SCHRENK 2017 Origins of Hominin Biocultural Diversity

"The Late Miocene and Early Pliocene hominin fossil record confi rms Africa as the birthplace of humanity. Raymond Dart ’s announcement of the first species of ‘ape-man’ in the journal Nature (Dart, 1925 ) forever changed our perceptions of Africa’s place in the ‘human story’ and fi rmly established the field of African palaeoanthropology. We palaeoanthropologists, past, present and future, owe a significant debt to Dart’s discovery and his recognition of its importance. But Dart’s work was just the beginning of a long and proud legacy of excavation and research in southern Africa, and new discoveries continue to confirm the importance of this region to our understanding of human evolution. The African Genesis symposium, held at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa between 8 and 14 January 2006, celebrated the 80th anniversary of Dart’s publication of the Taung child and the 80th birthday of a remarkable man, Professor Phillip V. Tobias. Tobias continued the tradition established by his mentor Dart, and his mentor before him: a long line of mentors and students stretching back more than 500 years (Ungar and Tobias, Chapter 2). Tobias, in turn, continues to collaborate with colleagues and former students on a variety of new perspectives on the fossil hominin material (e.g. Lockwood and Tobias, 2002 ; Holloway et al. , 2004 ; Curnoe and Tobias, 2006 ; Moggi-Cecci et al. , 2006 ). His commitment to education and scientific rigour established a strong foundation for our scholarly community. Phillip Tobias’s contributions encompass the systematic study of all aspects of human evolution and he continues to inspire students and colleagues worldwide. In his role of palaeoanthropologist, he described new fossil discoveries (Leakey et al. , 1964 ; Hughes and Tobias, 1977 ), headed the excavation programme at Sterkfontein for many years and studied deposits of Sterkfontein,such as the Silberberg Grotto in which Ron Clarke would later discover a near -complete Australopithecus skeleton (Tobias, 1979 ; Clarke and Tobias, 1995 ). Tobias’s seminal publications include two monographs on the comparative morphology and evolutionary signifi cance of two hominin taxa, Australopithecus boisei and the enigmatic Homo habilis from Bed 1 Olduvai Gorge , Tanzania (Tobias, 1967 , 1991 ). The African Genesis conference and this subsequent volume outline the major developments since Dart’s announcement and description of Taung and gauge the consensus between various subdisciplines concerning the broader issues of hominin emergence in our ancestral homeland. This chapter reviews and summarises the main topics linking the contributions in this volume. These are loosely grouped into four parts: (I) the search for origins, whether these be in the earliest African Miocene deposits, in new excavations or in the new interpretation of previously studied hominin assemblages ( Chapters 3 – 7 ); (II) hominin cranial, postcranial and dental morphology ( Chapters 8 – 16 ); (III) the processes of modern human origins and dispersals ( Chapters 17 – 21 ) and (IV) faunal context of hominin discoveries and the inferences about the evolution of human behaviour through time ( Chapters 22 – 27). At the end of the volume overview, I discuss the other signifi cant discoveries of the last two decades that have helped to change our perspectives of our science and our origins."

Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2022

Springer Nature, 2023

This handbook showcases an Africa-wide compendium of Stone Age archaeological sites and methodological advances that have improved our understanding of hominin lifeways and biogeography in the continent. The focal time spans the Pleistocene Epoch (c. 2.5 million–11,700 years ago) during which important human traits, such as obligate bipedalism that freed the hands to engage in creative activities, a large brain relative to body size, language, and social complexity, developed in the general forms that they are found today. The handbook is the first of its kind, and it is expected to play a significant role in human evolutionary research by: ❖ Collating the African Stone Age record, which exists in a fragmented state along the lines of national boundaries and colonial experiences. ❖ Showcasing emerging conceptual and methodological advances in African Pleistocene archaeology. ❖ Providing reference datasets for teaching and researching African prehistory. ❖ Making Africa’s Stone Age record accessible to researchers and students based in Africa who may not have access to journal publications where most new field discoveries are published. The Handbook features 128 chapters, of which 116 are site entries grouped by the host countries and presented in an alphabetical order. A number of those site-related entries examine multiple archaeological localities lumped under specific projects or study areas. The rest of the contributions deal with methodological topics, such as luminescence and radiocarbon dating, field data recovery, lithic analysis, micromorphology, and hominin fossil and zooarchaeological records of Pleistocene Africa. The introductory chapter provides an historical overview of the development of Stone Age (Paleolithic) archaeology in Africa beginning in the mid-19th century, and paleoenvironmental and chronological frameworks commonly used to structure the continent’s Pleistocene record. By making a good amount of African Stone Age literature accessible to researchers and the public, we wish to promote interest in human evolutionary research in the continent and elsewhere.

Dissertation (Ph.D.) - Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 2022

EN - The African palaeoanthropological and archaeological record represents the earliest and richest collection of fossils, artefacts and environmental materials concerning the origin and development of our species. Whilst areas such as Eastern, Southern, and Northern Africa have been intensively explored and researched for centuries, other lesser-represented regions, such as West Africa, have not. To date, the currently known archaeological record in West Africa offers only a restricted view of past human presence and activity in the region. West Africa represents over 20% of the total area of the African continent and deserves greater consideration if behavioural dynamics and environmental patterns of African hominins are to be fully understood. To this end, this dissertation and its constituent studies set to provide a more complete understanding of the true extent of past hominin behaviour and palaeoenvironments within Pleistocene West Africa. Given the broad objective of this dissertation, the following explicitly defined studies were carried out: (1) review of the full extent of published literature on Pleistocene West African archaeological deposits and sites, (2) archaeological investigation of specific contexts within tropical and sub-tropical environments, and (3) the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the ancient landscapes of Pleistocene West Africa. The employed methodology merged archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and digital methods, and was applied to a variety of contexts including published literature, archaeological surveys and excavations, lithic assemblages, vertebrate faunal assemblages, paleobotanical remains, and geospatial and paleoclimatic datasets. The results of this dissertation present evidence of a more complex human and environmental history than was previously thought. The re-investigation of published literature demonstrates a sporadic initial presence of hominins throughout the region with recurring occupations before 300,000 years ago during the Early Stone Age. With the establishment of Middle Stone Age traditions in West Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, human populations became interconnected and demonstrated extensive capabilities to survive in tropical environments. The application of detailed and modern survey, excavation and laboratory-based techniques included in this dissertation also highlights the extremely complex cultural and environmental behaviour of hominins in the region. This dissertation serves as an initial framework to understand the true extent of Pleistocene human cultures and their relationship with the landscape in West Africa. DE - Die paläoanthropologischen und archäologischen Aufzeichnungen Afrikas stellen die älteste und reichhaltigste Sammlung von Fossilien, Artefakten und Umweltmaterialien über den Ursprung und die Entwicklung unserer Spezies dar. Während Gebiete wie das östliche, südliche und nördliche Afrika seit Jahrhunderten intensiv erforscht und erforscht werden, ist dies bei anderen, weniger stark vertretenen Regionen wie Westafrika nicht der Fall. Bis heute bieten die derzeit bekannten archäologischen Aufzeichnungen in Westafrika nur einen begrenzten Einblick in die frühere menschliche Präsenz und Aktivität in der Region. Westafrika macht mehr als 20% der Gesamtfläche des afrikanischen Kontinents aus und verdient größere Beachtung, wenn man die Verhaltensdynamik und die Umweltmuster der afrikanischen Homininen vollständig verstehen will. Zu diesem Zweck sollen diese Dissertation und die darin enthaltenen Studien ein umfassenderes Verständnis des wahren Ausmaßes des Verhaltens der Homininen in der Vergangenheit und der Paläoumwelt im pleistozänen Westafrika vermitteln. Angesichts der weit gefassten Zielsetzung dieser Dissertation wurden die folgenden explizit definierten Studien durchgeführt: (1) Durchsicht der gesamten veröffentlichten Literatur über pleistozäne westafrikanische archäologische Ablagerungen und Stätten, (2) archäologische Untersuchung spezifischer Kontexte in tropischen und subtropischen Umgebungen und (3) die paläoökologische Rekonstruktion der alten Landschaften des pleistozänen Westafrika. Die angewandte Methodik kombinierte archäologische, paläoökologische und digitale Methoden und wurde auf eine Vielzahl von Kontexten angewandt, darunter veröffentlichte Literatur, archäologische Untersuchungen und Ausgrabungen, lithische Assemblagen, Wirbeltierfaunen, paläobotanische Überreste sowie georäumliche und paläoklimatische Datensätze. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation zeigen, dass die Geschichte der Menschen und der Umwelt komplexer ist als bisher angenommen. Die erneute Untersuchung der veröffentlichten Literatur zeigt eine sporadische anfängliche Präsenz von Homininen in der gesamten Region mit wiederkehrenden Besiedlungen vor 300.000 Jahren während der frühen Steinzeit. Mit der Etablierung mittelsteinzeitlicher Traditionen in Westafrika während des mittleren und späten Pleistozäns wurden die menschlichen Populationen miteinander verbunden und bewiesen umfangreiche Fähigkeiten zum Überleben in tropischen Umgebungen. Die Anwendung detaillierter und moderner Vermessungs-, Ausgrabungs- und Labortechniken im Rahmen dieser Dissertation verdeutlicht auch das äußerst komplexe Kultur- und Umweltverhalten der Homininen in dieser Region. Diese Dissertation dient als Rahmen, um das Ausmaß der menschlichen Kulturen des Pleistozäns in Westafrika zu verstehen.

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1993

Whereas in Europe the transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the replacement of Neanderthal by anatomically modern humans appear to be synchronous events, in Africa this is not the case. Neanderthals as such were not present in Africa, and if the ‘Out of Africa’ model is correct, the ancestors of anatomically modern humans must have made their appearance in a Middle Stone Age context before 100,000 years ago. Subsequently, it seems that they coexisted with Neanderthals for up to 70,000 years in the Near East. If a direct biological correlation can be ruled out, the question arises: what was the impetus for an Upper Palaeolithic ‘revolution’ and why should it have taken place at all?

Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa, 2023

This edited volume is now published

The evolutionary origins of Homo sapiens and associated behavioural changes are increasingly seen as complex processes, involving multiple regions of Africa. In West Africa, Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene aged human fossils, demonstrating the late continuity of archaic morphological features in the region have been linked to models of surprisingly recent admixture processes between late archaic hominins and H. sapiens. However, the limited chronological resolution of the archaeological record has prevented evaluation of how these biological records relate to patterns of behaviour. Here, we provide a preliminary report of the first excavated and dated Stone Age site in northern Senegal which features the youngest Middle Stone Age (MSA) technology yet documented in Africa. Ndiayène Pendao features classic MSA core axes, basally thinned flakes, Levallois points and denticu-lates mostly made from chert. Similar technological features characterise several, larger surface sites in the vicinity. From this, it is postulated that populations using 'anachronistic' technologies in the Lower Senegal Valley around the transition to the Holocene may have been widespread, in sharp contrast to other areas of Senegal and West Africa. The chronology and technology of Ndiayène Pendao provides the first cultural evidence to support a complex evolutionary history in West Africa. This is consistent with a persistently high degree of Pleisto-cene population substructure in Africa and the spatially and temporally complex character of behavioural and biological evolution.

Modern Human Origins and Dispersal, 2019

The period from 200,000 to 30,000 years ago in Africa encompasses the archaeological background for the early evolution and global dispersal of Homo sapiens. Here we provide an overview of current models of behavioral change and cultural evolution in this timeframe, followed by a review on the timing and temporal trajectory of relevant empirical data in Africa. Because recent anthropological and genetic work has highlighted the importance of structure within ancient populations of Africa, we adopt a geographically explicit perspective. We emphasize comparisons between the archaeological records of southern, northern, eastern, central and western Africa, recognizing the varying geological and environmental backgrounds, political circumstances, and histories of research across the continent. Our review finds different records and temporal trajectories for complex material culture and behavioral innovations among the African regions, with the earliest evidence for many cultural changes already present during the late Middle Pleistocene in all areas. The bulk of the evidence, however, comes from Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5-3, a period characterized by complex temporal trajectories and spatial differences among and within regions. Prominent models for a late emergence of sophisticated behaviors at ~50,000 years ago or a gradual and cumulative evolution of cultural complexity in all of Africa are not supported. In light of these results, we advocate abandoning continent-wide, directional and unilinear models of cultural change in favor of more highly contextualized, temporally variable, and historically contingent trajectories in different regions, encapsulated in the concept of complex landscapes of cultural evolution.