78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest

Ceri Shipton; Patrick Roberts; Will Archer; Simon Armitage; Caesar Bita; James Blinkhorn; Colin Courtney-Mustaphi; Alison Crowther; Richard Curtis; Francesco D'Errico; Katerina Douka; Patrick  Faulkner; Huw Groucutt; Richard Helm; Andy Herries; Severinus Jembe; Nikos Kourampas; Julia Lee-Thorp; Rob Marchant; Julio Mercader; Africa  Pitarch Marti; Mary Prendergast; Ben Rowson; Amini Tengeza; Ruth Tibesasa; Tom White; Michael  Petraglia; Nicole Boivin

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest

Ceri Shipton
, Patrick Roberts
, Will Archer
, Simon Armitage
, Caesar Bita
, James Blinkhorn
, Colin Courtney-Mustaphi
, Alison Crowther
, Richard Curtis
, Francesco D'Errico
, Katerina Douka
, Patrick Faulkner
, Huw Groucutt
, Richard Helm
, Andy Herries
, Severinus Jembe
, Nikos Kourampas
, Julia Lee-Thorp
, Rob Marchant
, Julio Mercader

Africa Pitarch Marti, Mary Prendergast, Ben Rowson, Amini Tengeza, Ruth Tibesasa, Tom White, Michael Petraglia, Nicole Boivin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Middle to Later Stone Age transition in Africa has been debated as a significant shift in human technological, cultural, and cognitive evolution. However, the majority of research on this transition is currently focused on southern Africa due to a lack of long-term, stratified sites across much of the African continent. Here, we report a 78,000-year-long archaeological record from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya. Following a shift in toolkits ~67,000 years ago, novel symbolic and technological behaviors assemble in a non-unilinear manner. Against a backdrop of a persistent tropical forest-grassland ecotone, localized innovations better characterise the Late Pleistocene of this part of East Africa than alternative emphases on dramatic revolutions or migrations.

Original language	English
Article number	1832 (2018)
Pages (from-to)	1-8
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3
Publication status	Published - 9 May 2018

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10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Shipton, C., Roberts, P., Archer, W., Armitage, S., Bita, C., Blinkhorn, J., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Crowther, A., Curtis, R., D'Errico, F., Douka, K., Faulkner, P., Groucutt, H., Helm, R., Herries, A., Jembe, S., Kourampas, N., Lee-Thorp, J., Marchant, R., ... Boivin, N. (2018). 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nature Communications, 9, 1-8. Article 1832 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

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title = "78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest",

abstract = "The Middle to Later Stone Age transition in Africa has been debated as a significant shift in human technological, cultural, and cognitive evolution. However, the majority of research on this transition is currently focused on southern Africa due to a lack of long-term, stratified sites across much of the African continent. Here, we report a 78,000-year-long archaeological record from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya. Following a shift in toolkits \textasciitilde{}67,000 years ago, novel symbolic and technological behaviors assemble in a non-unilinear manner. Against a backdrop of a persistent tropical forest-grassland ecotone, localized innovations better characterise the Late Pleistocene of this part of East Africa than alternative emphases on dramatic revolutions or migrations.",

author = "Ceri Shipton and Patrick Roberts and Will Archer and Simon Armitage and Caesar Bita and James Blinkhorn and Colin Courtney-Mustaphi and Alison Crowther and Richard Curtis and Francesco D'Errico and Katerina Douka and Patrick Faulkner and Huw Groucutt and Richard Helm and Andy Herries and Severinus Jembe and Nikos Kourampas and Julia Lee-Thorp and Rob Marchant and Julio Mercader and \{Pitarch Marti\}, Africa and Mary Prendergast and Ben Rowson and Amini Tengeza and Ruth Tibesasa and Tom White and Michael Petraglia and Nicole Boivin",

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Shipton, C, Roberts, P, Archer, W, Armitage, S, Bita, C, Blinkhorn, J, Courtney-Mustaphi, C, Crowther, A, Curtis, R, D'Errico, F, Douka, K, Faulkner, P, Groucutt, H, Helm, R, Herries, A, Jembe, S, Kourampas, N, Lee-Thorp, J, Marchant, R, Mercader, J, Pitarch Marti, A, Prendergast, M, Rowson, B, Tengeza, A, Tibesasa, R, White, T, Petraglia, M & Boivin, N 2018, '78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest', Nature Communications, vol. 9, 1832 (2018), pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

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AU - Shipton, Ceri

AU - Roberts, Patrick

AU - Archer, Will

AU - Armitage, Simon

AU - Bita, Caesar

AU - Blinkhorn, James

AU - Courtney-Mustaphi, Colin

AU - Crowther, Alison

AU - Curtis, Richard

AU - D'Errico, Francesco

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AU - Faulkner, Patrick

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AU - Helm, Richard

AU - Herries, Andy

AU - Jembe, Severinus

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AU - Lee-Thorp, Julia

AU - Marchant, Rob

AU - Mercader, Julio

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AU - Prendergast, Mary

AU - Rowson, Ben

AU - Tengeza, Amini

AU - Tibesasa, Ruth

AU - White, Tom

AU - Petraglia, Michael

AU - Boivin, Nicole

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AB - The Middle to Later Stone Age transition in Africa has been debated as a significant shift in human technological, cultural, and cognitive evolution. However, the majority of research on this transition is currently focused on southern Africa due to a lack of long-term, stratified sites across much of the African continent. Here, we report a 78,000-year-long archaeological record from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya. Following a shift in toolkits ~67,000 years ago, novel symbolic and technological behaviors assemble in a non-unilinear manner. Against a backdrop of a persistent tropical forest-grassland ecotone, localized innovations better characterise the Late Pleistocene of this part of East Africa than alternative emphases on dramatic revolutions or migrations.

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