Constraining the Likely Technological Niches of Late Middle Pleistocene Hominins with Homo naledi as Case Study

AbstractWe develop a framework to differentiate the technological niches of co-existing hominin species by reviewing some theoretical biases influential in thinking about techno-behaviours of extinct hominins, such as a teleological bias in discussing technological evolution. We suggest that some stone-tool classification systems underestimate technological variability, while overestimating the complexity of the behaviours most commonly represented. To model the likely technological niches of extinct populations, we combine ecological principles (i.e. competitive exclusion) with physical anthropology and the archaeological record. We test the framework by applying it to the co-existence of Homo naledi and Homo sapiens during the late Middle Pleistocene in southern Africa. Based on our analysis, we suggest that tool use was probably not an essential part of H. naledi’s niche, but that technology occasionally provided caloric benefits. In contrast, tool use was a structural part of the H. sapiens way of life. We provide reasoning for our interpretation that the latter population is associated with more sophisticated reduction strategies and the development of prepared core technology. The method also has applicability to cases such as the co-existence of different toolmakers during the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) in East Africa and the co-existence of Neanderthals and H. sapiens in Eurasia.

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Directional changes in Levallois core technologies between Eastern Africa, Arabia, and the Levant during MIS 5

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-90744-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

James Blinkhorn ◽

Huw S. Groucutt ◽

Eleanor M. L. Scerri ◽

Michael D. Petraglia ◽

Simon Blockley

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Environmental Parameters ◽

Detailed Comparison ◽

Eastern Africa ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Reduction Activity ◽

Core Technology ◽

Geographic Expansion ◽

First Time ◽

Mis 5

AbstractMarine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, ~ 130 to 71 thousand years ago, was a key period for the geographic expansion of Homo sapiens, including engagement with new landscapes within Africa and dispersal into Asia. Occupation of the Levant by Homo sapiens in MIS 5 is well established, while recent research has documented complementary evidence in Arabia. Here, we undertake the first detailed comparison of Levallois core technology from eastern Africa, Arabia, and the Levant during MIS 5, including multiple sites associated with Homo sapiens fossils. We employ quantitative comparisons of individual artefacts that provides a detailed appraisal of Levallois reduction activity in MIS 5, thereby enabling assessment of intra- and inter-assemblage variability for the first time. Our results demonstrate a pattern of geographically structured variability embedded within a shared focus on centripetal Levallois reduction schemes and overlapping core morphologies. We reveal directional changes in core shaping and flake production from eastern Africa to Arabia and the Levant that are independent of differences in geographic or environmental parameters. These results are consistent with a common cultural inheritance between these regions, potentially stemming from a shared late Middle Pleistocene source in eastern Africa.

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Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Aurélien Mounier ◽

Marta Mirazón Lahr

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Morphological Diversity ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Last Common Ancestor ◽

North African ◽

East African ◽

Complex Process ◽

Source Populations ◽

Definition Of ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene

Abstract The origin of Homo sapiens remains a matter of debate. The extent and geographic patterning of morphological diversity among Late Middle Pleistocene (LMP) African hominins is largely unknown, thus precluding the definition of boundaries of variability in early H. sapiens and the interpretation of individual fossils. Here we use a phylogenetic modelling method to predict possible morphologies of a last common ancestor of all modern humans, which we compare to LMP African fossils (KNM-ES 11693, Florisbad, Irhoud 1, Omo II, and LH18). Our results support a complex process for the evolution of H. sapiens, with the recognition of different, geographically localised, populations and lineages in Africa – not all of which contributed to our species’ origin. Based on the available fossils, H. sapiens appears to have originated from the coalescence of South and, possibly, East-African source populations, while North-African fossils may represent a population which introgressed into Neandertals during the LMP.

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Late Middle Pleistocene Levallois stone-tool technology in southwest China

Nature ◽

10.1038/s41586-018-0710-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 565 (7737) ◽

pp. 82-85 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Yue Hu ◽

Ben Marwick ◽

Jia-Fu Zhang ◽

Xue Rui ◽

Ya-Mei Hou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Southwest China ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Tool Technology ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene

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Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abh3020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 372 (6549) ◽

pp. 1429-1433 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yossi Zaidner ◽

Laura Centi ◽

Marion Prévost ◽

Norbert Mercier ◽

Christophe Falguères ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Lithic Analysis ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Western Asia ◽

Production Technologies ◽

Radiometric Ages ◽

And Behavior ◽

Two Populations ◽

Shed Light

Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

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Herto Brains and Minds: Behaviour of Early Homo sapiens from the Middle Awash

Social Brain, Distributed Mind ◽

10.5871/bacad/9780197264522.003.0003 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Yonas Beyene

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Stone Tools ◽

Research Area ◽

Mortuary Practices ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Post Mortem ◽

Early Homo ◽

Middle Awash ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene

The discovery of three late Middle Pleistocene hominid crania, Homo sapiens idaltu, at Herto in the Middle Awash research area in Ethiopia in 1997 shed considerable light on this little-known period in Africa. These fossils consist of two adults' and a child's crania. All are morphologically intermediate between geologically earlier African fossils and anatomically modern later Pleistocene humans. The three Herto Homo sapiens idaltu crania show cutmarks indicating defleshing using sharp-edged stone tools. The post-mortem modifications and manipulation of the crania, demonstrated best on the child and broken adult crania, suggest that Homo sapiens idaltu performed ritual mortuary practices of which the dimension, context and meaning might only be revealed by further discoveries.

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Why invent the handle? Electromyography (EMG) and efficiency of use data investigating the prehistoric origin and selection of hafted stone knives

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-021-01421-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Alastair Key ◽

Ian Farr ◽

Robert Hunter ◽

Anna Mika ◽

Metin I. Eren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Performance ◽

Cutting Tools ◽

Cutting Edge ◽

Cutting Performance ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Human Populations ◽

Tool Types ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene ◽

Selection Of

AbstractFor over 3 million years hominins held stone-cutting tools in the hand, gripping the portion of tool displaying a sharp cutting edge directly. During the late Middle Pleistocene human populations started to produce hafted composite knives, where the stone element displaying a sharp cutting edge was secured in a handle. Prevailing archaeological literature suggests that handles convey benefits to tool users by increasing cutting performance and reducing musculoskeletal stresses, yet to date these hypotheses remain largely untested. Here, we compare the cutting performance of hafted knives, ‘basic’ flake tools, and large bifacial tools during two standardized cutting tasks. Going further, we examine the comparative ergonomics of each tool type through electromyographic (EMG) analysis of nine upper limb muscles. Results suggest that knives (1) recruit muscles responsible for digit flexion (i.e. gripping) and in-hand manipulation relatively less than alternative stone tool types and (2) may convey functional performance benefits relative to unhafted stone tool alternatives when considered as a generalised cutting tool. Furthermore, our data indicate that knives facilitate greater muscle activity in the upper arm and forearm, potentially resulting in the application of greater cutting forces during tool use. Compared to unhafted prehistoric alternatives, hafted stone knives demonstrate increased ergonomic properties and some functional performance benefits. These factors would likely have contributed to the invention and widespread adoption of hafted stone knives during the late Middle Pleistocene.

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The Early Middle Stone Age in South Africa

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.118 ◽

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.

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Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age

Science ◽

10.1126/science.aao2646 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 360 (6384) ◽

pp. 90-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Alison S. Brooks ◽

John E. Yellen ◽

Richard Potts ◽

Anna K. Behrensmeyer ◽

Alan L. Deino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Stone Age ◽

Red Pigment ◽

Associated Fauna ◽

Long Distance ◽

Tool Materials ◽

Uranium Series

Previous research suggests that the complex symbolic, technological, and socioeconomic behaviors that typifyHomo sapienshad roots in the middle Pleistocene <200,000 years ago, but data bearing on human behavioral origins are limited. We present a series of excavated Middle Stone Age sites from the Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya, dating from ≥295,000 to ~320,000 years ago by argon-40/argon-39 and uranium-series methods. Hominins at these sites made prepared cores and points, exploited iron-rich rocks to obtain red pigment, and procured stone tool materials from ≥25- to 50-kilometer distances. Associated fauna suggests a broad resource strategy that included large and small prey. These practices imply notable changes in how individuals and groups related to the landscape and to one another and provide documentation relevant to human social and cognitive evolution.

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