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 J. Armitage; Caesar Bita; James Blinkhorn; Colin Courtney-Mustaphi; Alison Crowther; Richard Curtis; Francesco D. Errico; Katerina Douka; Patrick Faulkner; Huw S. Groucutt; Richard Helm; Andy I.R. Herries; Severinus Jembe; Nikos Kourampas; Julia Lee-Thorp; Rob Marchant; Julio Mercader; Africa Pitarch Marti; Mary E. Prendergast; Ben Rowson; Amini Tengeza; Ruth Tibesasa; Tom S. White; Michael D. 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 J. Armitage, Caesar Bita, James Blinkhorn, Colin Courtney-Mustaphi, Alison Crowther, Richard Curtis, Francesco D. Errico, Katerina Douka, Patrick Faulkner, Huw S. Groucutt, Richard Helm, Andy I.R. Herries, Severinus Jembe, Nikos Kourampas, Julia Lee-Thorp, Rob Marchant, Julio MercaderAfrica Pitarch Marti, Mary E. Prendergast, Ben Rowson, Amini Tengeza, Ruth Tibesasa, Tom S. White, Michael D. Petraglia, Nicole Boivin

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

92 Citations (Scopus)

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 archeological 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 characterize the Late Pleistocene of this part of East Africa than alternative emphases on dramatic revolutions or migrations.

Original language	English
Article number	1832
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2018

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Shipton, C., Roberts, P., Archer, W., Armitage, S. J., Bita, C., Blinkhorn, J., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Crowther, A., Curtis, R., Errico, F. D., Douka, K., Faulkner, P., Groucutt, H. S., Helm, R., Herries, A. I. R., 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), Article 1832. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

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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 archeological 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 characterize 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 Armitage, {Simon J.} and Caesar Bita and James Blinkhorn and Colin Courtney-Mustaphi and Alison Crowther and Richard Curtis and Errico, {Francesco D.} and Katerina Douka and Patrick Faulkner and Groucutt, {Huw S.} and Richard Helm and Herries, {Andy I.R.} and Severinus Jembe and Nikos Kourampas and Julia Lee-Thorp and Rob Marchant and Julio Mercader and Marti, {Africa Pitarch} and Prendergast, {Mary E.} and Ben Rowson and Amini Tengeza and Ruth Tibesasa and White, {Tom S.} and Petraglia, {Michael D.} and Nicole Boivin",

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Shipton, C, Roberts, P, Archer, W, Armitage, SJ, Bita, C, Blinkhorn, J, Courtney-Mustaphi, C, Crowther, A, Curtis, R, Errico, FD, Douka, K, Faulkner, P, Groucutt, HS, Helm, R, Herries, AIR, Jembe, S, Kourampas, N, Lee-Thorp, J, Marchant, R, Mercader, J, Marti, AP, Prendergast, ME, Rowson, B, Tengeza, A, Tibesasa, R, White, TS, Petraglia, MD & 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, no. 1, 1832. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

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AU - Jembe, Severinus

AU - Kourampas, Nikos

AU - Lee-Thorp, Julia

AU - Marchant, Rob

AU - Mercader, Julio

AU - Marti, Africa Pitarch

AU - Prendergast, Mary E.

AU - Rowson, Ben

AU - Tengeza, Amini

AU - Tibesasa, Ruth

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

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