Lower Palaeolithic Rock Art of India and Its Global Context
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The Middle Stone Age of East Africa and the Beginnings of Regional Identity
Journal of Worm Prehistory, Vol. 2, No. 3. 1988 The Middle Stone Age of East Africa and the Beginnings of Regional Identity J. Desmond Clark ~ The history of research into the Middle Stone Age of East Africa and the present state of knowledge of this time period is examined for the region as a whole, with special reference to paleoenvironments. The known MSA sites and occurrences are discussed region by region and attempts are made to fit them into a more precise chronological framework and to assess their cultural affinities. The conclusion is reached that the Middle Stone Age lasted for some 150,000 years but considerably more systematic and in-depth research is needed into this time period, which is now perceived as of great significance since it appears to span the time of the evolution of anatomically Modern humans in the continent, perhaps in Last Africa. KEY WORDS: Middle Stone Age; Sangoan/Lupemban; long chronology; Archaic Homo sapiens; Modern H. sapiens. • . when we eventually find the skulls of the makers of the African Mousterian they will prove to be of non-Homo sapiens type, although probably not of Neanderthal type, but merely an allied race of Homo rhodesiensis. The partial exception.., of the Stillbay culture group is therefore explicable on the grounds that Homo sapiens influence was already at work. (Leakey, 1931, p. 326) The other view is that the cradle of the Aurignacian races lies hidden somewhere in the Sahara area, probably in the south-east, and that an early wave of movement carried one branch of the stock via Somaliland and the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb into Arabia, and thence to some unknown secondary centre of distribution in Asia. -
The Bulletin
THE BULLETIN July, 1961 Number 22 ********************************************************************************* Contents News 1 In the Looking Glass – Ourselves 11 Donald E. Lown Riverhaven Site #1 and #2, Grand Isla nd, New York 13 Edward Kochan A Fishing Village on Oak Orchard Creek – Ood 6-3 14 Stanley Vanderlaan An Approach to Iroquois – White Acculturation Through Archeology 15 Charles F. Hayes III THE BULLETIN July, 1961 Number 22 ************************************************************************************* Date Lines The National Bureau of Standards in January set 5760 years as, the new, more accurate half-life of Carbon 14. This is almost 200 years more than the half-life of 5568 formerly used in calculating CI4 dates. Without rendering unusable the dates already published, the longer half -life weights the probabilities heavily toward the plus or older extreme. Thus a date given as 10,000 ± 250 years, using the longer half-life, is much more likely to be 10,250 years than 9750. Applying the above information to the date of 9652B. C. ± 600 years obtained from the Raddatz Rock Shelter in Wisconsin excavated and reported by Warren L. Wittry in "Wisconsin Archaeologist", Vol. 40, No. 2, we can see that primal occupation of this site approaches 12,000 years. It yielded an "Archaic" type of material described by Wittry (see NYSAA Bulletin 19) as falling into pattern with that of Modoc Rock Shelter in Illinois which, in its lowest level, using the longer C14 half-life, dates at about 11,000 years. The geology of Raddatz, as interpreted by Robert F. Black, shows that the vicinity became permanently ice-free and non-boreal about 10,000 years ago and soil levels thereafter lie in simple chronological super position. -
Pleistocene Palaeoart of Africa
Arts 2013, 2, 6-34; doi:10.3390/arts2010006 OPEN ACCESS arts ISSN 2076-0752 www.mdpi.com/journal/arts Review Pleistocene Palaeoart of Africa Robert G. Bednarik International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), P.O. Box 216, Caulfield South, VIC 3162, Australia; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-3-95230549; Fax: +61-3-95230549 Received: 22 December 2012; in revised form: 22 January 2013 / Accepted: 23 January 2013 / Published: 8 February 2013 Abstract: This comprehensive review of all currently known Pleistocene rock art of Africa shows that the majority of sites are located in the continent’s south, but that the petroglyphs at some of them are of exceptionally great antiquity. Much the same applies to portable palaeoart of Africa. The current record is clearly one of paucity of evidence, in contrast to some other continents. Nevertheless, an initial synthesis is attempted, and some preliminary comparisons with the other continents are attempted. Certain parallels with the existing record of southern Asia are defined. Keywords: rock art; portable palaeoart; Pleistocene; figurine; bead; engraving; Africa 1. Introduction Although palaeoart of the Pleistocene occurs in at least five continents (Bednarik 1992a, 2003a) [38,49], most people tend to think of Europe first when the topic is mentioned. This is rather odd, considering that this form of evidence is significantly more common elsewhere, and very probably even older there. For instance there are far less than 10,000 motifs in the much-studied corpus of European rock art of the Ice Age, which are outnumbered by the number of publications about them. -
Early Members of the Genus Homo -. EXPLORATIONS: an OPEN INVITATION to BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
EXPLORATIONS: AN OPEN INVITATION TO BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Editors: Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera and Lara Braff American Anthropological Association Arlington, VA 2019 Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. ISBN – 978-1-931303-63-7 www.explorations.americananthro.org 10. Early Members of the Genus Homo Bonnie Yoshida-Levine Ph.D., Grossmont College Learning Objectives • Describe how early Pleistocene climate change influenced the evolution of the genus Homo. • Identify the characteristics that define the genus Homo. • Describe the skeletal anatomy of Homo habilis and Homo erectus based on the fossil evidence. • Assess opposing points of view about how early Homo should be classified. Describe what is known about the adaptive strategies of early members of the Homo genus, including tool technologies, diet, migration patterns, and other behavioral trends.The boy was no older than 9 when he perished by the swampy shores of the lake. After death, his slender, long-limbed body sank into the mud of the lake shallows. His bones fossilized and lay undisturbed for 1.5 million years. In the 1980s, fossil hunter Kimoya Kimeu, working on the western shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya, glimpsed a dark colored piece of bone eroding in a hillside. This small skull fragment led to the discovery of what is arguably the world’s most complete early hominin fossil—a youth identified as a member of the species Homo erectus. Now known as Nariokotome Boy, after the nearby lake village, the skeleton has provided a wealth of information about the early evolution of our own genus, Homo (see Figure 10.1). -
Biface Form and Structured Behaviour in the Acheulean
Lithics 27 BIFACE FORM AND STRUCTURED BEHAVIOUR IN THE ACHEULEAN Matthew Pope 7, Kate Russel 8 and Keith Watson 9 ___________________________________________________________________________ “Homo erectus of 700,000 years ago had a geometrically accurate sense of proportion and could impose this on stone in the external world…mathematical transformations were being performed” (Gowlett 1983: 185) ABSTRACT According to some perspectives, the standardised nature of biface forms and the rule- governed nature of biface discard reflect a highly structured and static adaptation. Furthermore, i t has also been suggested that the Acheulean represents a period of over a million years in which technological and social development were in relative stasis due to social limitations. In this paper we explore the possibility that this apparently static and highly conformable adaptation may have represented a crucial pre-linguistic phase in which humans became adept at engaging with, reacting to and manipulating an early semiotic environment. We also present evidence which suggests that, in addition to symmetry, there may have been an underlying preference for the manufacture of bifaces with proportions conforming to the ‘Golden Section’. The possibility that bifacial tool form and structured archaeological signatures might have combined to produce a self-organising effect on early human land-use behaviour is explored. These behaviours, we argue, formed through simple feedback mechanisms which led to the ordered transformation of artefact scatters over time. We suggest that the apparent homogeneity of Acheulean technology might therefore signal a cognitive phase in which material culture played a semiotic role prior to the development of language. Full reference : Pope, M., Russel, K. -
Exploring Differences and Finding Connections in Archaeology And
Zambia Social Science Journal Volume 5 | Number 2 Article 6 Exploring Differences and Finding Connections in Archaeology and History Practice and Teaching in the Livingstone Museum and the University of Zambia, 1973 to 2016 Francis B. Musonda University of Zambia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/zssj Part of the African History Commons, African Studies Commons, and the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Musonda, Francis B. (2014) "Exploring Differences and Finding Connections in Archaeology and History Practice and Teaching in the Livingstone Museum and the University of Zambia, 1973 to 2016," Zambia Social Science Journal: Vol. 5 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/zssj/vol5/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Zambia Social Science Journal by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Exploring differences and finding connections in Archaeology and History practice and teaching in the Livingstone Museum and the University of Zambia, 1973 to 2016 Francis B. Musonda Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies, University of Zambia This article looks at the way archaeology and history have been practised and taught at the Livingstone Museum, Zambia and the University of Zambia in relation to each other as closely allied disciplines between 1973 and 2016. It identifies some of the areas in which they have either collaborated well, or need to do so, and those that set them apart in their common aim to study the past. -
Additional Human Remains from Blombos Cave, South Africa
Frederick E. Grine Additional human remains from Blombos Departments of Anthropology Cave, South Africa: (1999–2000 & Anatomical Sciences, State excavations) University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, U.S.A. E-mail: The uppermost Middle Stone Age (MSA) layers at Blombos Cave [email protected] contain high densities of Still Bay bifacial points. Information from other regional sites places the Still Bay prior to the Howiesons Poort industry, which has been dated at 65–70 ka. The Blombos Cave MSA Christopher S. strata have yielded nine human teeth or dental fragments. Four that Henshilwood were recovered during the 1997–1998 excavations have been pub- Department of Anthropology, lished elsewhere. The remaining five were discovered during the State University of New York, 1999–2000 field seasons; these are described here. Three of the new Stony Brook, New York specimens are deciduous teeth, and two are permanent premolar and 11794, U.S.A. and Iziko molar crown fragments. The entire dental sample probably represents Museums of Cape Town, at least five and as many as seven individuals. The deciduous teeth South African Museum, from the upper MSA levels are likely to have been exfoliated in the PO Box 61, Cape Town, cave. One deciduous tooth and the permanent tooth fragments 8000 South Africa. E-mail: from the lower MSA levels probably represent three individuals who [email protected] died in or near the cave. The Blombos Cave premolars preserve horizontal circum-cervical striae suggestive of palliative tooth pick Received 12 June 2001 use. Approximately half of the permanent and deciduous crown Revision received diameters exceed those of recent Africans; for the remainder, the 15 October 2001 and fossil values fall among modern African sample means. -
The Use of Ochre and Painting During the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura in the Context of the Development of Ochre Use in Africa and Europe
Open Archaeology 2018; 4: 185–205 Original Study Sibylle Wolf*, Rimtautas Dapschauskas, Elizabeth Velliky, Harald Floss, Andrew W. Kandel, Nicholas J. Conard The Use of Ochre and Painting During the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura in the Context of the Development of Ochre Use in Africa and Europe https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2018-0012 Received June 8, 2017; accepted December 13, 2017 Abstract: While the earliest evidence for ochre use is very sparse, the habitual use of ochre by hominins appeared about 140,000 years ago and accompanied them ever since. Here, we present an overview of archaeological sites in southwestern Germany, which yielded remains of ochre. We focus on the artifacts belonging exclusively to anatomically modern humans who were the inhabitants of the cave sites in the Swabian Jura during the Upper Paleolithic. The painted limestones from the Magdalenian layers of Hohle Fels Cave are a particular focus. We present these artifacts in detail and argue that they represent the beginning of a tradition of painting in Central Europe. Keywords: ochre use, Middle Stone Age, Swabian Jura, Upper Paleolithic, Magdalenian painting 1 The Earliest Use of Ochre in the Homo Lineage Modern humans have three types of cone cells in the retina of the eye. These cells are a requirement for trichromatic vision and hence, a requirement for the perception of the color red. The capacity for trichromatic vision dates back about 35 million years, within our shared evolutionary lineage in the Catarrhini subdivision of the higher primates (Jacobs, 2013, 2015). Trichromatic vision may have evolved as a result of the benefits for recognizing ripe yellow, orange, and red fruits in front of a background of green foliage (Regan et al., Article note: This article is a part of Topical Issue on From Line to Colour: Social Context and Visual Communication of Prehistoric Art edited by Liliana Janik and Simon Kaner. -
Autumn Bargain Catalogue 2015
1 Autumn Bargain Catalogue 2015 Welcome to the latest edition of the Oxbow Bargain Catalogue, featuring a magnificent array of titles at the very best prices - with reductions ranging from 50 to over 90 per cent! From wide-ranging overviews to site-specific reports and from early hominids to the archaeology of modern conflict, we are sure that there will be something (hopefully many things!) here to tempt you. Many of the bargains are new to this catalogue, with great new prices on books from publishers such as the Society for Libyan Studies, the Getty Trust, the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Spire Publications, the Society of Antiquaries (including an amazing deal on their corpus of the Roman Mosaics of Britain – see page 51) and many, many more. For an even bigger selection of bargain books, with new titles being added all the time, be sure to check the dedicated bargain section of our website - www. oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/bargains As ever stocks are limited, and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so please do get your orders in quickly to avoid disappointment, and feel free to phone us on 01865 241249 to check availability. With best wishes 2 General Interest and Method and Theory Glass of Four Millennia Ornaments from the Past Silver by Martine Newby. Bead Studies After Beck by Philippa Merriman. This book charts the development edited by Ian Glover, Jualian Silver has been used over of Glass over four millennia, from Henderson and Helen Hughes- the centuries for coinage, for 18th Dynasty Egypt, through to Brock. -
Micromammal Paleoecology
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CU Scholar Institutional Repository University of Colorado, Boulder CU Scholar Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations Anthropology Spring 1-1-2011 Micromammal Paleoecology: Theory, Methods, and Application to Modern and Fossil Assemblages in The rC adle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa Jennifer Nicole Leichliter University of Colorado at Boulder, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.colorado.edu/anth_gradetds Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Leichliter, Jennifer Nicole, "Micromammal Paleoecology: Theory, Methods, and Application to Modern and Fossil Assemblages in The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa" (2011). Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations. Paper 7. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Anthropology at CU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CU Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Micromammal Paleoecology: Theory, Methods, and Application to Modern and Fossil Assemblages in The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa by Jennifer Leichliter B.A., Colorado College, 2008 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master’s of Anthropology Department of Anthropology 2011 This thesis entitled: Micromammal Paleoecology: Theory, Methods, and Application to Modern and Fossil Assemblages in The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa written by Jennifer Nicole Leichliter has been approved for the Department Anthropology ________________________________________________ Dr. -
Africa from MIS 6-2: the Florescence of Modern Humans
Chapter 1 Africa from MIS 6-2: The Florescence of Modern Humans Brian A. Stewart and Sacha C. Jones Abstract Africa from Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6-2 saw Introduction the crystallization of long-term evolutionary processes that culminated in our species’ anatomical form, behavioral The last three decades represent a watershed in our under- florescence, and global dispersion. Over this *200 kyr standing of modern human origins. In the mid-1980s, evo- period, Africa experienced environmental changes on a lutionary genetics established that the most ancient human variety of spatiotemporal scales, from the long-term disap- lineages are African (Cann 1988; Vigilant et al. 1991). Since pearance of whole deserts and forests to much higher then, steady streams of genetic, paleontological and archae- frequency, localized shifts. The archaeological, fossil, and ological insights have converged into a torrent of evidence genetic records increasingly suggest that environmental that Africa is our species’ evolutionary home, both biological variability profoundly affected early human population sizes, and behavioral. When these changes occurred, however, densities, interconnectedness, and distribution across the remains less well understood, and much less so how and why. African landscape – that is, population dynamics. At the Where within Africa modern humans and our suite of same time, recent advances in anthropological theory predict behaviors developed is also problematic. One thing seems that such paleodemographic changes were central to struc- clear: the changes that shaped our species and its behavioral turing the very records we are attempting to comprehend. repertoire were gradual, rooted deeper in the Pleistocene than The book introduced by this chapter represents a first previously imagined. -
The Relationship Between the Later Stone Age and Iron Age Cultures of Central Tanzania
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LATER STONE AGE AND IRON AGE CULTURES OF CENTRAL TANZANIA Emanuel Thomas Kessy B.A. University of Dar es Salaam, 1991 M.Phi1. Cambridge University, 1992 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Archaeology O Emanuel Thomas Kessy, 2005 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSlTY Spring 2005 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME: Emanuel Thomas Kessy DEGREE: TITLE OF THESIS: The Relationship Between the Later Stone Age (LSA) and Iron Age (IA) Cultures of Central Tanzania EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Chair: Dongya Yang Assistant Professor Cathy D'Andre;, Associate Professor Senior Supervisor David Burley, Professor Diane Lyons, Assistant Professor University of Calgary Ross Jamieson, Assistant Professor Internal Examiner Adria LaViolette, Associate Professor University of Virginia External Examiner Date Approved: SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project nr extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, acd to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies.