1. Environmental dynamics during the onset of the Middle Stone Age in eastern Africa.
- Author
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Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK, Faith JT, Tryon CA, Brooks AS, Yellen JE, Deino AL, Kinyanjui R, Clark JB, Haradon CM, Levin NE, Meijer HJM, Veatch EG, Owen RB, and Renaut RW
- Subjects
- Animals, History, Ancient, Humans, Kenya, Lakes, Paleontology, Adaptation, Psychological, Behavior, Biological Evolution, Hominidae psychology, Human Characteristics
- Abstract
Development of the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) before 300,000 years ago raises the question of how environmental change influenced the evolution of behaviors characteristic of early Homo sapiens We used temporally well-constrained sedimentological and paleoenvironmental data to investigate environmental dynamics before and after the appearance of the early MSA in the Olorgesailie basin, Kenya. In contrast to the Acheulean archeological record in the same basin, MSA sites are associated with a markedly different faunal community, more pronounced erosion-deposition cycles, tectonic activity, and enhanced wet-dry variability. Aspects of Acheulean technology in this region imply that, as early as 615,000 years ago, greater stone material selectivity and wider resource procurement coincided with an increased pace of land-lake fluctuation, potentially anticipating the adaptability of MSA hominins., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)
- Published
- 2018
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