Stable isotope paleoecology of Late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age humans from the Lake Victoria basin, Kenya

2015 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole D. Garrett ◽  
David L. Fox ◽  
Kieran P. McNulty ◽  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Daniel J. Peppe ◽  
...  
2015 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 28-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Daniel J. Peppe ◽  
Emily J. Beverly ◽  
Nick Blegen ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manvir Singh ◽  
Luke Glowacki

Many researchers assume that until 10-12,000 years ago, humans lived in small, mobile, relatively egalitarian bands composed mostly of kin. This “nomadic-egalitarian model” informs evolutionary explanations of behavior and our understanding of how contemporary societies differ from those of our evolutionary past. Here, we synthesize research challenging this model and propose an alternative, the diverse histories model, to replace it. We outline the limitations of using recent foragers as models of Late Pleistocene societies and the considerable social variation among foragers commonly considered small-scale, mobile, and egalitarian. We review ethnographic and archaeological findings covering 34 world regions showing that non-agricultural peoples often live in groups that are more sedentary, unequal, large, politically stratified, and capable of large-scale cooperation and resource management than is normally assumed. These characteristics are not restricted to extant Holocene hunter-gatherers but, as suggested by archaeological findings from 27 Middle Stone Age sites, likely characterized societies throughout the Late Pleistocene (until c. 130 ka), if not earlier. These findings have implications for how we understand human psychological adaptations and the broad trajectory of human history.


Sedimentology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1611-1635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Beverly ◽  
Steven G. Driese ◽  
Daniel J. Peppe ◽  
Cara R. Johnson ◽  
Lauren A. Michel ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 2682-2687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Isabelle Crevecoeur ◽  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Ravid Ekshtain ◽  
Joelle Nivens ◽  
...  

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576–22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Thompson ◽  
Alexander Mackay ◽  
Sheila Nightingale ◽  
David Wright ◽  
Jeong-Heon Choi ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary M.A. McDonald ◽  
Marcia F. Wiseman ◽  
Maxine R. Kleindienst ◽  
Jennifer R. Smith ◽  
Nicholas Taylor ◽  
...  

G. Caton-Thompson and E. W. Gardner designated new Pleistocene cultural units at Kharga Oasis in the 1930’s: both were originally termed ‘pre-Sebilian’, but were later locally named the ‘Levalloiso-Khargan’ and ‘Khargan’ industries. High on the Bulaq scarp face, a puzzling cluster of stone ‘alignments’ was discovered in 1931–32, with a reported, but discounted, association with ‘Levalloiso-Khargan’ artefacts. Gardner excavated some features in 1933. Members of the Kharga Oasis Prehistory Project relocated ‘Site J’ in January 2011, and verified the reported Khargan associations with the features. In 2008, the project found structural features associated with Khargan artefacts in the northern Gebel Yebsa survey area, confirming earlier finds in the southern oases of Kurkur and Dungul. Evidence there, and that found in Kharga and Dakhleh oases, is now designated as the Khargan Complex. The associated built stone features of the included cultural units appear to be unique in Late Pleistocene Africa, especially at Bulaq.


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