More Like this

1. Varsche Rivier 003: A Middle and Later Stone Age Site with Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Assemblages in Southern Namaqualand, South Africa

   Steele, Teresa E; Mackay, Alex; Fitzsimmons, Kathryn E.; Igreja, Marina; Marwick, Ben; Orton, Jayson; Schwortz, Steve; Stahlschmidt, Mareike C. (October 2016, Paleoanthropology)

   Southern Africa presents the best-documented Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA and LSA) records in Africa, and yet signi cant uncertainties still exist concerning the sequence and timing of behavioral and occupational changes in the region. A recent surge in research has provided a suite of new results that indicate more intricate and complex pa erns than those previously considered. This paper describes recent excavations at the archaeological site of Varsche Rivier (VR) 003 located in the poorly-researched southern Namaqualand (Knersvlakte) region of South Africa (Western Cape Province). Two seasons of excavations have revealed a long sequence of MSA and LSA cultural materials, including lithics, fauna, ostrich eggshell, marine mollusks, beads, and pigments; bedrock has yet to be reached anywhere in our excavations. Within the shelter, we have uncovered probable Howiesons Poort material, with overlying late MSA and capped by late Holocene LSA. On the slope, the deepest materials are earlier MSA, overlain by assemblages with a nities to the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort. In addition to provid- ing descriptions of the lithic, faunal, and pigment assemblages, we report on the results of micromorphological analysis of the sediments and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating of the sequence. Based on the analysis of single-grain samples from both parts of the excavation, OSL age estimates suggest that the putative Howiesons Poort assemblages at VR003 were deposited 45.7–41.7 kya. While our results are stratigraphi- cally consistent, they are substantially younger than any previously published Howiesons Poort chronologies. We discuss the implications of these results in detail. When presenting the results of our analyses, we compare the VR003 assemblages to those from other sites in the region to address questions concerning lithic technology, stone material exploitation, chronology, ecology, and the signi cance of “complex” behaviors, such as early bead production and long distance transport of marine mollusks. 

   more » « less
2. Human occupation of northern India spans the Toba super-eruption ~74,000 years ago

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14668-4  

   Clarkson, Chris; Harris, Clair; Li, Bo; Neudorf, Christina M.; Roberts, Richard G.; Lane, Christine; Norman, Kasih; Pal, Jagannath; Jones, Sacha; Shipton, Ceri; et al (December 2020, Nature Communications)

   Abstract India is located at a critical geographic crossroads for understanding the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa and into Asia and Oceania. Here we report evidence for long-term human occupation, spanning the last ~80 thousand years, at the site of Dhaba in the Middle Son River Valley of Central India. An unchanging stone tool industry is found at Dhaba spanning the Toba eruption of ~74 ka (i.e., the Youngest Toba Tuff, YTT) bracketed between ages of 79.6 ± 3.2 and 65.2 ± 3.1 ka, with the introduction of microlithic technology ~48 ka. The lithic industry from Dhaba strongly resembles stone tool assemblages from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Arabia, and the earliest artefacts from Australia, suggesting that it is likely the product of Homo sapiens as they dispersed eastward out of Africa. 

   more » « less
3. Early, intensive marine resource exploitation by Middle Stone Age humans at Ysterfontein 1 rockshelter, South Africa

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020042118  

   Niespolo, Elizabeth M.; Sharp, Warren D.; Avery, Graham; Dawson, Todd E. (April 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   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 apply²³⁰Th/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 C₃vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES²³⁰Th/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. 

   more » « less
4. Middle Stone Age mineral pigment procurement at Pinnacle Point 5–6 North, Western Cape province, South Africa

   https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12694  

   McGrath, James_R; MacDonald, Brandi_L; Stalla, David (June 2021, Archaeometry)

   Abstract We report on a multi‐method sourcing study of 35 mineral pigment artefacts from the Middle Stone Age site of Pinnacle Point 5–6 North (PP5–6 N), dating from about 90–50 ka. The artefacts were analysed and compared with geological samples from seven sources using neutron activation analysis (NAA), and supplemented by data from X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our preliminary results suggest that the occupants of PP5–6 N likely used at least two local and one currently unidentified and possibly non‐local Fe oxide mineral pigment sources. The mineral pigment artefacts derived from the latter source(s) exhibited manganese (Mn) enrichment with concentrations well above those observed in all sampled source deposits in the study area, suggesting a distinctive formation process. The proportions of the Mn‐enriched mineral pigment artefacts within the PP5–6 N assemblage vary over time, but tend to occur at higher rates in the glacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 deposits, which holds potential implications for changes in the use of sources over time, increased mobility or increased exchange during this period. 

   more » « less
5. Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene aeolian deposits of Tasmania and their climatic implications

   https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2020.83  

   McIntosh, Peter D.; Neudorf, Christina; Lian, Olav B.; Slee, Adrian J.; Walker, Brianna; Eberhard, Rolan; Doyle, Richard; Dixon, Grant (July 2021, Quaternary Research)

   Abstract Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene aeolian deposits in Tasmania are extensive in the present subhumid climate zone but also occur in areas receiving >1000 mm of rain annually. Thermoluminescence, optically stimulated luminescence, and radiocarbon ages indicate that most of the deposits formed during periods of cold climate. Some dunes are remnants of longitudinal desert dunes sourced from now-inundated continental shelves which were previously semi-arid. Others formed near source, often in the form of lunettes east of seasonally-dry lagoons in the previously semi-arid Midlands and southeast of Tasmania, or as accumulations close to floodplains of major rivers, or as sandsheets in exposed areas. Burning of vegetation by the Aboriginal population after 40 ka is likely to have influenced sediment supply. A key site for determining climate variability in southern Tasmania is Maynes Junction which records three periods of aeolian deposition (at ca. 90, 32 and 20 ka), interspersed with periods of hillslope instability. Whether wind speeds were higher than at present during the last glacial period is uncertain, but shells in the Mary Ann Bay sandsheet near Hobart and particle size analysis of the Ainslie dunes in northeast Tasmania suggest stronger winds during the last glacial period than at present. 

   more » « less