Characterizing the Late Pleistocene MSA Lithic Technology of Sibudu,KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

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.     

Announcing a Still Bay industry at Sibudu Cave, South Africa

Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has a long Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence with good organic preservation. The uppermost MSA sequence includes industries attributed to the final and late MSA and the Howiesons Poort. Below the Howiesons Poort are two layers containing some thin, bifacial lanceolate points, mostly in the form of distal and proximal fragments. These double-pointed foliates are the fossile directeur of the Still Bay Industry, and importantly, this Sibudu industry provides confirmation that the Still Bay predates the Howiesons Poort Industry. Technologically, the points from Sibudu are comparable to those from other South African sites with Still Bay occurrences (e.g., Blombos Cave and Hollow Rock Shelter). Although dating of the Sibudu Still Bay is preliminary, its age falls within the range of that at Blombos. For the past two decades, archaeologists have rejected the idea of a Still Bay Industry occurring outside of the Western Cape, but the Still Bay at Sibudu shows that this industry was, indeed, geographically widespread.     

从技术组织论视角阐释中国古人类石器技术的多样性

石器的演化历史与早期人类技术活动的投入成本密切相关,也在一定程度上受制于可获取的原料与利用的动植物资源。克拉克有关早期人类的石器技术演化的5种技术模式,在解释旧大陆古人类技术演化具有深远的影响。然而,生活在东亚特别是中国北方地区的古人类,石制品文化面貌在约40 ka BP一直以石核-石片技术体系占据主导地位。学术界一般以中国本土旧石器文化传统根深蒂固,与西方文化交流有限为原因,解释这种石器技术发展的不平衡现象。本文以石制品生产技术组织的研究理念为出发点,强调精致加工代表人群的高投入技术与行为,在中国境内以模式2、3为代表,其产品可在一定程度上作为文化标识反映了外来人群的扩散,体现了东、西方文化有限交流;而权宜技术则多为低投入的技术与行为活动,以石核-石片技术体系为代表,随时间推移不断继承发展。同时,石核-石片技术体系在中国盛行的现象,表明本地古人类对一种比较成功的适应策略的坚持和继承,分布区域局限、内在技术变异程度相对较低的模式2、3技术,更有可能是欧亚大陆西侧和非洲规模有限的人群扩散或技术传播的结果。     

Middle and late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age lithic technology from Pinnacle Point 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa)

Excavations at a complex of caves and open air sites at Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay, Southern Africa have uncovered rich stratified assemblages of Middle Stone Age materials, including those from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B) that comprises the first modernly excavated assemblage in southern Africa to be securely dated to the Middle Pleistocene. We report here on the complete excavated lithic artifact assemblage from PP13B. Both technological and typological analyses of the complete assemblage were performed. The assemblage-scale analysis allows for intrasite comparison as well as comparison of the PP13B assemblage with other sites from the region. No size-related pattern of change over time was observed within the PP13B assemblage, although there is significant evidence for varying strategies of lithic reduction between excavation areas within the cave. Comparison with other material from the Southern African MSA suggests that there is significant inter- and intra-site variability in the Southern African Middle Stone Age, even between portions of assemblages that are roughly contemporaneous.     

Animal exploitation strategies during the South African Middle Stone Age: Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort fauna from Sibudu Cave

As one of the few sites that preserve fauna from the Howiesons Poort (HP) and the immediately post-HP Middle Stone Age (MSA), Sibudu Cave provides a unique opportunity to explore the range of variability in subsistence behaviors during this important phase in human behavioral evolution. In addition to providing information on subsistence, the faunal assemblage serves as a means of reconstructing the environmental conditions during these two periods. While the HP fauna is dominated by species that prefer closed (particularly forested) habitats, the fauna from the upper-most layers of the post-HP MSA are largely representative of open conditions. These results largely coincide with macrobotanical analyses and may simply indicate that the extent of the riverine forest near the site was greater during the HP. Alternatively, the pattern could be indicative of a marked intensification in the exploitation of the environment in the immediate vicinity of the shelter during the HP, perhaps resulting from a decline in the productivity of adjacent regions. We also document variation in the frequency of the different bovid size classes over time. The evidence shows a declining focus on the smallest bovids after the HP, with a parallel increase in the frequency of large and very large bovids. Beyond a heavy focus on small bovids, small mammals and suids also occur at higher frequencies during the HP. Although the HP faunal assemblage is largely unique as compared to the bulk of the MSA sequence at Sibudu, the evidence presented here suggests that the transition between the HP and the post-HP MSA may have been more gradual than abrupt. Our results indicate that the HP and post-HP MSA inhabitants of Sibudu Cave were capable hunters; however, hunting strategies appear to show marked variation over time. We propose that the variability in animal procurement strategies reflects a degree of behavioral plasticity beyond that generally attributed to MSA populations.     

Variation in Lithic Technological Strategies among the Neanderthals of Gibraltar

The evidence for Neanderthal lithic technology is reviewed and summarized for four caves on The Rock of Gibraltar: Vanguard, Beefsteak, Ibex and Gorham’s. Some of the observed patterns in technology are statistically tested including raw material selection, platform preparation, and the use of formal and expedient technological schemas. The main parameters of technological variation are examined through detailed analysis of the Gibraltar cores and comparison with samples from the classic Mousterian sites of Le Moustier and Tabun C. The Gibraltar Mousterian, including the youngest assemblage from Layer IV of Gorham’s Cave, spans the typical Middle Palaeolithic range of variation from radial Levallois to unidirectional and multi-platform flaking schemas, with characteristic emphasis on the former. A diachronic pattern of change in the Gorham’s Cave sequence is documented, with the younger assemblages utilising more localized raw material and less formal flaking procedures. We attribute this change to a reduction in residential mobility as the climate deteriorated during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and the Neanderthal population contracted into a refugium.     

Inland human settlement in southern Arabia 55,000 years ago. New evidence from the Wadi Surdud Middle Paleolithic site complex, western Yemen

The recovery at Shi’bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55 ka BP sheds new light on the role of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of the alleged expansion of modern humans out of Africa. SD1 is part of a complex of Middle Paleolithic sites cut by the Wadi Surdud and interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi’bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa.     

Intra-Site Variability in the Still Bay Fauna at Blombos Cave: Implications for Explanatory Models of the Middle Stone Age Cultural and Technological Evolution

To explain cultural and technological innovations in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa, scholars invoke several factors. A major question in this research theme is whether MSA technocomplexes are adapted to a particular set of environmental conditions and subsistence strategies or, on the contrary, to a wide range of different foraging behaviours. While faunal studies provide key information for addressing these factors, most analyses do not assess intra-technocomplex variability of faunal exploitation (i.e. variability within MSA phases). In this study, we assess the spatial variability of the Still Bay fauna in one phase (M1) of the Blombos Cave sequence. Analyses of taxonomic composition, taphonomic alterations and combustion patterns reveal important faunal variability both across space (lateral variation in the post-depositional history of the deposits, spatial organisation of combustion features) and over time (fine-scale diachronic changes throughout a single phase). Our results show how grouping material prior to zooarchaeological interpretations (e.g. by layer or phase) can induce a loss of information. Finally, we discuss how multiple independent subdivisions of archaeological sequences can improve our understanding of both the timing of different changes (for example in technology, culture, subsistence, environment) and how they may be inter-related.     

The Early Stone Age lithic assemblages of Gadeb (Ethiopia) and the Developed Oldowan/early Acheulean in East Africa

The Early Stone Age sites of Gadeb (Ethiopian South-East Plateau) were excavated under the direction of Desmond Clark in the 1970s. Dated to between 1.45 and 0.7 Ma, Gadeb proved that humans had already occupied high altitude areas in the Lower Pleistocene. Despite the importance of the Gadeb sites, their lithic assemblages were never published in detail, and no review of the stone tools has ever been reported since the original 1970s study. This paper updates the information available on Gadeb by presenting a systematic review of the lithic technology of several assemblages. The objectives are to evaluate the technological skills of Gadeb knappers and to contextualize them into the current discussion of the origins of the Acheulean and its possible coexistence with the so-called Developed Oldowan in East Africa.     

Implications of Nubian-Like Core Reduction Systems in Southern Africa for the Identification of Early Modern Human Dispersals

Lithic technologies have been used to trace dispersals of early human populations within and beyond Africa. Convergence in lithic systems has the potential to confound such interpretations, implying connections between unrelated groups. Due to their reductive nature, stone artefacts are unusually prone to this chance appearance of similar forms in unrelated populations. Here we present data from the South African Middle Stone Age sites Uitpanskraal 7 and Mertenhof suggesting that Nubian core reduction systems associated with Late Pleistocene populations in North Africa and potentially with early human migrations out of Africa in MIS 5 also occur in southern Africa during early MIS 3 and with no clear connection to the North African occurrence. The timing and spatial distribution of their appearance in southern and northern Africa implies technological convergence, rather than diffusion or dispersal. While lithic technologies can be a critical guide to human population flux, their utility in tracing early human dispersals at large spatial and temporal scales with stone artefact types remains questionable.     

The Middle Stone Age of the northern Kenyan Rift: age and context of new archaeological sites from the Kapedo Tuffs

Rift Valley sites in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya preserve the oldest fossil remains attributed to Homo sapiens and the earliest archaeological sites attributed to the Middle Stone Age (MSA). New localities from the Kapedo Tuffs augment the sparse sample of MSA sites from the northern Kenya Rift. Tephrostratigraphic correlation with dated pyroclastic deposits from the adjacent volcano Silali suggests an age range of 135-123 ka for archaeological sites of the Kapedo Tuffs. Comparisons of the Kapedo Tuffs archaeological assemblages with those from the adjacent Turkana and Baringo basins show broad lithic technological similarity but reveal that stone raw material availability is a key factor in explaining typologically defined archaeological variability within this region. Spatially and temporally resolved comparisons such as this provide the best means to link the biological and behavioral variation manifest in the record of early Homo sapiens.     

宁夏青铜峡鸽子山第15地点发掘报告

宁夏鸽子山遗址位于贺兰山西南余脉东侧的山前洪冲积扇前缘。2015年对第15地点的发掘面积约16m²。在约3m深的地层中共揭露3个原生文化层位。光释光测年数据显示第2层至第4层的时代跨度为0.12-12.3 ka,出土石制品共155件。其中第3层石制品最为丰富,共142件,石制品原料以石英岩和灰岩为主,类型主要有石片、石核和断块。石制品的基本信息显示该地区人类活动频度可能与环境变化与沙漠进退有紧密联系。     

Cultural conservatism and variability in the Acheulian sequence of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov

The Acheulian Technocomplex exhibits two phenomena: variability and conservatism. Variability is expressed in the composition and frequencies of tool types, particularly in the varying frequencies of bifaces (handaxes and cleavers). Conservatism is expressed in the continuous presence of bifaces along an immense time trajectory. The site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY) offers a unique opportunity to study aspects of variability and conservatism as a result of its long cultural-stratigraphic sequence containing superimposed lithic assemblages. This study explores aspects of variability and conservatism within the Acheulian lithic assemblages of GBY, with emphasis placed on the bifacial tools. While variability has been studied through a comparison of typological frequencies in a series of assemblages from the site, evidence for conservatism was examined in the production modes expressed by the reduction sequence of the bifaces. We demonstrate that while pronounced typological variability is observed among the GBY assemblages, they were all manufactured by the same technology. The technology, size, and morphology of the bifaces throughout the entire stratigraphic sequence of GBY reflect the strong conservatism of their makers. We conclude that the biface frequency cannot be considered as a chrono/cultural marker that might otherwise allow us to distinguish between different phases within the Acheulian. The variability observed within the assemblages is explained as a result of different activities, tasks, and functions, which were carried out at specific localities along the shores of the paleo-Hula Lake in the early Middle Pleistocene.     

Depuis l’Est ? Nouvelles perspectives sur les premières dynamiques de peuplement en Europe

Out of Africa diffusion models stipulate that the earliest humans reached Europe in two waves, each correlating with a different techno-cultural entity. However, the Central European data are difficult to incorporate into this theoretical framework. Despite being located on the Out of Africa route towards Europe, this region has not yielded the archaeological evidence that could have been expected. Evidence of humans occupations before 0.5 million years ago is sparse and handaxes are absent during the entire duration of the Lower Palaeolithic with the assemblages present being more unique. Does Central Europe represent a specific techno-cultural unit during the Lower Palaeolithic? Or, do we need to question our methodological tools to be able to find an answer to this apparent paradox? This study aims to answer these questions through the analyses of four lithic assemblages (Korolevo VI in Ukraine and Kärlich-Seeufer in Germany; Vértesszőlős in Hungary and Bilzingsleben in Germany). The results of this study of the first lithic industries from Central Europe, allow a reconsideration of the question of the earliest occupation of Europe and the criterion taken into account in the definition of the different Lower Palaeolithic cultural entities and technological systems.     

Techno-Cultural Characterization of the MIS 5 (c. 105 – 90 Ka) Lithic Industries at Blombos Cave,Southern Cape,South Africa

Blombos Cave is well known as an important site for understanding the evolution of symbolically mediated behaviours among Homo sapiens during the Middle Stone Age, and during the Still Bay in particular. The lower part of the archaeological sequence (M3 phase) contains 12 layers dating to MIS 5 with ages ranging from 105 to 90 ka ago (MIS 5c to 5b) that provide new perspectives on the technological behaviour of these early humans. The new data obtained from our extensive technological analysis of the lithic material enriches our currently limited knowledge of this time period in the Cape region. By comparing our results with previously described lithic assemblages from sites south of the Orange River, we draw new insights on the extent of the techno-cultural ties between these sites and the M3 phase at Blombos Cave and highlight the importance of this phase within the Middle Stone Age cultural stratigraphy.     

旧石器技术研究法之应用——以观音洞石核为例

中国旧石器材料数量众多,表现出一定的地域特色,在世界旧石器考古学领域占有重要地位.研究表明,类型学在解读与提取石器所包含的人类技术行为信息方面的能力有较大的局限性,而且中国旧石器时代的一些石制品的形态和组合与欧洲和近东常常难以直接对比,对器物的分类定名也存在交流上的困难.由法国学者开创发展起来的史前石器技术研究理论和方法在分析形态特征的同时,通过关注支配石器工业生产体系的技术机制和逻辑规则,对深入细致地探讨史前人类的认知特征和技术行为可以发挥重要作用,也能为石器工业甚至跨地域文化之间的比较提供基础.本文对贵州观音洞遗址的石核标本为例进行了技术分析,说明其在研究中国旧石器材料上的可行性,特别是信息提取上的优势.     

Evidence of hunting and hafting during the Middle Stone Age at Sibidu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a multianalytical approach

Points and point fragments from Middle Stone Age layers (dated to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago) from Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were examined to establish whether they were used as hafted spearheads for hunting. A multi-analytical approach was followed, using macrofracture analysis, use-wear analysis, and residue analysis. In addition to the analytical processes, an experimental project tested the results of the macrofracture analysis on local raw materials. The study shows that points from Sibudu Cave were indeed hafted and used as hunting tools. It was further established that plant twine was probably the preferred binding material to attach the points to wooden hafts. Resin may have been used as an adhesive in combination with the binding material. A detailed examination of the ochre distribution on the points confirmed that ochre was also part of the hafting arrangement. The need to use a dependable methodology for the recognition of hunting and hafting traces on stone points from the southern African Middle Stone Age context is briefly discussed.     

The Technological Multiplicity of the Acheulean of the Southern Iberian Peninsula

The Acheulean of the southern Iberian Peninsula is markedly similar to the north African Acheulean. However, the characteristics of the stone tool assemblages are heterogeneous and represent complex cultural phenomena. From MIS 15, the lithic assemblages in fluvial (Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Guadalete rivers), fluvio-lacustrine (Solana del Zamborino) and karstic (Cueva del Ángel, Bolomor, Cueva Negra del río Quípar, Cueva Horá and Santa Ana) contexts exhibit analogies and technical differences representative of a phenomenon of multiplicity. Contributing to this phenomenon is the perception of technological stasis or conservatism of the Acheulean technocomplex and the different technical responses articulated by hominins to achieve equivalent results. These equivalences generate the uniformity that allows us to recognise typologies of large cutting tools (LCTs) regardless of the lithic materials used or the organisational structures of the operational sequences. These diversified typologies include handaxes, picks, and cleavers, which maintain a consistent presence despite innovations such as the Levallois flaking method. In some cases, the presence of cleavers and spheroids affects the range of represented typologies. Beneath the uniformity of the handaxes, lie organisational differences in the operational sequences. The changes and differences in the use of flakes to shape handaxes, the representation of cleavers and diversification of shaped-tool typologies all suggest differential cultural behaviours linked in part to divergent contexts. These aspects indicate that this multiplicity is related to diffusion, adaptation and cultural changes produced at the margins of the conservatism of this technocomplex. Observed changes could indicate inter-group cultural replacements, most of which retained a similar techno-typological diversity to that seen in the north African Acheulean until MIS 5. Cyclical climate change during the Middle Pleistocene affected the Strait of Gibraltar, regulating its function and conditioning the circulation of hominins and affecting cultural interactions between southern Iberian groups.     

宁夏水洞沟遗址第2地点发掘报告

水洞沟第2地点是水洞沟遗址群的重要遗址之一, 自2003年来共进行了4次发掘, 揭露面积约100m2, 发现7个文化层, 包含用火遗迹、石制品、动物化石、串珠装饰品和磨制骨针等。本文观察和研究的石制品1万余件, 总体上显示中国北方石片石器工业的技术特征, 但最下部第7文化层出土1件具有水洞沟第1地点特征的石叶石核。动物化石比较破碎, 集中分布于火塘内部或周围, 反映了古人类围绕火塘进行肉类资源利用的行为。综合水洞沟第2地点的AMS14C及光释光测年数据,该地点主要文化层年龄集中在距今41ka-20ka BP之间。