How different is Howieson Port Middle Paleolithic tech from its neighbors and successors?

Quickies

That's what a recently published paper discusses. Oh, by the way, context for the casual reader: Howieson Port and related industries are among the oldest ones in South Africa, yet they are very advanced for their time, suggesting that our species was innovating in ways that our (now essentially extinct) cousins were not doing. See also: this entry on African Middle Paleolithic.

Paloma de la Peña, Refining Our Understanding of Howiesons Poort Lithic Technology: The Evidence from Grey Rocky Layer in Sibudu Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143451]

Abstract

The detailed technological analysis of the youngest Howiesons Poort occupation in Sibudu Cave, layer Grey Rocky, has shown the importance of blade production (with different knapping methods involved), but also of flaking methods in coarse grained rock types. Moreover, new strategies of bifacial production and microlithism were important. Grey Rocky lithic technology shows a really versatile example of reduction strategies that were highly influenced by the characteristics of the rock types. This lithic assemblage is another example of the technological variability linked to the Howiesons Poort technocomplex. The reasons for this variability are still difficult to elucidate. Discrepancies between sites might be for different reasons: diachronic variations, functional variations, organizational variations or maybe different regional variations within what has been recognized traditionally and typologically as Howiesons Poort. The technological comparison of the Grey Rocky assemblage with assemblages from other Howiesons Poort sites demonstrates that there are common technological trends during the late Pleistocene, but they still need to be properly circumscribed chronologically. On the one hand, Howiesons Poort characteristics such as the bifacial production in quartz are reminiscent of production in some Still Bay or pre-Still Bay industries and the flake production or the prismatic blade production described here could be a point in common with pre-Still Bay and post-Howiesons Poort industries. On the other hand, the detailed analysis of the Grey Rocky lithics reinforces the particular character of this Howiesons Poort technocomplex, yet it also shows clear technological links with other Middle Stone Age assemblages.

Pondering the Middle Paleolithic of South Africa

Quantity over quality series.

Sylvain Soriano et al. The Still Bay and Howiesons Poort at Sibudu and Blombos: Understanding Middle Stone Age Technologies. PLoS ONE 2015. Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131127]

Abstract

The classification of archaeological assemblages in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa in terms of diversity and temporal continuity has significant implications with respect to recent cultural evolutionary models which propose either gradual accumulation or discontinuous, episodic processes for the emergence and diffusion of cultural traits. We present the results of a systematic technological and typological analysis of the Still Bay assemblages from Sibudu and Blombos. A similar approach is used in the analysis of the Howiesons Poort (HP) assemblages from Sibudu seen in comparison with broadly contemporaneous assemblages from Rose Cottage and Klasies River Cave 1A. Using our own and published data from other sites we report on the diversity between stone artifact assemblages and discuss to what extent they can be grouped into homogeneous lithic sets. The gradual evolution of debitage techniques within the Howiesons Poort sequence with a progressive abandonment of the HP technological style argues against the saltational model for its disappearance while the technological differences between the Sibudu and Blombos Still Bay artifacts considerably weaken an interpretation of similarities between the assemblages and their grouping into the same cultural unit. Limited sampling of a fragmented record may explain why simple models of cultural evolution do not seem to apply to a complex reality.

A western riverine route for human migration to North Africa in the Abbassia Pluvial

Interesting study on paleo-rivers of the Sahara providing insight for a likely route for Homo sapiens to cross the Sahara towards NW Africa.

Tom J. Coulthard et al., Were Rivers Flowing across the Sahara During the Last Interglacial? Implications for Human Migration through Africa. PLoS ONE 2013. Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074834]

Abstract

Human migration north through Africa is contentious. This paper uses a novel palaeohydrological and hydraulic modelling approach to test the hypothesis that under wetter climates c.100,000 years ago major river systems ran north across the Sahara to the Mediterranean, creating viable migration routes. We confirm that three of these now buried palaeo river systems could have been active at the key time of human migration across the Sahara. Unexpectedly, it is the most western of these three rivers, the Irharhar river, that represents the most likely route for human migration. The Irharhar river flows directly south to north, uniquely linking the mountain areas experiencing monsoon climates at these times to temperate Mediterranean environments where food and resources would have been abundant. The findings have major implications for our understanding of how humans migrated north through Africa, for the first time providing a quantitative perspective on the probabilities that these routes were viable for human habitation at these times.

Figure 2. Simulated probability of surface water during the last interglacial.
This figure details Archaeological sites, and an annual probability that a location has surface water. The archaeological data are derived from a number of sources (including [42], [66], [67], [68]. The findspots are characterised by Aterian and Middle Stone Age artefacts such as bifacial foliates and stemmed Aterian points and/or typical ‘Mousterian’ points, side scrapers and Levallois technology. Most are represented by surface scatters but where stratified examples exist these can be shown by dating (OSL and U-series techniques) and geomorphological setting to belong within MIS 5e [41], [42].

As discussed in other occasions, it seems likely that some genetic remnants of those early migrations are still visible in at least some NW Africans.

See also:

• North African autosomal genetics through the prism of ADMIXTURE.
• Major upheaval of human Y-DNA phylogeny: we are all 'A' now (on some very ancient lineages shared by West and North Africans).

Nubian Complex in Central Arabia

The Nubian Complex MSA techno-culture arrived to Central Arabia, just south of Riyadh seemingly via the South

Rémy Cressard & Yamandú H. Hilbert, A Nubian Complex Site from Central Arabia: Implications for Levallois Taxonomy and Human Dispersals during the Upper Pleistocene. PLoS ONE 2013. Open access → LINK [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069221]

Abstract

Archaeological survey undertaken in central Saudi Arabia has revealed 29 surface sites attributed to the Arabian Middle Paleolithic based on the presence of Levallois blank production methods. Technological analyses on cores retrieved from Al-Kharj 22 have revealed specific reduction modalities used to produce flakes with predetermined shapes. The identified modalities, which are anchored within the greater Levallois concept of core convexity preparation and exploitation, correspond with those utilized during the Middle Stone Age Nubian Complex of northeast Africa and southern Arabia. The discovery of Nubian technology at the Al-Kharj 22 site represents the first appearance of this blank production method in central Arabia. Here we demonstrate how a rigorous use of technological and taxonomic analysis may enable intra-regional comparisons across the Arabian Peninsula. The discovery of Al-Kharj 22 increases the complexity of the Arabian Middle Paleolithic archaeological record and suggests new dynamics of population movements between the southern and central regions of the Peninsula. This study also addresses the dichotomy within Nubian core typology (Types 1 and 2), which was originally defined for African assemblages.

Figure 3. Levallois methods schemata: figuration of product and core shapes for each method.
A: Preferential Levallois flake production with centripetal preparation; B: Preferential Levallois point production with unidirectional convergent preparation; C: Nubian Levallois type 1 with distal divergent preparation; D: Nubian Levallois type 2 with double lateral preparation; E: Nubian Levallois type 1/2 with mixed type 1 and type 2 preparation.

Figure 10. Schematic representation depicting the three main dorsal preparation types, preparation type 1, 2 and 1/2, and the proposed reduction succession discussed in the text.
In order to facilitate comprehension cores, end-products and preparation by-products have been color-coded; blue equals type 1 preparation, green type 2 and yellow type 1/2.

Many more images of interest for experts or qualified amateurs are available in this high quality study. For the less specialized reader it is probably more interesting to ponder the overall extension of the Nubian Complex:

Figure 11. Distribution of main sites with Nubian cores in Eastern Africa and Arabia.
Illustrated cores do not represent actual size. 1. Al-Kharj 22 (this study); 2. Aybut Al Auwal [12]; 3. Shabwa [30]; 4. Hadramawt [5], [6], [27]; 5. Aduma [112]; 6. Gademotta [113]; 7. Asfet [114]; 8. Nazlet Khater 1 [115]; 9. Abydos [66].

The authors argue that Southern and Central Arabia are the Easternmost reaches of this complex, however we cannot forget that the recent discovery of Indian sites with a complex industry, dated to c. 96 Ka ago, of Nubian, Aterian and other MSA affinities challenges this notion.

See also in this blog:

• Middle Paleolithic industries of African affinity of the Thar Desert go back to c. 96 Ka ago
• African MSA
• The Nubian techno-complex of Dhofar: yet another evidence for an early migration out-of-Africa via Arabia
• The various options for the migration out of Africa
• ... and in general the categories MSA and out of Africa.

Middle Paleolithic industries of African affinity of the Thar Desert go back to c. 96 Ka ago

Again Team Petraglia revealing fascinating evidence on the Middle Paleolithic dispersal of Homo sapiens, and one that fits well the genetic data (speculative "molecular clock" excluded), as well as with the climatic data.

James Blinkhorn et al., Middle Palaeolithic occupation in the Thar Desert during the Upper Pleistocene: the signature of a modern human exit out of Africa? Quaternary Science Reviews, 2013. Pay per view → LINK [doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.06.012]

Abstract

The Thar Desert marks the transition from the Saharo-Arabian deserts to the Oriental biogeographical zone and is therefore an important location in understanding hominin occupation and dispersal during the Upper Pleistocene. Here, we report the discovery of stratified Middle Palaeolithic assemblages at Katoati in the north-eastern Thar Desert, dating to Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5 and the MIS 4–3 boundary, during periods of enhanced humidity. Hominins procured cobbles from gravels at the site as evidenced by early stages of stone tool reduction, with a component of more formalised point production. The MIS 5c assemblages at Katoati represent the earliest securely dated Middle Palaeolithic occupation of South Asia. Distinctive artefacts identified in both MIS 5 and MIS 4–3 boundary horizons match technological entities observed in Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in South Asia, Arabia and Middle Stone Age sites in the Sahara. The evidence from Katoati is consistent with arguments for the dispersal of Homo sapiens populations from Africa across southern Asia using Middle Palaeolithic technologies.

Possibly the most strikingly unmistakable evidence for a Homo sapiens affiliation of these findings is the Aterian-like tanged point, which is almost identical to another one found previously in Jwalapuram:

Fig. 4. 1) Tanged point from Jwalapuram 22 (adapted from Haslam et al., 2012); 2 & 3)
Tanged point from Katoati.

Not just Aterian: the, visually less obvious, Nubian technology is also present:

Two Levallois cores from S4 and one from S8 exhibit a mixture of distal divergent and lateral preparation of the flaking surface to produce a distale medial ridge resulting in the removal of prepared points (Fig. 3). These reduction schemes are consistent with descriptions of Nubian Levallois technologies (Rose et al., 2011; Usik et al., 2013).

...

A single flake from S4 presents a combination of distal divergent and lateral removals on the dorsal surface and a prior removal of a pre-determined pointed flake,indicative of the use of Nubian Levallois strategies (Fig. 3).

Table 2. I added at bottom (red) median OSL ages from table 1.

Zhirendong jaw

In synthesis: groups of unmistakably Homo sapiens with obvious African techno-cultural heritage were already within the modern boundaries of the Indian Federation around 96,000 years ago (CI: 109-83 Ka). This totally debunks Mellars' and Mishra's recent claims, the usual "molecular clock" nonsense (that so many people seems willing to believe at face value), and widens significantly the earliest plausible dates for the colonization of Asia (beyond Arabia-Palestine-Persian Gulf) making findings like Zhirendong jaw (the oldest non-Palestinian H. sapiens remains out of Africa, dated to c. 100,000 BP) much more credible.

Until today I was very much in doubt about accepting dates of c. 100,000 years ago for the Asian colonization but since right now I am adopting this model as the most likely one. In other words: it seems clear that the people already settled in Arabia and the Persian Gulf "oasis" did not wait for climatic pressure at the end of the Abbassia Pluvial to send them out in search of new lands: they did it when the pluvial period was still holding the arid gates of Asia open for them.

All the evidence adds up well now. 

_______________________________________

Note: the full paper was available at Academia.edu at the time of writing this:  HERE and HERE.

Mellars challenges the 'early out of Africa' model

I do not have yet access to this potentially key paper, so first of all I want to make an appeal here to share a copy with me (→ email address). Thanks in advance. Update: got it (thanks to all who shared, you people are just great!) I will review it again as soon as possible.

Update (Jun 18): complementary review of the full paper now available here.

Paul Mellars et al., Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia. PNAS 2013. Pay per view (6-month embargo) → LINK [doi:10.1073/pnas.1306043110]

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.

A review has been published at Live Science.

South Asian artifacts from ~30-50 Ka BP.

By "genetic evidence" they obviously mean "molecular clock" nonsense, so it is not evidence at all but mere speculation. However I am indeed very interested in knowing in detail what they mean by "archaeological evidence", because they seem to get into direct confrontation with much accumulated evidence, first and foremost all of Petraglia's research in both India and Arabia but also with the quite strong evidence for pre-60 Ka human presence in Australia and growing evidence for pre-60 Ka modern humans in SE Asia (in some cases even as old as 100 Ka). 

It must be said that Paul Mellars has been criticized before a lot for several reasons but very especially for his adherence to the quite speculative "modern human behavior" conjecture and, relatedly, bigotric attitudes against Neanderthal intellectual capabilities, based on nothing too solid. Therefore I'm generally skeptic about what Mellars has to say on this matter because this kind of conclusion is what one would expect from him. 

However Mellars is certainly a distinguished academic and, even if prejudiced and stuck to his own old-school and somewhat Eurocentric interpretations, he knows his trade as archaeologist and prehistorian. So he may be onto something, even if it is not exactly what he wants us to believe. 

For example, it is not impossible that this research may have, unbeknown to the authors, found evidence of a secondary OoA wave (maybe related to the spread of Y-DNA D and mtDNA N?) or even a distinctive evolution in Southern Asian technology prior to the expansion of Western Eurasia. 

It is interesting that they suggest that the 80-60/50 Ka toolkits of India would have been made by Neanderthals, when they are not describing them at all as Mousterian, the almost exclusively Neanderthal techno-culture, or Mousterian-related.

I have some difficulties judging before reading the whole study. However the supplemental material (quite extensive) is freely accessible and for what I can see there:

1. They dedicate much text to attempt to justify a particular version of mainstream "molecular clock" hypothesis, which are clearly broke in my understanding. The kind of arguments "rebated" are more or less what I have been putting forward since many years ago. Ironically their "molecular clock" estimates make N and R much older than M, what I absolutely oppose (just count mutations downstream of the L3 node).
2. No real attention is given instead to the geographical structure/distribution of major mtDNA haplogroups, only mentioned in relation to "molecular clock" speculations.
3. The criticism of the African affinity of the Jwalapuram (Jurreru Valley) cores (Petraglia 2007) focuses on dismissal of any possibility of comparison, rather than on alternative comparisons. 
4. Another "criticism" is that there is no apparent connection between Jwalapuram and the Nubian Complex (why there should be any?, it is not the only East African techno-culture, nor the only group that shows indications of traveling to Arabia in the Abbassia Pluvial).
5. Also it is "criticized" that the most comparable African culture, Howiesons Poort) is not recorded before c. 71 Ka BP (what IMO may indicate late cultural dispersals to Southern Africa from East Africa, for example, but, hey!, Mellars is fencing off balls like crazy at his conservative goal). 
6. They find clear similitudes between Indian and African microlithic industries (apparently related to the development of "mode 4" in both areas, as well as in West Eurasia). Indian industries are dated to c. 38-40 Ka BP, while African ones are dated to c. 49 Ka BP (Kenya) or later. However West Eurasian ones have dates as old as 55 Ka BP (not for Mellars, who remains stuck in older date references which he describes as ∼40–45 ka [calibrated (cal.) before present (B.P.)]), what really suggest that we are talking here not of the "out of Africa" but of the West Eurasian colonization process (necessarily from further into Asia, genetic phylo-geographic structure demands) with offshoots to the nearby regions. 
7. Another element of late Africa-India "similitude" they find is "the remarkable, double bounded criss-cross design incised on ostrich eggshell", dated in India (Patne) to at least ∼30 ka (cal. B.P.), much earlier in South Africa. For Mellars this is beyond the range of either pure coincidence or entirely independent and remarkably convergent cultural evolutionary processes. Hmmm, really? Or are we before a clear case of wishful thinking as happens with the Solutrean-Clovis relationship hypothesis? Isn't it 30 Ka BP anyhow well beyond any reasonable expectations for the OoA time frame, including Mellar's own conjectures?
8. Mellars accepts the paradox that the geographical limits of these highly distinctive microblade and geometric microlithic technologies are confined to the Indian subcontinent, with no currently documented traces of these technologies in regions farther to the east. And then makes up excuses for it, such as biological and cultural bottlenecks caused by "founder effects", mysteriously leading to a loss or simplification of cultural and technological know-how, as well as fininding new and contrasting environments (in the same latitudes?!)
9. Even in the case of Arabian colonization, Mellars shows to be in a very defensive attitude, admitting only to the reality of the Palestinian sites with clearly modern skulls, as well as to the area of Nubian Complex colonization (on whose peculiarities he insists a lot, as if it would be the only expression of the wider MSA techno-complex), disdaining all the other MSA colonization areas and, often ill-defined, variants.

In brief, for what I could see in the supplemental material, along with some potentially interesting references to the relative cultural community spanning from East Africa to South Asia at the time of emergence of "mode 4" industries, it seems that Mellars and allies are essentially putting the cart (their models) before the horses (the facts), what is bad science. 

In 2008, Zilhao and d'Errico angrily accused Mellars of being an obsolete armchair prehistorian (different words maybe, same idea). Back in the day I was tempted to support Mellars but nowadays I must agree that he is clearly stuck in a one-sided interpretation of prehistory whose time is long gone. Whatever the case I welcome the debate and can only hope that will help to produce even more evidence to further clarify the actual facts of the Prehistory of Humankind.

African MSA

As I mentioned recently, I am collaborating in a joint series of articles in Spanish language which try to explore the expansion of Homo sapiens from the double viewpoint of archaeology and population genetics. The series, hosted by Noticias de Prehistoria - Prehistoria al Día, began this past Thursday with David Sánchez' article on the African MSA, earliest fossils of H. sapiens and other early African cultures like the Lupemban and Aterian. In the next week I plan to explore the genetic aspects, in line with what has been published in this blog and its predecessor Leherensuge.

But so far let's try to synthesize the most important aspects of David's entry at his blog. First and foremost is this map, which I believe is of great interest because of its synthetic informative value:

Legend translation:
· Fossil remains of Homo sapiens (195-90 Ka BP)
· Aterian sites (170*-40 Ka BP)
· Nubian complex [MSA] sites (115-37 Ka BP)
· Lupemban sites (230-130 Ka BP)
· Undetermined MSA
· South African [MSA] sites (165-59 Ka BP)
· Some early MSA sites
[* personally I am a bit skeptic about the oldest Aterian dates but well...]

It's possible that it's not totally complete (feel free to add to our unavoidably limited knowledge) but it does gather in a quick view most of the African Middle Paleolithic (MSA, Aterian and Lupemban). The site of Katanda which has a special interest because of the harpoons, the earliest known ever, was absent in the version first uploaded but this has been corrected now.

This synthetic map, together with the extensive bibliography (in several languages) that David links at the bottom of his article are, I believe, an interesting reference for all those interested in the origins of Homo sapiens and its first prehistory in the African continent.

Paleolithic mattresses

Most readers are probably at least somewhat familiar with the many, often impressive and revealing, South African sites but, besides the already mentioned Katanda harpoons, what really impressed me a lot was the finding in Sibudu, Northern Mozambique, near Lake Malawi, of fragments of ancient fossilized mattresses made up of vegetation that has bug-repealing properties (→ news article at El Mundo[es]). Apparently the owners, some 73,000 years ago, burnt them now and then in order to destroy parasites. Since c. 58,000 BP the number of mattresses, fires and ashes grew, surely indicating greater population densities, at least locally. 

The ancient inhabitants of that area of Mozambique are also known to have milled and processed, some 100,000 years ago, a diverse array of plants, including sorghum, "African potato" (medicinal), wine palm, false banana, pigeon peas, etc.

The Katanda harpoons

Recently David Sánchez (of Noticias de Prehistoria - Prehistoria al Día[es]) asked me to collaborate in a series at his blog on the early prehistory and expansion of Homo sapiens, from the viewpoints of both archaeology and population genetics. I gladly accepted, of course. The first articles will be published in the next days/weeks at his blog (I plan to make synthesis of them in English here but not full translations - too much work). The bulk of the archaeological materials will be done by David, while I am taking responsibility mostly for the genetic aspects.

As he has been preparing the first article on the African Middle Stone Age, David stumbled upon a quite fascinating curiosity that was unknown to both and is probably of interest for the readers of this blog: the existence of well-finished proto-harpoons in the MSA of Katanda (North Kivu, D.R. Congo, near Uganda - not to be confused with another larger town named Katanda in the Kasaï-Oriental province) dated to some 110-80,000 years ago. 

I can only imagine that this quite unknown but fascinating materials should be of interest to the readers of this blog. 

Source: Dictionary of Ichtyology

The main direct reference for this unusual finding is:

J.E. Yellen et al., A middle stone age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire. Science 1995. Pay per view → LINK [doi:10.1126/science.7725100]

Abstract

Three archaeological sites at Katanda on the Upper Semliki River in the Western Rift Valley of Zaire have provided evidence for a well-developed bone industry in a Middle Stone Age context. Artifacts include both barbed and unbarbed points as well as a daggerlike object. Dating by both direct and indirect means indicate an age of approximately 90,000 years or older. Together with abundant fish (primarily catfish) remains, the bone technology indicates that a complex subsistence specialization had developed in Africa by this time. The level of behavioral competence required is consistent with that of upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens sapiens. These data support an African origin of behaviorally as well as biologically modern humans.

This discovery has been mentioned later on by more accessible materials, for example: D'Errico & Stringer 2011, D'Errico 2006 (in French) or a book by Luis Raposo (in Spanish). 

Regardless of the speculations about the so-called "modern human behavior", what it clearly means is that those ancient Africans produced well-finished barbed proto-harpoons (not known of otherwise until Magdalenian times in Europe) and used them to fish in the Semliki river (being one of the earliest documented cases of this kind of economy).

Advanced lithic tech 70,000 years ago in South Africa

A new paper argues for the importance of ill-researched early African stone technologies in human techno-cultural evolution, based mostly on the heat-treated microlithic technology used at Pinnacle Point and its persistence through time. 

Kyle S. Brown et al., An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71,000 years ago in South Africa. Nature 2012. Pay per view ··> LINK [doi:10.1038/nature11660]

Abstract

There is consensus that the modern human lineage appeared in Africa before 100,000 years ago^{1, 2}. But there is debate as to when cultural and cognitive characteristics typical of modern humans first appeared, and the role that these had in the expansion of modern humans out of Africa³. Scientists rely on symbolically specific proxies, such as artistic expression, to document the origins of complex cognition. Advanced technologies with elaborate chains of production are also proxies, as these often demand high-fidelity transmission and thus language. Some argue that advanced technologies in Africa appear and disappear and thus do not indicate complex cognition exclusive to early modern humans in Africa^{3, 4}. The origins of composite tools and advanced projectile weapons figure prominently in modern human evolution research, and the latter have been argued to have been in the exclusive possession of modern humans^{5, 6}. Here we describe a previously unrecognized advanced stone tool technology from Pinnacle Point Site 5–6 on the south coast of South Africa, originating approximately 71,000 years ago. This technology is dominated by the production of small bladelets (microliths) primarily from heat-treated stone. There is agreement that microlithic technology was used to create composite tool components as part of advanced projectile weapons^{7, 8}. Microliths were common worldwide by the mid-Holocene epoch, but have a patchy pattern of first appearance that is rarely earlier than 40,000 years ago^{9, 10}, and were thought to appear briefly between 65,000 and 60,000 years ago in South Africa and then disappear. Our research extends this record to ~71,000 years, shows that microlithic technology originated early in South Africa, evolved over a vast time span (~11,000 years), and was typically coupled to complex heat treatment that persisted for nearly 100,000 years. Advanced technologies in Africa were early and enduring; a small sample of excavated sites in Africa is the best explanation for any perceived ‘flickering’ pattern.

Supplementary materials (PDF) are freely available.

Supplementary Figure 2. Artifacts including crescent shaped backed blades (A-L) and notched blades (M-U) from the DBCS at PP5-6 show affinities with the Howiesons Poort industry. Backed blades are oriented with backed edge up and unmodified edge down. Notched blades are oriented parallel with axis of flake removal.

See also:

• Solutrean-style retouch 75,000 years ago in South Africa
  
• The Nubian techno-complex of Dhofar: yet another evidence for an early migration out-of-Africa via Arabia  
  
• Evidence of human beachcombing in South Africa: 164-120,000 years ago
• Decorated ostrich eggshells from MSA South Africa (at my old blog Leherensuge)
• Not yet metallurgy but the same basic concept... 75,000 years ago (at Leherensuge)
• More evidence for arrows 60,000 years ago (at Leherensuge)
  
• People ate processed sorghum 100,000 years ago in Mozambique (at Leherensuge)
  

Echoes from the Past (Mar 16)

You know: the stuff that should have been commented if I was perfect or a paid professional - but was not:

Genetics

Pigmentation reasonably predicted

Yan Klimentidis mentions today that, according to a new paper (Cerqueira 2012, pay per view) as much as 64% of skin pigmentation can be predicted from genes (many of them), reaching to as much as 94% with freckles. The rate of success is much lower however for hair and eye color (44% and 36% respectively).

Are Ethiopians genetically adapted to high altitudes?

I'm generally skeptic of claims of genetic adaption to high altitudes when it does not seem to have ever been demonstrated that this adaption is genetic and not just mere biological flexibility caused by living in the area since childhood. In any case, L. Scheinfeldt 2012 (open access) claims that some candidate genes have been identified for the Amhara.

Taurine cattle could descend from as few as 80 female founders ··> R. Bollognino 2012 (ppv).

Human Evolution

Honey and human evolution: surely you never thought about it before, right? Nutritional anthropologist A. Crittenden thinks that honey may have been more important than meat, based on Hadza practices, which include symbiosis (cooperation) with a bird ··> The Rebel Yell.

Did prehistoric climate change affect human evolution the same as other animals? That is what J.R. Stewart and C.B. Stringer argue in a paper (ppv) ··> Science Daily.

Paleolithic

Speculating about Still Bay culture (South Africa) and climate change ··> article by archaeologist J. Tolleson at Nature.

These marks are the first evidence of humans in Ohio

First evidence of hunting in Ohio c. 13,500 years ago ··> Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Universal rock art script? David Sánchez mentions again[es] (I commented in 2010 too) the unusual hypothesisi of G. von Petzinger on the possibility that some sort of universal script used by hunter-gatherers around the world, as the markings on the walls appear to be roughly the same everywhere. I am rather skeptic though but curious anyhow. Among the links provided some are in English: video, The Guardian, New Scientist, UVic Space and Cambridge University.

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

One of the dolmens found in Alcónetar

Göbekli Tepe attracted worshipers from 500 kilometers around: from Cappadocia and the border of Armenia ··> Live Science. 

Some Neolithic settlers may have arrived to Iberia from North Africa (specifically Oran area) ··> Archaeology News Network.

Chalcolithic settlement found in Galicia, between Carballo and Berdoias, not far from the mamoa (dolmen) of O Valouco, as a highway was being built ··> La Voz de Galicia[es].

Two dolmens found in Alcónetar (Extremadura, Spain) as the water of the reservoir of Alcántara, one of the largest in Europe, recede because of unprecedented drought ··> Hoy[es].

Coastal route through Arabia 130,000 years ago confirmed?

A new paper on Arabian archaeological sites is making that claim. So far (Petraglia 2010) we had a limitation with dates only reaching in Arabia Peninsula as early as 90 Ka, while in South Asia and maybe other places these were probably quite older. Not anymore.

S. J. Armitage et al. The Southern Route “Out of Africa”: Evidence for an Early Expansion of Modern Humans into Arabia. Science 2011. Pay per view.

Abstract

The timing of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa is a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies. Existing data suggest a rapid coastal exodus via the Indian Ocean rim around 60,000 years ago. We present evidence from Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, demonstrating human presence in eastern Arabia during the last interglacial. The tool kit found at Jebel Faya has affinities to the late Middle Stone Age in northeast Africa, indicating that technological innovation was not necessary to facilitate migration into Arabia. Instead, we propose that low eustatic sea level and increased rainfall during the transition between marine isotope stages 6 and 5 allowed humans to populate Arabia. This evidence implies that AMH may have been present in South Asia before the Toba eruption (1).

The actual dates collected from the site are of as early as 123-127 Ka (supp. material is freely available).

Location of Jebel Faya and other key sites (dotted line: Pleistocene coast)

Other sources: Eureka Alert, Science Daily.

Related in this blog: Some key archaeological papers on the 'coastal route'.

Solutrean-style retouch 75,000 years ago in South Africa

Blombos point

Since I started reading about the MSA (Middle Stone Age, the main African Middle Paleolithic stone industry) I have been under the impression that it had Solutrean affinities.

Well, now it is confirmed that at least some MSA crafters, those from Blombos Cave, South Africa, effectively used this technique some 35,000 years before it was known in Europe.

Vincent Mourre et al. Early Use of Pressure Flaking on Lithic Artifacts at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Science 2010. Pay per view.

Abstract

Pressure flaking has been considered to be an Upper Paleolithic innovation dating to ~20,000 years ago (20 ka). Replication experiments show that pressure flaking best explains the morphology of lithic artifacts recovered from the ~75-ka Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. The technique was used during the final shaping of Still Bay bifacial points made on heat-treated silcrete. Application of this innovative technique allowed for a high degree of control during the detachment of individual flakes, resulting in thinner, narrower, and sharper tips on bifacial points. This technology may have been first invented and used sporadically in Africa before its later widespread adoption.

Very few stones types (obsidian, jasper, high quality flint) can be retouched this way without previous thermal modification (heating the stone appropriately). This was the technique used at Pinnacle Point, not far from Blombos in that very same time. The technological sophistication is such that it has been compared to metallurgy.

While Pinnacle point offered the first evidence of stone preparation through heating in order to improve knapping, Blombos has the first one of pressure retouch. Other evidence of the so-called modern behavior (symbolism, art, etc.) is also abundant in the South African MSA. Even food processing is known from that time in nearby Mozambique.

Source: Science Daily.


Solutrean points (or casts):

< From Don's Maps:  

A cast of a Solutrean "laurel leaf" spear point, over 13 inches long. These delicate and beautiful implements were prepared by delicate flaking across the surface. Many are so large and delicate that they could never have been actually used, and may have been status objects.

Photo: Man before history by John Waechter

< From Lithic Casting Lab:

VOLGU LAUREL-LEAF POINTS (CASTS) - SOLUTREAN PERIOD

LE VOLGU - EASTERN FRANCE - UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD

Francois Bordes wrote that "The majority of these specimens (Volgu cache) were chipped by direct percussion; but for the finer ones, indirect percussion or pressure has been used." Jacques Bordaz wrote that "The obvious fragility of some of the specimens (Volgu cache) suggest rather a ritual use, or perhaps they were simply examples of some knapper's bravura."

< From Wikipedia.

A more complete toolkit from Solutré-Pouilly.

Another culture that used the same technique later on was Clovis culture in Holocene North America.