The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior.

Although aquatic resources are often seen as central to the development of post-Pleistocene cultural complexity, most models of human evolution have all but ignored the role of aquatic or maritime adaptations during the earlier stages of human history. When did aquatic resources, maritime adaptations, and seafaring first play a significant role in human evolution? I explore this fundamental question by (1) reviewing various theories on the subject; (2) discussing a variety of problems that prevent archaeologists from providing a clear answer; and (3) examining the archaeological record for evidence of early aquatic resource use or seafaring. I conclude that aquatic resources, wherever they were both abundant and relatively accessible, have probably always been used opportunistically by our ancestors. Evidence suggests, however, that aquatic and maritime adaptations (including seafaring) played a significantly greater role in the demographic and geographic expansion of anatomically modern humans after about 150,000 years ago. Another significant expansion occurred somewhat later in time, with the development of more sophisticated seafaring, fishing, and marine hunting technologies.

The Archaeology of Aquatic Adaptations: Paradigms for a New Millennium

The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction of woody cover in the fossil record. Here we show that the fraction of woody cover in tropical ecosystems can be quantified using stable carbon isotopes in soils. Furthermore, we use fossil soils from hominin sites in the Awash and Omo-Turkana basins in eastern Africa to reconstruct the fraction of woody cover since the Late Miocene epoch (about 7 million years ago). (13)C/(12)C ratio data from 1,300 palaeosols at or adjacent to hominin sites dating to at least 6 million years ago show that woody cover was predominantly less than ∼40% at most sites. These data point to the prevalence of open environments at the majority of hominin fossil sites in eastern Africa over the past 6 million years.

Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years

Research in experimental archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and vertebrate taphonomy has appreciably increased our general understanding of the formation processes—cultural and natural—of archaeological sites. In synthesizing some of these recent advances, this paper focuses on the traces of artifacts and characteristics of deposits that can be used to identify the formation processes of specific deposits. These observational phenomena are grouped into three basic categories that structure the presentation: (1) simple properties of artifacts, (2) complex properties of artifacts, and (3) other properties of deposits. Also considered is the way in which prior knowledge can help the archaeologist to cope with the large number of processes and the nearly infinite combination of them that may have contributed to the specific deposits of interest. Several analytical strategies are proposed: (1) hypothesis testing, (2) multivariate analysis, and (3) use of published data to evaluate formation processes. This paper demonstrates that the identification of formation processes, which must precede behavioral inference and be accomplished by any research endeavor that uses evidence from the archaeological record, can become practical and routine.

Toward the identification of formation processes

https://www.ethiopianreview.com/pdf/001/Semaw2000.pdf

The World's Oldest Stone Artefacts from Gona, Ethiopia: Their Implications for Understanding Stone Technology and Patterns of Human Evolution Between 2·6-1·5 Million Years Ago

The Aduma region of the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia, contains multiple surface and in situ Middle Stone Age (MSA) occurrences that include lithics and spatially associated faunal and hominid remains. While one Aduma site may, on the basis of lithic comparison, be assigned to an early phase of the MSA, both absolute dates and lithic typology indicate that the remainder represent a significantly later stage of this industrial tradition, likely dating to ca. 80,000 to 100,000 years ago. Assemblages were deposited on an aggrading alluvially dominated landscape which included riverine and floodplain environments. Chronological changes in landform and raw material availability within the geographically limited Aduma region provided a dynamic context that required behavioral flexibility to adapt successfully. Analysis of ten assemblages from eight sites provides the basis for characterizing the Aduma sequence, setting it into broader sub-Saharan context and reconstructing aspects of hominid subsistence strategy and lithic economy. The Aduma lithic assemblages constitute a regional variant within the MSA characterized by a distinctive range of point, scraper and core types. Most striking are the small “microlithic” size of multiple types all produced by MSA technologies and the increasing emphasis on smaller tools over time, which suggests a process similar to yet independent from that which culminated in the appearance of the Late Stone Age. Faunal remains indicate use of multiple habitats with a strong and consistent reliance on riverine resources including large easily predated fish. Based on cranial remains, the Aduma hominids fall within the range of anatomically modern humans. Intersite comparison reveals a scheduling of subsistence and manufacturing behaviors typical of some ethnographically known hunter and gatherer groups. As raw material availability changed over time, lithic manufacturing and utilization patterns varied in an economically rational manner to maximize efficiently the use of scarce and valuable stone types. I N T R O D U C T I O N This article reports on a series of Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites excavated in the Aduma region, Middle Awash valley Ethiopia (Fig. 1) between 1993 and 1998 under the aegis of the Middle Awash research project. They derive their significance in part from the fact that they document a portion of the MSA sequence from a region in which little information is available and thus constitute a useful addition of data to the African archaeological record. The sites also serve to define a distinct regional tradition within the MSA and how it developed over time. Within the last decade, with the recognition that both anatomically modern humans and “complex” behaviors first appear in the MSA, increasing attention has been focused on this tradition. Understanding of the MSA, however, has been constrained not only by data limitations themselves but because of the narrow and restricted framework within which this industrial tradition has been viewed. While the debate over modern human origins is clearly of anthropological signifiA D U M A E T H I O P I A M I D D L E S T O N E A G E • 2 7 cance and MSA data relevant to its resolution, one negative and unintended side effect is the tendency not to address MSA behaviors in their own right, to ignore potentially unique features and the fact that the MSA constituted a set of changing functioning cultural systems which persisted over a broad expanse of sub Saharan Africa in excess of 200,000 years. Although the paucity of well-dated sites and sequences is partly responsible, also minimized in the “modern origins” debate is the fact that MSA adaptations vary significantly over both time and space; such homogenization not only blurs detail but also makes it difficult to discern adaptations specific to time and place. At Aduma, because of the number of sites excavated and assemblages analyzed, because they are constrained in both time and geography and because they show a range of behavioral variation it is possible to gain some insight into late MSA adaptation within this region. The Middle Awash Valley Ethiopian Aduma sites reported here are significant within this context. The localities that were given systematic inspection are mapped on Fig. 2. The excavated materials comprise 10 assemblages that include lithics and spatially associated vertebrate faunas from eight sites referred to as A1, A2 (VP1/1 and VP 1/3), A4, A5, A8, A8A, A8B. They represent a distinct localized variant within the Horn of Africa. While a second set of comparable sites (Shea et al., 2002) is possibly present in the Southern Ethiopian Rift Valley in the Omo River Kibish formation, archaeological data are insufficient to delineate clearly the boundaries of what is herein termed the “Aduma Figure 1. Location of the Middle Awash region, Aduma and the Ardu sediments. The area from Aduma village North to the furthermost Ardu sediment is denoted in this article as “Aduma.” 2 8 • P a l e o A n t h r o p o l o g y 2 0 0 5 Industry.” Aduma provides an example of a regional tradition which, while clearly MSA in technology, developed in relative independence following a trajectory towards lithic miniaturization over time; it provides an excellent comparative example to the better known South African sequence. Although at Aduma synchronic paleoenvironmental diversity is limited by a tightly constrained geographical area of only 15 sq. km, rapid geomorphological change characterizes this tectonically active region and the 10 assemblages which constitute the Aduma sample provide insight into how MSA hominids adapted to changing resource availability over time.

The Archaeology of Aduma Middle Stone Age Sites in the Awash Valley, Ethiopia

Geoarchaeology at Gi, a middle stone age and later stone age site in the Northwest Kalahari

Advances in archaeological method and theory, vol. 1: Edited by Michael B. Schiffer. 1978. xv + 426 pp, subject index. New York: Academic Press. £15·90

Arid landscapes of the southwestern Makgadikgadi, Botswana, are dominated by sandy lacustrine plains, which are veneered by grassy stabilized dunes and small evaporite basins (pans). In addition, the exotic Boteti River delivers a nearly permanent supply of water to the region from the Angolan highlands via the Okavango marshes. The history of this unusually intricate landscape was investigated through regional geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies focused at two archaeological sites. The first site, Toromoja I, preserves residues of Later Stone Age settlement along the shore of a now-dry lake; a mid-Holocene age is suggested. At the second site, Gwi Pan West, a Later Stone Age burial was excavated. This burial appears to be only several hundred years old, and can be referred to a landscape much like the present. The spatial and environmental contexts of these archaeological residues can best be understood in terms of a dynamic historical geomorphology shaped by past climatic, tectonic, ...

Historical Geomorphology and Geoarchaeology in the Southwestern Makgadikgadi Basin, Botswana

Archaeology of the Lusso Beds

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