Health Care Market Research

All Important News

西アフリカ最古の占拠された遺跡が 15 万年の歴史を発掘

healthcaremarketresearch.news


Bargny 1 からの中期石器時代の石器の集合体

Bargny 1 から出土した中石器時代の石器群のコア。Credit: Khady Niang

最近の研究では、西アフリカで最も古い直接年代の考古学的遺跡が明らかになり、この地域の中世石器時代のツールキットの知られている時間枠が 150,000 年前まで延長されました。 調査結果は、西アフリカにおける中世石器時代のツールキットのコア要素の長期的な耐久性を強調し、永続的な文化的継続性は、安定した環境条件への安定した行動適応と、アフリカ中の他の集団からの潜在的な孤立による可能性があることを示唆しています。

人類の進化に関する西アフリカからの証拠は依然として乏しいが、最近の研究は、大陸の他の地域と比較して、文化的変化の独特なパターンを示している. ジャーナルの新しい記事 自然生態学と進化 西アフリカで最も古い直接年代の考古学的遺跡の研究により、私たちの理解が深まります。 このサイトは、およそ 140,000 年にわたる技術的連続性を示し、この地域の生態系の安定性についての洞察を提供します。

私たちの[{” attribute=””>species emerged in Africa around 300 thousand years ago and until around 30-60 thousand years ago typically used 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 recent evidence suggests Middle Stone Age toolkits persisted in West Africa much later, to around 10 thousand years ago, the antiquity of these technologies is poorly understood.

Sediments at Bargny 1

150-thousand-year-old sediments at Bargny 1 that contain West Africa’s oldest Middle Stone Age toolkits. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn

The 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 on excavations from the near-coastal site of Bargny 1.

“The stone tool assemblage dating from 150 thousand years ago shows classic features of the Middle Stone Age, with the use of Levallois and discoidal reduction methods and the use of small retouched flake tools rather than larger implements,” says Dr. Khady Niang, lead author of the study. “The assemblage from Bargny 1 is closely comparable to those of a similar age from across the continent, and is the first site from West Africa dating to the Middle Pleistocene, prior to the onset of substantial technological regionalization elsewhere in Africa.”

Bargny 1 Pollen

Pollen from the Bargny 1 including Avicennia (top) and Typha (bottom), that demonstrate the proximity of the site to estuary environments in the past. Scale is 25 microns. Credit: Chris Kiahtipes

The site itself is located close to the modern coastline, south of Dakar, Senegal. While no artifacts indicating direct human engagement with coastal resources were recovered at the site, study of the associated environments offers a wider perspective.

 “We found mangrove and brackish wetland plant microfossils associated with the site’s occupation,” adds Dr. Chris Kiahtipes of the University of South Florida, co-author on the study. “This is particularly interesting because it shows that the site was located near an estuary and demonstrates how important these habitats are to humans past and present.”

The study highlights the long-term durability of core elements of Middle Stone Age toolkits in West Africa without evidence for the appearance of specialized technological developments observed elsewhere.  

“Middle Stone Age populations adapted to a wide range of habitats and engaged with climatic changes across Africa. But in West Africa, we see considerable environmental stability over the past 150 thousand years,” adds Dr. Jimbob Blinkhorn. “One explanation for the enduring cultural continuity we observe is that it was a stable behavioral adaptation to stable environmental conditions, whilst potential isolation from other populations across Africa may have led to demographic stability too. Ultimately, our study helps illustrate the persistent utility of Middle Stone Age technologies to inhabit the diverse habitats found across Africa.”

Reference: “Longstanding behavioural stability in West Africa extends to the Middle Pleistocene at Bargny, coastal Senegal” 4 May 2023, Nature Ecology & Evolution.
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02046-4





Source link