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Schmidt P, Pappas I, Porraz G, Berthold C, Nickel KG. The driving force behind tool-stone selection in the African Middle Stone Age. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2318560121. [PMID: 38408239 PMCID: PMC10927537 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2318560121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
In the Stone Age, the collection of specific rocks was the first step in tool making. Very little is known about the choices made during tool-stone acquisition. Were choices governed by the knowledge of, and need for, specific properties of stones? Or were the collected raw materials a mere by-product of the way people moved through the landscape? We investigate these questions in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa, analyzing the mechanical properties of tool-stones used at the site Diepkloof Rock Shelter. To understand knapping quality, we measure flaking predictability and introduce a physical model that allows calculating the relative force necessary to produce flakes from different rocks. To evaluate their quality as finished tools, we investigate their resistance during repeated use activities (scraping or cutting) and their strength during projectile impacts. Our findings explain tool-stone selection in two emblematic periods of the MSA, the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, as being the result of a deep understanding of these mechanical properties. In both cases, people chose those rocks, among many others, that allowed the most advantageous trade-off between anticipated properties of finished tools and the ease of acquiring rocks and producing tools. The implications are an understanding of African MSA toolmakers as engineers who carefully weighed their choices taking into account workability and the quality of the tools they made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Schmidt
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72070, Germany
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
| | - Ioannis Pappas
- Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72070, Germany
| | - Guillaume Porraz
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UMR 7269 Lampea, Aix-en-ProvenceF-13094, France
- Faculty of Humanities, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg2017, South Africa
| | - Christoph Berthold
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, Competence Center Archaeometry–Baden Wuerttemberg, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
| | - Klaus G. Nickel
- Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, Competence Center Archaeometry–Baden Wuerttemberg, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen72074, Germany
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2
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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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3
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Shemer M, Boaretto E, Greenbaum N, Bar-Yosef Mayer DE, Tejero JM, Langgut D, Gnezdilov DL, Barzilai O, Marder O, Marom N. Early Upper Paleolithic cultural variability in the Southern Levant: New evidence from Nahal Rahaf 2 Rockshelter, Judean Desert, Israel. J Hum Evol 2023; 178:103342. [PMID: 36934495 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103342] [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: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
Abstract
The Levantine Early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 45-30 ka) has been a focus of research because of its unique position as a conduit of human, flora, and fauna species between Africa and Eurasia. Studies have mainly focused on the Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian, two entities, the former endemic and the latter foreign, which are considered to have coinhabited the region during that period. However, other cultural entities, such as the Atlitian in the Mediterranean region and the Arkov-Divshon in the arid regions of the southern Levant received less attention, and accordingly, suffer from broad definitions and chronological insecurity. These cultures hold potential insights regarding nuanced adaptations, reciprocal influences, and diachronic assimilation processes. The recently discovered site of Nahal Rahaf 2 Rockshelter in the Judean Desert provides integral information on one of these entities-the Arkov-Divshon. Two excavation seasons revealed a sequence of archaeological layers, with lithic assemblages in which laterally carinated items were prominent. Alongside rich faunal assemblages, other components of the material culture include perforated marine shells and bone tools, marking the first association of these elements with Arkov-Divshon and implying some degree of contact with the Mediterranean regions of the Levant. Good preservation of organic materials allowed radiocarbon dating of the human occupation at the site to ca. 37.5-34.0 ka cal BP, indicating chronological overlap with the Levantine Aurignacian, and possibly also with the latest phases of the Early Ahmarian. Thus, challenging the validity of the widely accepted 'Two Tradition' Model of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. Lithic analyses suggest the use of one main reduction sequence and the primary production of bladelets from carinated items. Faunal remains suggest targeted hunting of ibex and gazelle. Botanical remains and sedimentary analyses suggest roughly similar environmental conditions, with a possible woodier environment in the surroundings of the site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maayan Shemer
- Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 9100402, Israel.
| | - Elisabetta Boaretto
- Dangoor Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noam Greenbaum
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Daniella E Bar-Yosef Mayer
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Jose-Miguel Tejero
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Wien Biocenter, Djerassiplat 1, 1030, Vienna, Austria; Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Djerassiplat 1, 1030, Vienna, Austria; Seminari d'Estudis I Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Montalegre 6, 08001, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Dafna Langgut
- The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments, Institute of Archaeology, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Dariya Lokshin Gnezdilov
- Laboratory of Archaeozoology, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Omry Barzilai
- Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 9100402, Israel
| | - Ofer Marder
- Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Nimrod Marom
- Laboratory of Archaeozoology, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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Will M, Conard NJ. Regional patterns of diachronic technological change in the Howiesons Poort of southern Africa. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239195. [PMID: 32941544 PMCID: PMC7498030 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The Howiesons Poort (HP) of southern Africa plays an important role in models on the early behavioral evolution of Homo sapiens. The HP is often portrayed as a coherent MSA industry characterized by early complex material culture. Recent work has emphasized parallel technological change through time across southern Africa potentially driven by ecological adaptations or demographic change. Here we examine patterns of diachronic variation within the HP and evaluate potential causal factors behind these changes. We test previous temporal assessments of the technocomplex at the local and regional level based on high-resolution quantitative data on HP lithic assemblages from Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal) and comparisons with other southern African sites. At Sibudu, consistent unidirectional change in lithic technology characterizes the HP sequence. The results show a gradual reduction in typical HP markers such as the proportion of blades, backed pieces, and HP cores, as well as declining size of blades and backed artifacts. Quantitative comparisons with seven HP sites in South Africa suggest that lithic technology varies between regions over time instead of following similar changes. Concerning hypotheses of causal drivers, directional changes in lithic technology at Sibudu covary with shifting hunting patterns towards larger-sized bovids and a gradual opening of the vegetation. In contrast, variation in lithic technology shows little association with site use, mobility patterns or demographic expansions. Unlike at Sibudu, diachronic changes at other HP sites such as Diepkloof, Klasies River and Klipdrift appear to be associated with aspects of mobility, technological organization and site use. The regional diachronic patterns in the HP partly follow paleoclimatic zones, which could imply different ecological adaptations and distinct connection networks over time. Divergent and at times decoupled changes in lithic traits across sites precludes monocausal explanations for the entire HP, supporting more complex models for the observed technological trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Nicholas J. Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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5
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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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6
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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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7
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Defining the ‘generalist specialist’ niche for Pleistocene Homo sapiens. Nat Hum Behav 2018; 2:542-550. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0394-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2018] [Revised: 06/17/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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8
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The biocultural emergence of mindreading: integrating cognitive archaeology and human development. JOURNAL OF CULTURAL COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s41809-017-0008-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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9
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Subsistence strategies during the Late Pleistocene in the southern Cape of South Africa: Comparing the Still Bay of Blombos Cave with the Howiesons Poort of Klipdrift Shelter. J Hum Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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10
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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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11
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Wynn T, Coolidge FL. Archeological insights into hominin cognitive evolution. Evol Anthropol 2016; 25:200-13. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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12
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Nel TH, Henshilwood CS. The Small Mammal Sequence from the c. 76 - 72 ka Still Bay Levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa - Taphonomic and Palaeoecological Implications for Human Behaviour. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0159817. [PMID: 27509023 PMCID: PMC4980004 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2016] [Accepted: 07/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The Still Bay, c. 76–72 ka, a prominent techno-tradition during the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa, has yielded innovative technologies, symbolic material culture, and shows evidence of expansion of hunting techniques and subsistence strategies. In this paper we present the results of the first systematic, taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental study of micromammals from the Still Bay levels at Blombos Cave. Our taphonomic analysis indicates that the micromammals were accumulated by avian predators occupying the cave. Post-depositional processes affecting the micromammal assemblage include organic waste decomposition and conditions associated with a limestone cave environment. The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction shows that Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a at Blombos Cave had diverse micromammal communities occupying a variety of habitats and with rainfall pattern equal to present. The transition from MIS 5a to 4 is indicated by less diverse micromammal assemblages, increase in grassland and scrub vegetation, shifts in seasonal precipitation, and a decline in shrubs associated with fynbos. The onset of the glacial conditions associated with MIS 4 is visible in the micromammal assemblage. However humans occupying Blombos Cave during this c. 5 ka period showed an ability to cope with changing environmental conditions and were able to adapt and utilise a variety of available resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Turid Hillestad Nel
- Department of Archaeology, History, Culture and Religion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- * E-mail:
| | - Christopher Stuart Henshilwood
- Department of Archaeology, History, Culture and Religion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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13
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Archer W, Pop CM, Gunz P, McPherron SP. What is Still Bay? Human biogeography and bifacial point variability. J Hum Evol 2016; 97:58-72. [PMID: 27457545 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Revised: 05/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
'Still Bay' is the name given to a cultural phase within the southern African Middle Stone Age, which remains critical to our understanding of modern human behavioural evolution. Although represented in only a handful of sites, the Still Bay is widespread geographically and, at certain localities, persisted over a substantial period of time. Many studies have focused on tracing the temporal range and geographic reach of the Still Bay, as well as inferring degrees of early modern human demographic connectedness from these parameters. Variation within the Still Bay, relative to the accuracy with which it can be identified, has received considerably less attention. However, demographic models based on the spread of the Still Bay in space and time hinge on the reliability with which it can be recognized in the archaeological record. Here we document patterns of bifacial point shape and size variation in some key Still Bay assemblages, and analyse these patterns using the statistical shape analysis tools of geometric morphometrics. Morphological variation appears to be geographically structured and is driven by the spatial separation between north-eastern and south-western clusters of sites. We argue that allometric variation is labile and reflects environmentally driven differences in point reduction, whereas shape differences unrelated to size more closely reflect technological and cultural fragmentation. Our results suggest that the biogeographic structure of Middle Stone Age populations was complex during the period associated with the Still Bay, and provide little support for heightened levels of cultural interconnectedness between distantly separated groups at this time. We briefly discuss the implications of our findings for tracing classic techno-traditions in the Middle Stone Age record of southern Africa, and for inferring underpinning population dynamics from these patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Will Archer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Cornel M Pop
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Shannon P McPherron
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
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14
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Sealy J. Cultural Change, Demography, and the Archaeology of the Last 100 kyr in Southern Africa. AFRICA FROM MIS 6-2 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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15
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis W. Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402;
- Faculty of Science, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape 6031, South Africa
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16
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Sinha C. Language and other artifacts: socio-cultural dynamics of niche construction. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1601. [PMID: 26539144 PMCID: PMC4612158 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2015] [Accepted: 10/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Niche construction theory is a relatively new approach in evolutionary biology that seeks to integrate an ecological dimension into the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. It is regarded by many evolutionary biologists as providing a significant revision of the Neo-Darwinian modern synthesis that unified Darwin’s theory of natural and sexual selection with 20th century population genetics. Niche construction theory has been invoked as a processual mediator of social cognitive evolution and of the emergence and evolution of language. I argue that language itself can be considered as a biocultural niche and evolutionary artifact. I provide both a general analysis of the cognitive and semiotic status of artifacts, and a formal analysis of language as a social and semiotic institution, based upon a distinction between the fundamental semiotic relations of “counting as” and “standing for.” I explore the consequences for theories of language and language learning of viewing language as a biocultural niche. I suggest that not only do niches mediate organism-organism interactions, but also that organisms mediate niche-niche interactions in ways that affect evolutionary processes, with the evolution of human infancy and childhood as a key example. I argue that language as a social and semiotic system is not only grounded in embodied engagements with the material and social-interactional world, but also grounds a sub-class of artifacts of particular significance in the cultural history of human cognition. Symbolic cognitive artifacts materially and semiotically mediate human cognition, and are not merely informational repositories, but co-agentively constitutive of culturally and historically emergent cognitive domains. I provide examples of the constitutive cognitive role of symbolic cognitive artifacts drawn from my research with my colleagues on cultural and linguistic conceptualizations of time, and their cultural variability. I conclude by reflecting on the philosophical and social implications of understanding artifacts co-agentively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Sinha
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University Changsha, China
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17
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Sinha C. Ontogenesis, semiosis and the epigenetic dynamics of biocultural niche construction. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2015.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Archer W, Gunz P, van Niekerk KL, Henshilwood CS, McPherron SP. Diachronic Change within the Still Bay at Blombos Cave, South Africa. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0132428. [PMID: 26134976 PMCID: PMC4489860 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2015] [Accepted: 06/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Characteristically shaped bifacial points are stone artefacts with which the Middle Stone Age Still Bay techno-complex in Southern Africa is identified. Traditional approaches such as chaîne opératoire and two-dimensional metrics in combination with attribute analyses have been used to analyse variability within Still Bay point assemblages. Here we develop a protocol to extract and analyse high resolution 3-dimensional geometric morphometric information about Still Bay point morphology. We also investigate ways in which the independent variables of time, raw-material and tool size may be driving patterns of shape variation in the Blombos Cave point assemblage. We demonstrate that at a single, stratified Still Bay site points undergo significant modal changes in tool morphology and standardization. Our results caution against (1) treatment of the Still Bay as a static technological entity and (2) drawing demographic inferences stemming from grouping Still Bay point collections within the same cultural label.
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Affiliation(s)
- Will Archer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karen L. van Niekerk
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
| | - Christopher S. Henshilwood
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
- Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Shannon P. McPherron
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Conard NJ, Will M. Examining the Causes and Consequences of Short-Term Behavioral Change during the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0130001. [PMID: 26098694 PMCID: PMC4476744 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2015] [Accepted: 05/16/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Sibudu in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) with its rich and high-resolution archaeological sequence provides an ideal case study to examine the causes and consequences of short-term variation in the behavior of modern humans during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). We present the results from a technological analysis of 11 stratified lithic assemblages which overlie the Howiesons Poort deposits and all date to ~58 ka. Based on technological and typological attributes, we conducted inter-assemblage comparisons to characterize the nature and tempo of cultural change in successive occupations. This work identified considerable short-term variation with clear temporal trends throughout the sequence, demonstrating that knappers at Sibudu varied their technology over short time spans. The lithic assemblages can be grouped into three cohesive units which differ from each other in the procurement of raw materials, the frequency in the methods of core reduction, the kind of blanks produced, and in the nature of tools the inhabitants of Sibudu made and used. These groups of assemblages represent different strategies of lithic technology, which build upon each other in a gradual, cumulative manner. We also identify a clear pattern of development toward what we have previously defined as the Sibudan cultural taxonomic unit. Contextualizing these results on larger geographical scales shows that the later phase of the MSA during MIS 3 in KwaZulu-Natal and southern Africa is one of dynamic cultural change rather than of stasis or stagnation as has at times been claimed. In combination with environmental, subsistence and contextual information, our high-resolution data on lithic technology suggest that short-term behavioral variability at Sibudu can be best explained by changes in technological organization and socio-economic dynamics instead of environmental forcing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas J. Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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Harvati K, Bauer CC, Grine FE, Benazzi S, Ackermann RR, van Niekerk KL, Henshilwood CS. A human deciduous molar from the Middle Stone Age (Howiesons Poort) of Klipdrift Shelter, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2015; 82:190-6. [PMID: 25883050 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Revised: 03/07/2015] [Accepted: 03/10/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Katerina Harvati
- Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Tübingen 72070, Germany.
| | - Catherine C Bauer
- Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Tübingen 72070, Germany
| | - Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794-4364 New York, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794-4364 New York, USA
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121 Ravenna, Italy; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Karen L van Niekerk
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Christopher S Henshilwood
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Brown KS. An experimental investigation of the functional hypothesis and evolutionary advantage of stone-tipped spears. PLoS One 2014; 9:e104514. [PMID: 25162397 PMCID: PMC4146534 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2014] [Accepted: 07/09/2014] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Stone-tipped weapons were a significant innovation for Middle Pleistocene hominins. Hafted hunting technology represents the development of new cognitive and social learning mechanisms within the genus Homo, and may have provided a foraging advantage over simpler forms of hunting technology, such as a sharpened wooden spear. However, the nature of this foraging advantage has not been confirmed. Experimental studies and ethnographic reports provide conflicting results regarding the relative importance of the functional, economic, and social roles of hafted hunting technology. The controlled experiment reported here was designed to test the functional hypothesis for stone-tipped weapons using spears and ballistics gelatin. It differs from previous investigations of this type because it includes a quantitative analysis of wound track profiles and focuses specifically on hand-delivered spear technology. Our results do not support the hypothesis that tipped spears penetrate deeper than untipped spears. However, tipped spears create a significantly larger inner wound cavity that widens distally. This inner wound cavity is analogous to the permanent wound cavity in ballistics research, which is considered the key variable affecting the relative ‘stopping power’ or ‘killing power’ of a penetrating weapon. Tipped spears conferred a functional advantage to Middle Pleistocene hominins, potentially affecting the frequency and regularity of hunting success with important implications for human adaptation and life history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayne Wilkins
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Benjamin J. Schoville
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Kyle S. Brown
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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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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Will M, Bader GD, Conard NJ. Characterizing the Late Pleistocene MSA Lithic Technology of Sibudu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PLoS One 2014; 9:e98359. [PMID: 24878544 PMCID: PMC4039507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 05/01/2014] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) have become central for defining the cultural adaptations that accompanied the evolution of modern humans. While much of recent research in South Africa has focused on the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort (HP), periods following these technocomplexes were often neglected. Here we examine lithic assemblages from Sibudu that post-date the HP to further the understanding of MSA cultural variability during the Late Pleistocene. Sibudu preserves an exceptionally thick, rich, and high-resolution archaeological sequence that dates to ∼58 ka, which has recently been proposed as type assemblage for the “Sibudan”. This study presents a detailed analysis of the six uppermost lithic assemblages from these deposits (BM-BSP) that we excavated from 2011–2013. We define the key elements of the lithic technology and compare our findings to other assemblages post-dating the HP. The six lithic assemblages provide a distinct and robust cultural signal, closely resembling each other in various technological, techno-functional, techno-economic, and typological characteristics. These results refute assertions that modern humans living after the HP possessed an unstructured and unsophisticated MSA lithic technology. While we observed several parallels with other contemporaneous MSA sites, particularly in the eastern part of southern Africa, the lithic assemblages at Sibudu demonstrate a distinct and so far unique combination of techno-typological traits. Our findings support the use of the Sibudan to help structuring this part of the southern African MSA and emphasize the need for further research to identify the spatial and temporal extent of this proposed cultural unit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Gregor D. Bader
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J. Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Thompson JC, Henshilwood CS. Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour. J Hum Evol 2014; 67:33-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2013] [Revised: 08/06/2013] [Accepted: 09/01/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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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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Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:10699-704. [PMID: 23754394 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1306043110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been argued recently that the initial dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa to southern Asia occurred before the volcanic "supereruption" of the Mount Toba volcano (Sumatra) at ∼74,000 y before present (B.P.)-possibly as early as 120,000 y B.P. We show here that this "pre-Toba" dispersal model is in serious conflict with both the most recent genetic evidence from both Africa and Asia and the archaeological evidence from South Asian sites. We present an alternative model based on a combination of genetic analyses and recent archaeological evidence from South Asia and Africa. These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ∼60-50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and "backed-segment" technologies analogous to the African "Howiesons Poort" and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively "modern" cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of "archaic" Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date.
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Vanhaeren M, d'Errico F, van Niekerk KL, Henshilwood CS, Erasmus RM. Thinking strings: Additional evidence for personal ornament use in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2013; 64:500-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2011] [Revised: 10/16/2012] [Accepted: 02/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Zaidel DW. Cognition and art: the current interdisciplinary approach. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2013; 4:431-439. [PMID: 26304228 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
For decades discussions of cognition and art were anchored in psychological and perceptual theories alone and were focused primarily on pictorial art, but in recent years a major conceptual shift has altered the discussions. Now, insights, concepts, and findings from archaeology, anthropology, brain evolution, biology, genetics, neurology, and neuroscience together with psychology and perception are leading into deeper scholarly explorations of the topic than was done previously. The implication is that the relationship between cognition and art can be fully grasped only when scholarship from all these disciplines is included in the discussions. We now emphasize that the diverse art forms practiced ubiquitously in human societies have a communicative value with deep biological roots and that art is another expression of the symbolic cognition that is the hallmark of the human brain, but that early societal-type organization played a pivotal role in the enduring practice of art. Moreover, neurological evidence from artists with brain damage suggests that the communicative nature of art is neuronally damage-resistant, much more so than language. Rather than placing pictorial art center stage, as was done previously, the current interdisciplinary approach includes all the arts, points to sociocultural triggers for art practice, to the demographic conditions that prevailed in art's early beginnings, and to the interplay of these evolutionarily adaptive factors with deep biological motivations in the artist. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:431-439. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1236 The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dahlia W Zaidel
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Schlebusch CM, Lombard M, Soodyall H. MtDNA control region variation affirms diversity and deep sub-structure in populations from southern Africa. BMC Evol Biol 2013; 13:56. [PMID: 23445172 PMCID: PMC3607893 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-56] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2012] [Accepted: 02/20/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The current San and Khoe populations are remnant groups of a much larger and widely dispersed population of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, who had exclusive occupation of southern Africa before the influx of Bantu-speakers from 2 ka (ka = kilo annum [thousand years] old/ago) and sea-borne immigrants within the last 350 years. Here we use mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to examine the population structure of various San and Khoe groups, including seven different Khoe-San groups (Ju/’hoansi, !Xun, /Gui+//Gana, Khwe, ≠Khomani, Nama and Karretjie People), three different Coloured groups and seven other comparative groups. MtDNA hyper variable segments I and II (HVS I and HVS II) together with selected mtDNA coding region SNPs were used to assign 538 individuals to 18 haplogroups encompassing 245 unique haplotypes. Data were further analyzed to assess haplogroup histories and the genetic affinities of the various San, Khoe and Coloured populations. Where possible, we tentatively contextualize the genetic trends through time against key trends known from the archaeological record. Results The most striking observation from this study was the high frequencies of the oldest mtDNA haplogroups (L0d and L0k) that can be traced back in time to ~100 ka, found at high frequencies in Khoe-San and sampled Coloured groups. Furthermore, the L0d/k sub-haplogroups were differentially distributed in the different Khoe-San and Coloured groups and had different signals of expansion, which suggested different associated demographic histories. When populations were compared to each other, San groups from the northern parts of southern Africa (Ju speaking: !Xun, Ju/’hoansi and Khoe-speaking: /Gui+//Gana) grouped together and southern groups (historically Tuu speaking: ≠Khomani and Karretjie People and some Coloured groups) grouped together. The Khoe group (Nama) clustered with the southern Khoe-San and Coloured groups. The Khwe mtDNA profile was very different from other Khoe-San groups with high proportions of Bantu-speaking admixture but also unique distributions of other mtDNA lineages. Conclusions On the whole, the research reported here presented new insights into the multifaceted demographic history that shaped the existing genetic landscape of the Khoe-San and Coloured populations of southern Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina M Schlebusch
- Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Unit, Division of Human Genetics, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand and the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa.
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Tomasello M, Melis AP, Tennie C, Wyman E, Herrmann E. Two Key Steps in the Evolution of Human Cooperation. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/668207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 388] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Skoyles JR. Neurosignifier-Neurosignified, Symbols, and Anthropological Possibility. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/665586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Hodgson D. Accommodating Opposing Perspectives in the “Modern Human Behavior” Debate. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/665661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Morin E, Laroulandie V. Presumed symbolic use of diurnal raptors by Neanderthals. PLoS One 2012; 7:e32856. [PMID: 22403717 PMCID: PMC3293908 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2011] [Accepted: 01/31/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In Africa and western Eurasia, occurrences of burials and utilized ocher fragments during the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene are often considered evidence for the emergence of symbolically-mediated behavior. Perhaps less controversial for the study of human cognitive evolution are finds of marine shell beads and complex designs on organic and mineral artifacts in early modern human (EMH) assemblages conservatively dated to ≈100–60 kilo-years (ka) ago. Here we show that, in France, Neanderthals used skeletal parts of large diurnal raptors presumably for symbolic purposes at Combe-Grenal in a layer dated to marine isotope stage (MIS) 5b (≈90 ka) and at Les Fieux in stratigraphic units dated to the early/middle phase of MIS 3 (60–40 ka). The presence of similar objects in other Middle Paleolithic contexts in France and Italy suggest that raptors were used as means of symbolic expression by Neanderthals in these regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugène Morin
- Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
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Henshilwood CS, Dubreuil B. Style, Symbolism, and Complex Technology: The Middle Stone Age in Southern Africa. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/663336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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