Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa

Humans evolved in a patchwork of semi-connected populations across Africa1,2; understanding when and how these groups connected is critical to interpreting our present-day biological and cultural diversity. Genetic analyses reveal that eastern and southern African lineages diverged sometime in the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 350–70 thousand years ago (ka)3,4; however, little is known about the exact timing of these interactions, the cultural context of these exchanges or the mechanisms that drove their separation. Here we compare ostrich eggshell bead variations between eastern and southern Africa to explore population dynamics over the past 50,000 years. We found that ostrich eggshell bead technology probably originated in eastern Africa and spread southward approximately 50–33 ka via a regional network. This connection breaks down approximately 33 ka, with populations remaining isolated until herders entered southern Africa after 2 ka. The timing of this disconnection broadly corresponds with the southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which caused periodic flooding of the Zambezi River catchment (an area that connects eastern and southern Africa). This suggests that climate exerted some influence in shaping human social contact. Our study implies a later regional divergence than predicted by genetic analyses, identifies an approximately 3,000-kilometre stylistic connection and offers important new insights into the social dimension of ancient interactions.

New insights into the late Middle Stone Age occupation of Oued el Akarit, southern Tunisia

This article reports on a new project to investigate the activities of early Homo sapiens in the area of the Chotts ‘megalake’ in southern Tunisia. Excavations in 2015 and 2019 at Oued el Akarit revealed one of a number of Middle Stone Age (MSA) horizons near the top of a long sequence of Upper Pleistocene deposits. The site identified as Oued el Akarit (Sondage 8) consists of lithic artefacts, bone fragments of large ungulates and pieces of ostrich eggshell. Many of the objects are burnt. Excavation of about nine square metres revealed that these were associated with a lightly trampled and combusted occupation surface. Amongst the identified artefacts were Levallois flakes some of which could be refitted, thereby indicating the generally undisturbed nature of the occupation. The lithic finds also included side scrapers and other tools diagnostic of the MSA but significantly no bifacial or tanged tools. OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) dating of the sediments and AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating of ostrich eggshell have produced uncalibrated age determinations in the range 37,000–40,000 years ago, one of the youngest ages for MSA sites in the region. This is the first example of a securely dated later MSA occupation in a riparian environment in south-eastern Tunisia.

Prehistoric landscapes, humans and ostriches: Highlighting geoarchaeological issues in the Tapi basin of Maharashtra (west-central India) - A multidisciplinary approach

The formal beginning of geoarchaeology in India can be traced back to 1863 when the first Palaeolith was documented and collected by Robert Bruce Foote in Tamil Nadu and later described in a detailed geological context. Today, various geological tools such as geospatial analytical tools are available to provide extra mileage to geoarchaeological investigations. They supplement field evidence and enable researchers to display, manipulate, and model geological data and the associated archaeological evidence. The present paper attempts to summarise the current status of understanding the Quaternary geoarchaeology of the Tapi River basin in west-central India. The aspects considered include geomorphology, landform evolution, morphometric parameters, relationships between climate and basin evolution, and Palaeolithic and Mesolithic evidence. This present study uses Landsat imagery, locational data, Survey of India (SOI) topographic sheets and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data in ArcGIS software. The study is the first comprehensive attempt to summarise the issue of prehistoric human adaptations (dominated mainly by Late Pleistocene evidence) through changing environments, with an assumption that the two occurred in synchronisation. Another assumption is that the reported lithic and fossil sites and the surrounding areas have preserved signatures of original landforms and sedimentary contexts.Through these perspectives and visual integration of topography, drainage networks and Landsat image parameters in a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, along with other variable field inputs, a testable hypothetical model of the Quaternary evolution of Central Tapi valley is proposed. Additionally, an AMS date of 47,145 cal BP for a newly-discovered ostrich eggshell fragment from Sakegaon near Bhusawal is presented and its palaeoanthropological implications are discussed. Altogether, our observations from the study area, such as an expansion of land use from the Acheulean onwards, signatures of arid phases and the oldest reported ostrich eggshell (OES), warrant further detailed multidisciplinary research. An in-depth understanding of the first-to-last occurrences of ostriches in the region and comprehensive picture of their pan- South Asian distribution, in general, will help address the issue of prehistoric human adaptations through changing environments.

Ostrich Eggshell Beads in Later Stone Age Contexts

Ostrich eggshell (OES) beads are a common feature of Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeology throughout eastern and southern Africa and have the potential to inform on site use, cultural diversity, social networks, and site formation. However, too often OES bead assemblages have not been recorded or studied in the necessary detail to make meaningful contributions to these important questions. In this respect, and to aid future research focusing on the African LSA, OES and OES beads must be discussed in detail, beginning with a background to ostriches and their eggs and commenting on why OES is an important raw material. Then, one should consider OES beads in detail, specifically, the manufacturing process, the social context in which they were made, and how they may have been used in the past. Subsequently, the focus should be on how OES bead assemblages are analyzed, as well as archaeometric approaches to studying OES bead residues and OES bead provenance. The potential insights gained from these diverse and multidisciplinary analytical approaches, especially when combined, are then highlighted through discussing trends in OES bead research from African LSA contexts. These trends include the contribution of OES beads to understanding the complex transition from hunter-gatherers to herders, the identification of different cultural groups in the past, and identifying the presence and extent of past social networks. The final focus should be on future research directions that will benefit OES bead research, specifically more detailed approaches to understanding OES bead diversity and the expansion of experimentally derived taphonomic frameworks for identifying past human and nonhuman behaviors in OES bead assemblages. Future research should build on the growing body of detailed OES bead analyses, as they provide unique insight and a strong complement to traditional archaeological approaches to understanding past peoples, groups, and cultures during the African LSA.