The emergence of clearly recognizable modern culture in our prehistoric past, as reflected by the observable cultural characteristics of modern hunter-gatherer groups, has long eluded scientists and has been a subject of debate for years. But now, an international team of researchers has uncovered material evidence that indicates a culture, much like that of the modern hunter-gatherer San people of Africa, existed as much as 44,000 years ago.
Led by Francesco d’Errico, Director of Research at the French National Research Centre, and a team of scientists that included Lucinda Backwell and Marion Bamford of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, they have dated and analyzed objects recovered from archaeological strata, or layers, at the Border Cave. Located in the foothills of the Lebombo Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the site has yielded exceptionally well-preserved organic material, making it well-situated for the application of a variety of time-tested dating techniques.
“The dating and analysis of archaeological material discovered at Border Cave in South Africa, has allowed us to demonstrate that many elements of material culture that characterise the lifestyle of San hunter-gatherers in southern Africa, were part of the culture and technology of the inhabitants of this site 44,000 years ago,” says Backwell.
Until now, most archaeologists thought that the earliest evidence of San hunter-gatherer culture in southern Africa dates back at most 20,000 years.
The artifacts revealed uses and practices very similar to that of modern San applications. Some of them:
- Digging sticks weighted with perforated stones, dated to about 44,000 years ago;
- A wooden stick decorated with incisions, used to hold and carry a poison containing ricinoleic acid found in castor beans;
- Dated to about 40,000 years ago, a lump of beeswax, mixed with the resin of toxic Euphorbia, and possibly egg, wrapped in vegetal fibres made from the inner bark of a woody plant. Like the modern San equivalent, it was likely used for hafting arrowheads or tools;
- Warthog tusks shaped into awls and possibly spear heads; and
- Small pieces of stone for hunting weapons, confirmed by the discovery of resin residue still adhering to some of the tools, identified as a suberin (waxy substance) produced from the sap of Podocarpus (yellowwood) trees.
The similarities did not stop there. Says Backwell, “they adorned themselves with ostrich egg and marine shell beads, and notched bones for notational purposes. They fashioned fine bone points for use as awls and poisoned arrowheads. One point is decorated with a spiral groove filled with red ochre, which closely parallels similar marks that San make to identify their arrowheads when hunting."
Another key research team leader, Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and lead study author of another report based on the same research, suggests that the finds indicate that the Later Stone Age thus emerged in South Africa more than 20,000 years earlier than previously believed -- coinciding with the time when humans were migrating from Africa to the European continent.
"Our research proves that the Later Stone Age emerged in South Africa far earlier than has been believed and occurred at about the same time as the arrival of modern humans in Europe," said Villa. "But differences in technology and culture between the two areas are very strong, showing the people of the two regions chose very different paths to the evolution of technology and society."
See examples of finds shown in the images below.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Organic Artefacts from Border Cave
a) Wooden digging stick made from Flueggea virosa and dated 40,986 - 38,986 cal BP,
b) Wooden poison applicator made from Flueggea virosa dated to 24,564 - 23,941 cal BP and preserving a residue containing poisonous ricinoleic acid found in castor beans,
c) Bone arrow point decorated with a spiral incision filled with red pigment,
d) Bone object with four sets of notches, each made by a different tool, and probably used for notational purposes,
e) Lump of beeswax containing Euphorbia tirucalli resin and possibly egg, bound with vegetal twine and dated 41,167 - 39,194 cal BP,
f) Ostrich eggshell beads dated 44,856 - 41,010 cal BP and marine shell beads used as personal ornaments. Scale bars = 1 cm.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda Backwell)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Digging Stick
a) Wooden digging stick made from Flueggea virosa and dated 40,986 - 38,986 cal BP, and
b) Close up showing rounding and crushing of the tip.
c) Kalahari San digging sticks bearing similarity to the Border Cave specimen,
d) Francesco d’Errico with San digging sticks from the Fourie Collection (Museum Africa, Johannesburg). Scales = 1 cm.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Lucinda Backwell)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OES Beads
Ostrich eggshell beads from Border Cave dated 44,856 - 41,010 cal BP, which show similar production techniques as those used by Kalahari San women, including
b) Shaping using a horn and stone anvil,
c) Drilling to produce perforations, d) stringing with vegetal twine and
e) Smoothing with a grooved stone.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Lucinda Backwell)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Points and Beeswax
a) Bone arrow point decorated with a spiral incision filled with red pigment,
b) Bone arrow point shaped by scraping,
c) Lump of beeswax containing Euphorbia tirucalli resin and possibly egg, bound with vegetal twine and dated 41,167 - 39,194 cal BP,
d) Later Stone Age bone points from South African sites, e) Kalahari San fixed bone arrow heads, and
f) Slender poison-encrusted reversible bone arrow heads. Scale bars = 1 cm.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Lucinda Backwell)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Poison Wax
a) Wooden poison applicator from Border Cave made from Flueggea virosa dated to 24,564 - 23,941 cal BP, with close up showing notches, and
b) Adhering residue containing poisonous ricinoleic acid found in castor beans.
c) Kalahari San poison applicators housed at Museum Africa, Johannesburg, showing lumps of organic compounds used for hafting (yellow) and poisoning (black) arrow points, and the notching to prevent slippage of the material.
d) Lump of beeswax from Border Cave containing Euphorbia tirucalli resin and possibly egg, bound with vegetal twine, and dated 41,167 - 39,194 cal BP.
e) Bone arrow point from Border Cave and f) Kalahari San fixed bone arrow heads. Scales = 1 cm.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Francesco d’Errico and Lucinda Backwell)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Equally telling were the findings regarding the rate and nature of cultural change or evolution. Writes the researchers in their report: "Contrary to lithic technology, which shows at Border Cave a gradual evolution toward the ELSA (Early Later Stone Age) starting after 56 ka, organic artifacts unambiguously reminiscent of LSA (Later Stone Age) and San material culture emerge relatively abruptly, highlighting an apparent mismatch in rates of cultural change. Our results support the view that what we perceive today as modern behavior is the result of nonlinear trajectories that may be better understood when documented at a regional scale".
Another key research team leader, Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and lead study author of another report based on the same research, suggests that the finds indicate that the Later Stone Age thus emerged in South Africa more than 20,000 years earlier than previously believed -- coinciding with the time when humans were migrating from Africa to the European continent.
"Our research proves that the Later Stone Age emerged in South Africa far earlier than has been believed and occurred at about the same time as the arrival of modern humans in Europe," said Villa. "But differences in technology and culture between the two areas are very strong, showing the people of the two regions chose very different paths to the evolution of technology and society."
The research by the team, consisting of scientists from South Africa, France, Italy, Norway, the USA and Britain, is published in two articles online in the prestigious journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper titled Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa is authored by Francesco d’Errico, Lucinda Backwell, Paola Villa, Ilaria Degano, Jeannette Lucejko, Marion Bamford, Thomas Higham, Maria Perla Colombini, and Peter Beaumont. The other paper, titled Border Cave and the Beginning of the Later Stone Age in South Africa is authored by Paola Villa, Sylvain Soriano, Tsenka Tsanova, Ilaria Degano, Thomas Higham, Francesco d’Errico, Lucinda Backwell, Jeannette J. Luceiko, Maria Perla Colombini and Peter Beaumont.
______________________________
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario