, novel research in Africa's rainforests has uncovered archaeological sites dating back into the Pleistocene; genetic studies have revealed very deep human roots in Central and West Africa and in the tropics of Asia and the Pacific; an unprecedented number of coexistent hominin species have now been documented, including Homo erectus, the 'Hobbit' (Homo floresiensis), Homo luzonensis, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens. Some of the earliest members of our own species to reach South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and the tropical Americas have shown an unexpected rapidity in their adaptation to even some of the more 'extreme' tropical settings. This includes the early human manipulation of species and even habitats. This volume builds on these currently disparate threads and, for the first time, draws together a group of interdisciplinary, agenda-setting papers that firmly places a broader spectrum of tropical environments at the heart of the deep human past. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor M L Scerri
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.,Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - S Yoshi Maezumi
- Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yadvinder Malhi
- Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
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10
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Gosling WD, Scerri EML, Kaboth-Bahr S. The climate and vegetation backdrop to hominin evolution in Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200483. [PMID: 35249389 PMCID: PMC8899624 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The most profound shift in the African hydroclimate of the last 1 million years occurred around 300 thousand years (ka) ago. This change in African hydroclimate is manifest as an east-west change in moisture balance that cannot be fully explained through linkages to high latitude climate systems. The east-west shift is, instead, probably driven by a shift in the tropical Walker Circulation related to sea surface temperature change driven by orbital forcing. Comparing records of past vegetation change, and hominin evolution and development, with this breakpoint in the climate system is challenging owing to the paucity of study sites available and uncertainties regarding the dating of records. Notwithstanding these uncertainties we find that, broadly speaking, both vegetation and hominins change around 300 ka. The vegetative backdrop suggests that relative abundance of vegetative resources shifted from western to eastern Africa, although resources would have persisted across the continent. The climatic and vegetation changes probably provided challenges for hominins and are broadly coincident with the appearance of Homo sapiens (ca 315 ka) and the emergence of Middle Stone Age technology. The concomitant changes in climate, vegetation and hominin evolution suggest that these factors are closely intertwined. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- William D Gosling
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Eleanor M L Scerri
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.,Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
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11
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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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12
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Timbrell L, Grove M, Manica A, Rucina S, Blinkhorn J. A spatiotemporally explicit paleoenvironmental framework for the Middle Stone Age of eastern Africa. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3689. [PMID: 35256702 PMCID: PMC8901736 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07742-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Eastern Africa has played a prominent role in debates about human evolution and dispersal due to the presence of rich archaeological, palaeoanthropological and palaeoenvironmental records. However, substantial disconnects occur between the spatial and temporal resolutions of these data that complicate their integration. Here, we apply high-resolution climatic simulations of two key parameters, mean annual temperature and precipitation, and a biome model, to produce a highly refined characterisation of the environments inhabited during the eastern African Middle Stone Age. Occupations are typically found in sub-humid climates and landscapes dominated by or including tropical xerophytic shrubland. Marked expansions from these core landscapes include movement into hotter, low-altitude landscapes in Marine Isotope Stage 5 and cooler, high-altitude landscapes in Marine Isotope Stage 3, with the recurrent inhabitation of ecotones between open and forested habitats. Through our use of high-resolution climate models, we demonstrate a significant independent relationship between past precipitation and patterns of Middle Stone Age stone tool production modes overlooked by previous studies. Engagement with these models not only enables spatiotemporally explicit examination of climatic variability across Middle Stone Age occupations in eastern Africa but enables clearer characterisation of the habitats early human populations were adapted to, and how they changed through time.
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13
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A Phytolith Supported Biosphere-Hydrosphere Predictive Model for Southern Ethiopia: Insights into Paleoenvironmental Changes and Human Landscape Preferences since the Last Glacial Maximum. GEOSCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences11100418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
During the past 25 ka, southern Ethiopia has undergone tremendous climatic changes, from dry and relatively cold during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 25–18 ka) to the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka), and back to present-day dry conditions. As a contribution to better understand the effects of climate change on vegetation and lakes, we here present a new Predictive Vegetation Model that is linked with a Lake Balance Model and available vegetation-proxy records from southern Ethiopia including a new phytolith record from the Chew Bahir basin. We constructed a detailed paleo-landcover map of southern Ethiopia during the LGM, AHP (with and without influence of the Congo Air Boundary) and the modern-day potential natural landcover. Compared to today, we observe a 15–20% reduction in moisture availability during the LGM with widespread open landscapes and only few remaining forest refugia. We identify 25–40% increased moisture availability during the AHP with prevailing forests in the mid-altitudes and indications that modern anthropogenic landcover change has affected the water balance. In comparison with existing archaeological records, we find that human occupations tend to correspond with open landscapes during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in southern Ethiopia.
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Faulkner P, Miller JM, Quintana Morales EM, Crowther A, Shipton C, Ndiema E, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. 67,000 years of coastal engagement at Panga ya Saidi, eastern Africa. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0256761. [PMID: 34437643 PMCID: PMC8389378 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [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: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The antiquity and nature of coastal resource procurement is central to understanding human evolution and adaptations to complex environments. It has become increasingly apparent in global archaeological studies that the timing, characteristics, and trajectories of coastal resource use are highly variable. Within Africa, discussions of these issues have largely been based on the archaeological record from the south and northeast of the continent, with little evidence from eastern coastal areas leaving significant spatial and temporal gaps in our knowledge. Here, we present data from Panga ya Saidi, a limestone cave complex located 15 km from the modern Kenyan coast, which represents the first long-term sequence of coastal engagement from eastern Africa. Rather than attempting to distinguish between coastal resource use and coastal adaptations, we focus on coastal engagement as a means of characterising human relationships with marine environments and resources from this inland location. We use aquatic mollusc data spanning the past 67,000 years to document shifts in the acquisition, transportation, and discard of these materials, to better understand long-term trends in coastal engagement. Our results show pulses of coastal engagement beginning with low-intensity symbolism, and culminating in the consistent low-level transport of marine and freshwater food resources, emphasising a diverse relationship through time. Panga ya Saidi has the oldest stratified evidence of marine engagement in eastern Africa, and is the only site in Africa which documents coastal resources from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene, highlighting the potential archaeological importance of peri-coastal sites to debates about marine resource relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Faulkner
- Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Jennifer M. Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Eréndira M. Quintana Morales
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Michael D. Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
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15
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Mercader J, Clarke S, Itambu M, Mohamed A, Mwitondi M, Siljedal G, Soto M, Bushozi P. Phytolith Palaeoenvironments at Mumba Rock Shelter. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.699609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The rock shelter site of Mumba in northern Tanzania plays a pivotal role in the overall study of the late Pleistocene archaeology of East Africa with an emphasis on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition. We used phytolith analysis to reconstruct general plant habitat physiognomy around the site from the onset of the late Pleistocene to recent times, tallying 4246 individual phytoliths from 19 archaeological samples. Statistical analysis explored phytolith richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness, along with principal components to compare phytolith distributions over the site’s sequence with known plant habitats today. Generally, the phytolith record of Mumba signifies paleoenvironments with analogs in the Somalia – Masai bushland and grassland, as well as Zambezian woodlands.
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16
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Abstract
In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.
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17
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Early humans far from the South African coast collected unusual objects. Nature 2021; 592:193-194. [PMID: 33790435 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-00795-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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18
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19
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Shipton C, Blinkhorn J, Archer W, Kourampas N, Roberts P, Prendergast ME, Curtis R, Herries AIR, Ndiema E, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. The Middle to Later Stone Age transition at Panga ya Saidi, in the tropical coastal forest of eastern Africa. J Hum Evol 2021; 153:102954. [PMID: 33714916 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition is a critical period of human behavioral change that has been variously argued to pertain to the emergence of modern cognition, substantial population growth, and major dispersals of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. However, there is little consensus about when the transition occurred, the geographic patterning of its emergence, or even how it is manifested in the stone tool technology that is used to define it. Here, we examine a long sequence of lithic technological change at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, that spans the Middle and Later Stone Age and includes human occupations in each of the last five Marine Isotope Stages. In addition to the stone artifact technology, Panga ya Saidi preserves osseous and shell artifacts, enabling broader considerations of the covariation between different spheres of material culture. Several environmental proxies contextualize the artifactual record of human behavior at Panga ya Saidi. We compare technological change between the Middle and Later Stone Age with on-site paleoenvironmental manifestations of wider climatic fluctuations in the Late Pleistocene. The principal distinguishing feature of Middle from Later Stone Age technology at Panga ya Saidi is the preference for fine-grained stone, coupled with the creation of small flakes (miniaturization). Our review of the Middle to Later Stone Age transition elsewhere in eastern Africa and across the continent suggests that this broader distinction between the two periods is in fact widespread. We suggest that the Later Stone Age represents new short use-life and multicomponent ways of using stone tools, in which edge sharpness was prioritized over durability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, University College London, London, WC1H 0PY, UK; Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2000, Australia.
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK; Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Will Archer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa; Department of Archaeology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa
| | - Nikolaos Kourampas
- Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Mary E Prendergast
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Saint Louis University, Avenida del Valle 34, Madrid, Spain; Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Richard Curtis
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086, Australia
| | - Andy I R Herries
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086, Australia; Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museum of Kenya, Museum Hill Road, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, D.C., USA; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, 620 2500, University Drive NW, Calgary, Canada
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, D.C., USA; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
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20
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Abstract
The African Middle Stone Age (MSA, typically considered to span ca. 300–30 thousand years ago [ka]), represents our species’ first and longest lasting cultural phase. Although the MSA to Later Stone Age (LSA) transition is known to have had a degree of spatial and temporal variability, recent studies have implied that in some regions, the MSA persisted well beyond 30 ka. Here we report two new sites in Senegal that date the end of the MSA to around 11 ka, the youngest yet documented MSA in Africa. This shows that this cultural phase persisted into the Holocene. These results highlight significant spatial and temporal cultural variability in the African Late Pleistocene, consistent with genomic and palaeoanthropological hypotheses that significant, long-standing inter-group cultural differences shaped the later stages of human evolution in Africa.
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21
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Archer W. Carrying capacity, population density and the later Pleistocene expression of backed artefact manufacturing traditions in Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190716. [PMID: 33250028 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
As is the case today, both climate variability and population density influenced human behavioural change in the past. The mechanisms underpinning later Pleistocene human behavioural evolution, however, remain contested. Many complex behaviours evolved in Africa, but early evidence for these behaviours varies both spatially and temporally. Scientists have not been able to explain this flickering pattern, which is present even in sites and regions clearly occupied by Homo sapiens. To explore this pattern, here the presence and frequency of evidence for backed stone artefact production are modelled against climate-driven, time-series population density estimates (Timmermann and Friedrich. 2016 Nature 538, 92. (doi:10.1038/nature19365)), in all known African Late Pleistocene archaeological sites (n = 116 sites, n = 409 assemblages, n = 893 dates). In addition, a moving-window, site density population estimate is included at the scale of southern Africa. Backed stone artefacts are argued in many archaeological contexts to have functioned in elaborate technologies like composite weapons and, in the African Pleistocene, are accepted proxies for cultural complexity. They show a broad but sporadic distribution in Africa, prior to their association with Homo sapiens dispersing into Europe 45-40 ka. Two independent population estimates explain this pattern and potentially implicate the interaction of climate change and demography in the expression of cultural complexity in African Pleistocene Homo sapiens. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Archer
- Department of Archaeology, National Museum, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.,Department of Geology, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300
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22
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Grove M, Blinkhorn J. Neural networks differentiate between Middle and Later Stone Age lithic assemblages in eastern Africa. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237528. [PMID: 32845899 PMCID: PMC7449415 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition marks a major change in how Late Pleistocene African populations produced and used stone tool kits, but is manifest in various ways, places and times across the continent. Alongside changing patterns of raw material use and decreasing artefact sizes, changes in artefact types are commonly employed to differentiate Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) assemblages. The current paper employs a quantitative analytical framework based upon the use of neural networks to examine changing constellations of technologies between MSA and LSA assemblages from eastern Africa. Network ensembles were trained to differentiate LSA assemblages from Marine Isotope Stage 3&4 MSA and Marine Isotope Stage 5 MSA assemblages based upon the presence or absence of 16 technologies. Simulations were used to extract significant indicator and contra-indicator technologies for each assemblage class. The trained network ensembles classified over 94% of assemblages correctly, and identified 7 key technologies that significantly distinguish between assemblage classes. These results clarify both temporal changes within the MSA and differences between MSA and LSA assemblages in eastern Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matt Grove
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom
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23
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Langley MC, Amano N, Wedage O, Deraniyagala S, Pathmalal M, Perera N, Boivin N, Petraglia MD, Roberts P. Bows and arrows and complex symbolic displays 48,000 years ago in the South Asian tropics. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba3831. [PMID: 32582854 PMCID: PMC7292635 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Accepted: 04/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Archaeologists contend that it was our aptitude for symbolic, technological, and social behaviors that was central to Homo sapiens rapidly expanding across the majority of Earth's continents during the Late Pleistocene. This expansion included movement into extreme environments and appears to have resulted in the displacement of numerous archaic human populations across the Old World. Tropical rainforests are thought to have been particularly challenging and, until recently, impenetrable by early H. sapiens. Here, we describe evidence for bow-and-arrow hunting toolkits alongside a complex symbolic repertoire from 48,000 years before present at the Sri Lankan site of Fa-Hien Lena-the earliest bow-and-arrow technology outside of Africa. As one of the oldest H. sapiens rainforest sites outside of Africa, this exceptional assemblage provides the first detailed insights into how our species met the extreme adaptive challenges that were encountered in Asia during global expansion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle C. Langley
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Noel Amano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Oshan Wedage
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of History and Archaeology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
| | | | - M.M Pathmalal
- Department of Zoology, Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
| | - Nimal Perera
- Department of Archaeology, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Michael D. Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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24
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d'Errico F, Pitarch Martí A, Shipton C, Le Vraux E, Ndiema E, Goldstein S, Petraglia MD, Boivin N. Trajectories of cultural innovation from the Middle to Later Stone Age in Eastern Africa: Personal ornaments, bone artifacts, and ocher from Panga ya Saidi, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2020; 141:102737. [PMID: 32163764 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Revised: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
African Middle Stone Age (MSA) populations used pigments, manufactured and wore personal ornaments, made abstract engravings, and produced fully shaped bone tools. However, ongoing research across Africa reveals variability in the emergence of cultural innovations in the MSA and their subsequent development through the Later Stone Age (LSA). When present, it appears that cultural innovations manifest regional variability, suggestive of distinct cultural traditions. In eastern Africa, several Late Pleistocene sites have produced evidence for novel activities, but the chronologies of key behavioral innovations remain unclear. The 3 m deep, well-dated, Panga ya Saidi sequence in eastern Kenya, encompassing 19 layers covering a time span of 78 kyr beginning in late Marine Isotope Stage 5, is the only known African site recording the interplay between cultural and ecological diversity in a coastal forested environment. Excavations have yielded worked and incised bones, ostrich eggshell beads (OES), beads made from seashells, worked and engraved ocher pieces, fragments of coral, and a belemnite fossil. Here, we provide, for the first time, a detailed analysis of this material. This includes a taphonomic, archeozoological, technological, and functional study of bone artifacts; a technological and morphometric analysis of personal ornaments; and a technological and geochemical analysis of ocher pieces. The interpretation of the results stemming from the analysis of OES beads is guided by an ethnoarcheological perspective and field observations. We demonstrate that key cultural innovations on the eastern African coast are evident by 67 ka and exhibit remarkable diversity through the LSA and Iron Age. We suggest the cultural trajectories evident at Panga ya Saidi were shaped by both regional traditions and cultural/demic diffusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco d'Errico
- UMR 5199 CNRS De La Préhistoire à L'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023 F - 33615 Pessac CEDEX, Talence, France; Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, Øysteinsgate 3, Postboks 7805, 5020 University of Bergen, Norway.
| | - Africa Pitarch Martí
- UMR 5199 CNRS De La Préhistoire à L'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023 F - 33615 Pessac CEDEX, Talence, France; Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Facultat de Geografia i Història, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre 6, 08001, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ceri Shipton
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia
| | - Emma Le Vraux
- UMR 5199 CNRS De La Préhistoire à L'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023 F - 33615 Pessac CEDEX, Talence, France
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- National Museums of Kenya, Department of Earth Sciences, Box 40658 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Steven Goldstein
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany; Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 20560, USA; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
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25
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Matar HE, Kay P, Morlock M, Board TN. The hammer: instrument of Thor (and orthopaedic surgeons). BMJ 2019; 367:l6648. [PMID: 31843758 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l6648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hosam E Matar
- Centre for Hip Surgery, Wrightington Hospital, Wigan, UK
| | - Peter Kay
- Centre for Hip Surgery, Wrightington Hospital, Wigan, UK
| | | | - Tim N Board
- Centre for Hip Surgery, Wrightington Hospital, Wigan, UK
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26
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Wedage O, Picin A, Blinkhorn J, Douka K, Deraniyagala S, Kourampas N, Perera N, Simpson I, Boivin N, Petraglia M, Roberts P. Microliths in the South Asian rainforest ~45-4 ka: New insights from Fa-Hien Lena Cave, Sri Lanka. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0222606. [PMID: 31577796 PMCID: PMC6774521 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Microliths–small, retouched, often-backed stone tools–are often interpreted to be the product of composite tools, including projectile weapons, and efficient hunting strategies by modern humans. In Europe and Africa these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting of medium- and large-sized game found in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations to risky environments during periods of climatic change. Here, we report on a recently excavated lithic assemblage from the Late Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforest of Sri Lanka. Our analyses demonstrate that Fa-Hien Lena represents the earliest microlith assemblage in South Asia (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP) in firm association with evidence for the procurement of small to medium size arboreal prey and rainforest plants. Moreover, our data highlight that the lithic technology of Fa-Hien Lena changed little over the long span of human occupation (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP to c. 4,000 cal. years BP) indicating a successful, stable technological adaptation to the tropics. We argue that microlith assemblages were an important part of the environmental plasticity that enabled Homo sapiens to colonise and specialise in a diversity of ecological settings during its expansion within and beyond Africa. The proliferation of diverse microlithic technologies across Eurasia c. 48–45 ka was part of a flexible human ‘toolkit’ that assisted our species’ spread into all of the world’s environments, and the development of specialised technological and cultural approaches to novel ecological situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oshan Wedage
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of History and Archaeology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
- * E-mail: (OW); (AP); (MP); (PR)
| | - Andrea Picin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (OW); (AP); (MP); (PR)
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
| | | | - Nikos Kourampas
- Biological and Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Nimal Perera
- Department of Archaeology, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka
| | - Ian Simpson
- Biological and Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America
- * E-mail: (OW); (AP); (MP); (PR)
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- * E-mail: (OW); (AP); (MP); (PR)
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27
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Pargeter J, Shea JJ. Going big versus going small: Lithic miniaturization in hominin lithic technology. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:72-85. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2018] [Revised: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology Emory University Atlanta Georgia
- Palaeo‐Research Institute University of Johannesburg Auckland Park South Africa
| | - John J. Shea
- Anthropology Department & Turkana Basin Institute Stony Brook University Stony Brook New York
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28
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A dispersal of Homo sapiens from southern to eastern Africa immediately preceded the out-of-Africa migration. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4728. [PMID: 30894612 PMCID: PMC6426877 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41176-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Africa was the birth-place of Homo sapiens and has the earliest evidence for symbolic behaviour and complex technologies. The best-attested early flowering of these distinctive features was in a glacial refuge zone on the southern coast 100–70 ka, with fewer indications in eastern Africa until after 70 ka. Yet it was eastern Africa, not the south, that witnessed the first major demographic expansion, ~70–60 ka, which led to the peopling of the rest of the world. One possible explanation is that important cultural traits were transmitted from south to east at this time. Here we identify a mitochondrial signal of such a dispersal soon after ~70 ka – the only time in the last 200,000 years that humid climate conditions encompassed southern and tropical Africa. This dispersal immediately preceded the out-of-Africa expansions, potentially providing the trigger for these expansions by transmitting significant cultural elements from the southern African refuge.
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