TY - JOUR
T1 - Middle and later stone age chronology of kisese II rockshelter (UNESCO World Heritage Kondoa Rock-Art Sites), Tanzania
AU - Tryon, Christian A.
AU - Lewis, Jason E.
AU - Ranhorn, Kathryn L.
AU - Kwekason, Amandus
AU - Alex, Bridget
AU - Laird, Myra F.
AU - Marean, Curtis W.
AU - Niespolo, Elizabeth
AU - Nivens, Joelle
AU - Mabulla, Audax Z.P.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work received support from the following sources: Harvard University (Dean’s Fund/Start-up), C.A.T.; American School of Prehistoric Research (Harvard University), C.A.T.; Leakey Foundation, leakeyfoundation.org, J.E.L.; New York University Cliff Jolly Award, to M.F.L.; Rutgers University Byrne Seminar Research We thank Adi Inskeep, Jim Simons, Carmel Schrire, and Janette Deacon for sharing their time, expertise, and memories of Ray Inskeep and the fieldwork at Kisese II, Sheila Nightingale for the artifact illustrations, Jason Ur for volume calculations, Jennifer Miller and Andrew Kandel for discussions about ostrich eggshell beads, Aidan Baker, Cyprian Broodbank, Graeme Barker, Sara Harrop, and Sara Yuriko Cerenius for assistance with searching the Inskeep archives at Cambridge University, and Jennifer Charlson for permission to publish portions of them. The comments of Mary Prendergast, Michael Petraglia, Stanley Ambrose, Pamela Willoughby, and several anonymous reviewers caused us to seriously rethink our available data, observations, and arguments, for which we are very grateful. Our research is supported by Harvard University, the American School for Prehistoric Research, the Leakey Foundation, the New York University Cliff Jolly award, the Rutgers University Byrne Seminar Research Program, NSF IGERT DGE 0801634, and a Fulbright-Hays DDRA. All necessary permits were obtained for the described study, which complied with all relevant regulations. These include research permits 2015-115-ER-2013-122, 2015-116-ER-2015-212, 2015-120-NA-2015-24 issued by the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology, and permit number NCST/5/002/R/576 issued by the Kenyan National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Tryon et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - The archaeology of East Africa during the last ~65,000 years plays a central role in debates about the origins and dispersal of modern humans, Homo sapiens. Despite the historical importance of the region to these discussions, reliable chronologies for the nature, tempo, and timing of human behavioral changes seen among Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological assemblages are sparse. The Kisese II rockshelter in the Kondoa region of Tanzania, originally excavated in 1956, preserves a 6-m-thick archaeological succession that spans the MSA/LSA transition, with lithic artifacts such as Levallois and bladelet cores and backed microliths, the recurrent use of red ochre, and >5,000 ostrich eggshell beads and bead fragments. Twenty-nine radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshell carbonate make Kisese II one of the most robust chronological sequences for understanding archaeological change over the last ~47,000 years in East Africa. In particular, ostrich eggshell beads and backed microliths appear by 46–42 ka cal BP and occur throughout overlying Late Pleistocene and Holocene strata. Changes in lithic technology suggest an MSA/LSA transition that began 39–34.3 ka, with typical LSA technologies in place by the Last Glacial Maximum. The timing of these changes demonstrates the time-transgressive nature of behavioral innovations often linked to the origins of modern humans, even within a single region of Africa.
AB - The archaeology of East Africa during the last ~65,000 years plays a central role in debates about the origins and dispersal of modern humans, Homo sapiens. Despite the historical importance of the region to these discussions, reliable chronologies for the nature, tempo, and timing of human behavioral changes seen among Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological assemblages are sparse. The Kisese II rockshelter in the Kondoa region of Tanzania, originally excavated in 1956, preserves a 6-m-thick archaeological succession that spans the MSA/LSA transition, with lithic artifacts such as Levallois and bladelet cores and backed microliths, the recurrent use of red ochre, and >5,000 ostrich eggshell beads and bead fragments. Twenty-nine radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshell carbonate make Kisese II one of the most robust chronological sequences for understanding archaeological change over the last ~47,000 years in East Africa. In particular, ostrich eggshell beads and backed microliths appear by 46–42 ka cal BP and occur throughout overlying Late Pleistocene and Holocene strata. Changes in lithic technology suggest an MSA/LSA transition that began 39–34.3 ka, with typical LSA technologies in place by the Last Glacial Maximum. The timing of these changes demonstrates the time-transgressive nature of behavioral innovations often linked to the origins of modern humans, even within a single region of Africa.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0192029
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0192029
M3 - Article
C2 - 29489827
AN - SCOPUS:85042775195
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 2
M1 - e0192029
ER -