A core from the Middle Stone Age stone tool assemblage from Bargny 1. Credit: Khady Niang
A recent research study exposes the earliest straight dated historical site in West Africa, extending the recognized timeframe of Middle Stone Age toolkits in the region to 150,000 years back. The findings highlight the long-lasting durability of core aspects of Middle Stone Age toolkits in West Africa and suggest that the withstanding cultural continuity may be due to steady behavioral adaptation to stable environmental conditions and possible isolation from other populations across Africa.
Proof from West Africa about human advancement stays limited, but recent research study has actually suggested special patterns of cultural change in comparison to other areas of the continent. A brand-new short article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution adds to our understanding with a research study of the oldest straight dated archaeological site in West Africa. The website reveals technological continuity covering approximately 140,000 years and provides insights into the environmental stability of the area.
Our types emerged in Africa around 300 thousand years ago and till around 30-60 thousand years ago typically used tools and tool-making methods described as Middle Stone Age toolkits. Around that time, distinct Later Stone Age toolkits began to emerge in northern, eastern, and southern Africa. While current evidence recommends Middle Stone Age toolkits continued West Africa much later on, to around 10 thousand years ago, the antiquity of these technologies is inadequately comprehended.
150-thousand-year-old sediments at Bargny 1 which contain West Africas oldest Middle Stone Age toolkits. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn
The brand-new study, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, University of Sheffield, and University of South Florida, extends the timeframe in which Middle Stone Age toolkits are known from West Africa to 150 thousand years ago, based upon excavations from the near-coastal website of Bargny 1.
” The stone tool assemblage dating from 150 thousand years earlier shows timeless features of the Middle Stone Age, with the use of Levallois and discoidal reduction techniques and making use of little retouched flake tools instead of bigger implements,” says Dr. Khady Niang, lead author of the study. “The assemblage from Bargny 1 is carefully comparable to those of a similar age from across the continent, and is the first website from West Africa dating to the Middle Pleistocene, prior to the beginning of substantial technological regionalization somewhere else in Africa.”
Pollen from the Bargny 1 consisting of Avicennia (leading) and Typha (bottom), that demonstrate the distance of the site to estuary environments in the past. Scale is 25 microns. Credit: Chris Kiahtipes
The website itself is located near the modern coastline, south of Dakar, Senegal. While no artifacts indicating direct human engagement with seaside resources were recovered at the site, research study of the associated environments provides a broader perspective.
” We found mangrove and brackish wetland plant microfossils connected with the sites profession,” includes Dr. Chris Kiahtipes of the University of South Florida, co-author on the study. “This is particularly intriguing since it reveals that the website lay near an estuary and shows how important these environments are to human beings present and past.”
The study highlights the long-term durability of core components of Middle Stone Age toolkits in West Africa without evidence for the appearance of specialized technological advancements observed elsewhere.
” Middle Stone Age populations adapted to a wide variety of habitats and engaged with climatic changes across Africa. Eventually, our research study assists show the relentless energy of Middle Stone Age technologies to inhabit the diverse environments discovered throughout Africa.”.
Referral: “Longstanding behavioural stability in West Africa encompasses the Middle Pleistocene at Bargny, coastal Senegal” 4 May 2023, Nature Ecology & & Evolution.DOI: 10.1038/ s41559-023-02046-4.
” Middle Stone Age populations adapted to a wide variety of habitats and engaged with weather modifications throughout Africa. Ultimately, our study helps illustrate the relentless utility of Middle Stone Age technologies to inhabit the varied environments found across Africa.”.
Our types emerged in Africa around 300 thousand years ago and till around 30-60 thousand years ago usually utilized tools and tool-making techniques referred to as Middle Stone Age toolkits. Around that time, distinct Later Stone Age toolkits began to emerge in northern, eastern, and southern Africa. While current evidence recommends Middle Stone Age toolkits persisted in West Africa much later, to around 10 thousand years earlier, the antiquity of these technologies is inadequately comprehended.
