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Innovative Homo sapiens behaviours 105,000 years ago in a wetter Kalahari
Nature ( IF 64.8 ) Pub Date : 2021-03-31 , DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0
Jayne Wilkins 1, 2 , Benjamin J Schoville 2, 3 , Robyn Pickering 2, 4 , Luke Gliganic 5 , Benjamin Collins 2, 6, 7 , Kyle S Brown 2, 7 , Jessica von der Meden 2, 4 , Wendy Khumalo 2, 4 , Michael C Meyer 5 , Sechaba Maape 8 , Alexander F Blackwood 2, 9 , Amy Hatton 2, 10
Affiliation  

The archaeological record of Africa provides the earliest evidence for the emergence of the complex symbolic and technological behaviours that characterize Homo sapiens1,2,3,4,5,6,7. The coastal setting of many archaeological sites of the Late Pleistocene epoch, and the abundant shellfish remains recovered from them, has led to a dominant narrative in which modern human origins in southern Africa are intrinsically tied to the coast and marine resources8,9,10,11,12, and behavioural innovations in the interior lag behind. However, stratified Late Pleistocene sites with good preservation and robust chronologies are rare in the interior of southern Africa, and the coastal hypothesis therefore remains untested. Here we show that early human innovations that are similar to those dated to around 105 thousand years ago (ka) in coastal southern Africa existed at around the same time among humans who lived over 600 km inland. We report evidence for the intentional collection of non-utilitarian objects (calcite crystals) and ostrich eggshell from excavations of a stratified rockshelter deposit in the southern Kalahari Basin, which we date by optically stimulated luminescence to around 105 ka. Uranium–thorium dating of relict tufa deposits indicates sporadic periods of substantial volumes of fresh, flowing water; the oldest of these episodes is dated to between 110 and 100 ka and is coeval with the archaeological deposit. Our results suggest that behavioural innovations among humans in the interior of southern Africa did not lag behind those of populations near the coast, and that these innovations may have developed within a wet savannah environment. Models that tie the emergence of behavioural innovations to the exploitation of coastal resources by our species may therefore require revision.



中文翻译:

105,000 年前在更潮湿的喀拉哈里沙漠中的创新智人行为

非洲的考古记录为智人1,2,3,4,5,6,7的复杂象征和技术行为的出现提供了最早的证据。晚更新世时期的许多考古遗址的沿海环境,以及从中发现的丰富的贝类遗骸,导致了一种占主导地位的叙述,在这种叙述中,南部非洲的现代人类起源与海岸和海洋资源有着内在的联系8,9,10 ,11,12,内部的行为创新滞后。然而,在南部非洲内陆,保存完好且年代久远的分层晚更新世遗址很少见,因此沿海假说仍未得到检验。在这里,我们展示了与大约 10.5 万年前(ka)在南部非洲沿海地区相似的早期人类创新,大约同时存在于居住在内陆 600 多公里的人类中。我们报告了从喀拉哈里盆地南部分层岩石掩体矿床的挖掘中有意收集非实用物体(方解石晶体)和鸵鸟蛋壳的证据,我们通过光激发发光将其定年为 105 ka 左右。孑遗凝灰岩矿床的铀-钍测年表明大量淡水流动的零星时期;这些事件中最古老的可追溯到 110 至 100 ka 之间,与考古沉积物同时发生。我们的研究结果表明,南部非洲内陆地区人类的行为创新并未落后于海岸附近的人群,而且这些创新可能是在潮湿的热带草原环境中发展起来的。因此,将行为创新的出现与我们物种对沿海资源的开发联系起来的模型可能需要修改。

更新日期:2021-03-31
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