Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa

Science ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 295 (5558) ◽  
pp. 1278-1280 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Henshilwood
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Modern Human Behavior

scholarly journals Development of Middle Stone Age innovation linked to rapid climate change

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ziegler ◽  
Margit H. Simon ◽  
Ian R. Hall ◽  
Stephen Barker ◽  
Chris Stringer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract The development of modernity in early human populations has been linked to pulsed phases of technological and behavioural innovation within the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. However, the trigger for these intermittent pulses of technological innovation is an enigma. Here we show that, contrary to some previous studies, the occurrence of innovation was tightly linked to abrupt climate change. Major innovational pulses occurred at times when South African climate changed rapidly towards more humid conditions, while northern sub-Saharan Africa experienced widespread droughts, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of extreme cooling. These millennial-scale teleconnections resulted from the bipolar seesaw behaviour of the Atlantic Ocean related to changes in the ocean circulation. These conditions led to humid pulses in South Africa and potentially to the creation of favourable environmental conditions. This strongly implies that innovational pulses of early modern human behaviour were climatically influenced and linked to the adoption of refugia.

The Middle to Later Stone Age Technological Transition in East Africa. New Data from Mumba Rockshelter Bed V (Tanzania) and their Implications for the Origin of Modern Human Behavior

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Diez-Martín ◽  
Luis de Luque ◽  
Policarpo Sánchez ◽  
Antonio Tarriño ◽  
Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Later Stone Age ◽  
Technological Transition ◽  
Modern Human Behavior

An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 631-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Henshilwood ◽  
Francesco D'errico ◽  
Curtis W. Marean ◽  
Richard G. Milo ◽  
Royden Yates
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Blombos Cave ◽  
Bone Tool

The Early Middle Stone Age in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Wurz
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Cutting Tools ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Fossil Evidence ◽  
Core Technology

The Early Middle Stone Age (EMSA) from South Africa occurred, broadly, between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago. This is a crucial phase in the history of Homo sapiens, as genetic and fossil evidence increasingly indicate that the roots of Homo sapiens reach back to this time. The fossil evidence from South Africa from this period is sparse, but the c. 260,000-year-old Homo helmei partial skull from Florisbad is especially significant in understanding modern human origins. A detailed chronological and regional framework for the EMSA is still in progress, but on the available evidence, the earliest EMSA occupations seem to be centered in the interior and northern regions. Transitional entities such as the Fauresmith and Sangoan and the first EMSA without large cutting tools, from Florisbad, are found in these areas. In the EMSA, biface technology as well as bipolar, discoidal, blade, and Levallois technologies were used to manufacture a wide variety of blanks, some of which were retouched into an array of tool types. Before lithic types such as hand-axes and bifacial points can be used as diagnostic criteria to define, for example, the Fauresmith and Pietersburg, further extended technological analyses are needed to determine their production sequences and context. Prepared core or Levallois technology occur frequently, but not always, in the EMSA. Prepared core technology entails careful planning to shape stone nodules geometrically prior to knapping the preformed blanks. EMSA hunters used Levallois and other pointed flakes as armatures in hafted thrusting spears. Levallois and composite tool technology reflect complex problem solving and hierarchical organizational cognitive capabilities. These competencies are also evident in early pigment processing. The clear footprint of the EMSA on the South African landscape indicates that several human groups populated this region during the Middle Pleistocene. It is highly likely that such groups were linked across Africa and that they collectively developed into Homo sapiens.

scholarly journals Early, intensive marine resource exploitation by Middle Stone Age humans at Ysterfontein 1 rockshelter, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (16) ◽  
pp. e2020042118
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Niespolo ◽  
Warren D. Sharp ◽  
Graham Avery ◽  
Todd E. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Shell Midden ◽  
Coastal Adaptation

Modern human behavioral innovations from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) include the earliest indicators of full coastal adaptation evidenced by shell middens, yet many MSA middens remain poorly dated. We apply 230Th/U burial dating to ostrich eggshells (OES) from Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1, Western Cape, South Africa), a stratified MSA shell midden. 230Th/U burial ages of YFT1 OES are relatively precise (median ± 2.7%), consistent with other age constraints, and preserve stratigraphic principles. Bayesian age–depth modeling indicates YFT1 was deposited between 119.9 to 113.1 thousand years ago (ka) (95% CI of model ages), and the entire 3.8 m thick midden may have accumulated within ∼2,300 y. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes of OES indicate that during occupation the local environment was dominated by C3 vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES 230Th/U ages and stable isotopes shows the following: 1) YFT1 is the oldest shell midden known, providing minimum constraints on full coastal adaptation by ∼120 ka; 2) despite rapid sea-level drop and other climatic changes during occupation, relative shellfish proportions and sizes remain similar, suggesting adaptive foraging along a changing coastline; 3) the YFT1 lithic technocomplex is similar to other west coast assemblages but distinct from potentially synchronous industries along the southern African coast, suggesting human populations were fragmented between seasonal rainfall zones; and 4) accumulation rates (up to 1.8 m/ka) are much higher than previously observed for dated, stratified MSA middens, implying more intense site occupation akin to Later Stone Age middens.

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