Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 33, Pages 13208-13213Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1202629109
Keywords
human behavior; hafting pitch; hunting weapons; gathering equipment
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [BCS 0613319]
- Paleontological Scientific Trust
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environment, University of the Witwatersrand
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Unite Mixte de Recherche 5199, De la Prehistoire a l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), University of Bordeaux)
- Institut Francais d'Afrique du Sud
- European Research Council under the European Union [249587]
- South Africa/France Scientific Cooperation Agreement
- National Research Foundation of South Africa
- University Research Council
- University of the Witwatersrand
- Project Origine II, Aquitaine Region
- NERC [NRCF010002] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NRCF010002] Funding Source: researchfish
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The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neandertals, as in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. It has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of technological evolution not associated with a new hominin. Data from Border Cave (KwaZulu-Natal) show a strong pattern of technological change at approximately 44-42 ka cal BP, marked by adoption of techniques and materials that were present but scarcely used in the previous MSA, and some novelties. The agent of change was neither a revolution nor the advent of a new species of human. Although most evident in personal ornaments and symbolic markings, the change from one way of living to another was not restricted to aesthetics. Our analysis shows that: (i) at Border Cave two assemblages, dated to 45-49 and > 49 ka, show a gradual abandonment of the technology and tool types of the post-Howiesons Poort period and can be considered transitional industries; (ii) the 44-42 ka cal BP assemblages are based on an expedient technology dominated by bipolar knapping, with microliths hafted with pitch from Podocarpus bark, worked suid tusks, ostrich eggshell beads, bone arrowheads, engraved bones, bored stones, and digging sticks; (iii) these assemblages mark the beginning of the LSA in South Africa; (iv) the LSA emerged by internal evolution; and (v) the process of change began sometime after 56 ka.
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