TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental dynamics during the onset of the Middle Stone Age in eastern Africa
AU - Potts, Richard
AU - Behrensmeyer, Anna K.
AU - Tyler Faith, J.
AU - Tryon, Christian A.
AU - Brooks, Alison S.
AU - Yellen, John E.
AU - Deino, Alan L.
AU - Kinyanjui, Rahab
AU - Clark, Jennifer B.
AU - Haradon, Catherine M.
AU - Levin, Naomi E.
AU - Meijer, Hanneke J.M.
AU - Veatch, Elizabeth G.
AU - Owen, R. Bernhart
AU - Renaut, Robin W.
N1 - Funding information:
Supported by the Peter Buck Fund for Human Origins Research, Smithsonian Institution (R.P.), NSF HOMINID Program grant BCS-0218511 (R.P.), and NSF Archaeometry grant EAR-1322017 (A.L.D.).
Publisher copyright:
Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
PY - 2018/4/6
Y1 - 2018/4/6
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044288496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.aao2200
DO - 10.1126/science.aao2200
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29545506
AN - SCOPUS:85044288496
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 360
SP - 86
EP - 90
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6384
ER -