First high resolution chronostratigraphy for the early North African Acheulean at Casablanca (Morocco)

AbstractThe onset of the Acheulean, marked by the emergence of large cutting tools (LCTs), is considered a major technological advance in the Early Stone Age and a key turning point in human evolution. The Acheulean originated in East Africa at ~ 1.8–1.6 Ma and is reported in South Africa between ~ 1.6 and > 1.0 Ma. The timing of its appearance and development in North Africa have been poorly known due to the near-absence of well-dated sites in reliable contexts. The ~ 1 Ma stone artefacts of Tighennif (Algeria) and Thomas Quarry I-Unit L (ThI-L) at Casablanca (Morocco) are thus far regarded as documenting the oldest Acheulean in North Africa but whatever the precision of their stratigraphical position, both deserve a better chronology. Here we provide a chronology for ThI-L, based on new magnetostratigraphic and geochemical data. Added to the existing lithostratigraphy of the Casablanca sequence, these results provide the first robust chronostratigraphic framework for the early North African Acheulean and firmly establish its emergence in this part of the continent back at least to ~ 1.3 Ma.

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Raw material optimization and stone tool engineering in the Early Stone Age of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

Journal of The Royal Society Interface ◽

10.1098/rsif.2019.0377 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (162) ◽

pp. 20190377 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alastair Key ◽

Tomos Proffitt ◽

Ignacio de la Torre

Keyword(s):

Functional Performance ◽

Material Selection ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Cutting Tools ◽

Raw Material ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Olduvai Gorge ◽

Stone Age ◽

Material Optimization ◽

Early Stone Age

For more than 1.8 million years hominins at Olduvai Gorge were faced with a choice: whether to use lavas, quartzite or chert to produce stone tools. All are available locally and all are suitable for stone tool production. Using controlled cutting tests and fracture mechanics theory we examine raw material selection decisions throughout Olduvai's Early Stone Age. We quantify the force, work and material deformation required by each stone type when cutting, before using these data to compare edge sharpness and durability. Significant differences are identified, confirming performance to depend on raw material choice. When combined with artefact data, we demonstrate that Early Stone Age hominins optimized raw material choices based on functional performance characteristics. Doing so flexibly: choosing raw materials dependent on their sharpness and durability, alongside a tool's loading potential and anticipated use-life. In this way, we demonstrate that early lithic artefacts at Olduvai Gorge were engineered to be functionally optimized cutting tools.

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Imaging and photogrammetry models of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A high-resolution digital database for research and conservation of Early Stone Age sites

Journal of Archaeological Science ◽

10.1016/j.jas.2016.08.002 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 75 ◽

pp. 40-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Gaygysyz Jorayev ◽

Karol Wehr ◽

Alfonso Benito-Calvo ◽

Jackson Njau ◽

Ignacio de la Torre

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Olduvai Gorge ◽

Stone Age ◽

Digital Database ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Early Stone Age

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A Refitting Study of Late Early to Middle Stone Age Lithic Assemblages from the Site of Kudu Koppie, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Journal of African Archaeology ◽

10.3213/2191-5784-10239 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 133-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

T. Alexandra Sumner

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Limpopo Province ◽

Raw Material ◽

Easy Access ◽

Stone Age ◽

High Concentration ◽

Material Sources ◽

Close Proximity ◽

Early Stone Age

The examination of lithic material from the late Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) levels of Kudu Koppie (KK), Limpopo Province (South Africa) has revealed a range of raw material exploitation patterns and lithic technology. Situated on an escarpment within close proximity to the modern day Limpopo River, and given the high concentration of raw material sources within easy access of the site, KK offered an ideal environment for use by early human groups. This paper reviews the results of a refitting study of material associated with four types of raw material from four out of ten excavated squares at KK. The results demonstrate evidence for a range of technological approaches that are, in some cases, associated with differential use of various lithic materials. In addition, the analysis of the KK refits offers high-resolution insights into the unique qualities of individual technological events including the recycling of previously exploited nodules and, through additional flaking, the co-opting and alteration of one type of tool for the purpose of producing a second form of tool. Moreover, this paper also clearly demonstrates the applicability and value of refitting large Early and Middle Stone Age assemblages, thus offering interpretations concerning early prehistoric technological behaviour that would otherwise be rarely revealed.

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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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Some Problems Relating to the Early Stone Age in South Africa

The South African Archaeological Bulletin ◽

10.2307/3888299 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 24 (95/96) ◽

pp. 174 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

R. R. Inskeep

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Stone Age ◽

Early Stone Age

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Experimental stone tool replication at the Early Stone Age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports ◽

10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.08.043 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 44-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John McNabb ◽

Kathy Kuman

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Stone Age ◽

Early Stone Age

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Past African dust inputs in Western Mediterranean area controlled by the complex interaction between ITCZ, NAO and TSI

10.5194/cp-2019-111 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Pierre Sabatier ◽

Marie Nicolle ◽

Christine Piot ◽

Christophe Colin ◽

Maxime Debret ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

North Africa ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Saharan Dust ◽

Geochemical Data ◽

Dust Deposition ◽

Climatic Forcing ◽

African Dust ◽

Wavelet Analyses

Abstract. North Africa is the largest source of mineral dust on Earth, which has multiple impacts on the climate system; however, our understanding of decadal to centennial changes in African dust emissions over the last few millennia is limited. Here, we present a high-resolution multiproxy analysis of sediment core from high-elevation lake Bastani, in Corsica Island to reconstruct past African dust inputs to the Western Mediterranean area over the last 3150 yrs cal BP. Clay Mineralogy and geochemical data allows us to identify that terrigenous fluxes are almost exclusively related to atmospheric dust deposition from the West and North Sahara over this period, which is consistent with current observations. High resolution geochemical contents provide a reliable proxy of Saharan dust inputs with millennial to centennial scale variations. Millennial variations have been correlated to the long term southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) with an increase of dust input since 1070 yrs cal BP. This correlation suggests a strong link with ITCZ and could reflect the increased availability of dust sources to be mobilized with an increase in wind and a decrease in precipitation over West and North Africa. For centennial to decadal variations, wavelet analyses show that since 1070 yr cal BP, NAO is the main climatic forcing with an increase of Saharan dust input during positive phase, as suggested by previous study over the last decades. However, when ITCZ is in a northern position, before 1070 yr cal BP, wavelet analyses indicate that total solar irradiance (TSI) is the main forcing factor, with an increase of African dust input during low TSI. With climate reanalysis over the instrumental era, during low TSI we observe a significant negative anomaly in pressure over Africa which is known to increase the dust transport. These two climatic forcing factors (NAO, TSI) modulate Saharan dust inputs to the Mediterranean area at centennial timescale through changes in wind and transport pathways.

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