May 4. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Stone tools recovered near the Senegalese coast date the occupation of the region back to 150,000 years ago and are comparable to those observed throughout Africa at this time, but persist uniquely in the region up to 10,000 years ago, revealing a long cultural continuity at the oldest occupied site in West Africa.
Evidence for human evolution in West Africa remains scant, but recent research has revealed unique patterns of cultural change compared to other regions of the continent.
A new study, published in ‘Nature Ecology and Evolution’, contributes to this knowledge with a study of the oldest direct dating archaeological site in West Africa. The site shows a technological continuity of some 140,000 years and offers information on the ecological stability of the region.
Our species arose in Africa around 300,000 years ago and, until around 30,000-60,000 years ago, used tools and tool-making techniques called Middle Stone Age assemblies. Around this time, distinct sets of Late Stone Age tools began to appear in North, East, and South Africa.
Although recent evidence suggests that Middle Stone Age tools persisted in West Africa much later, up to around 10,000 years ago, the age of these technologies is poorly understood.
The new study, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology (Germany), Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (Senegal), the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom) and the University of South Florida (United States), expands the time frame in which tools are known from the Middle Stone Age in West Africa up to 150,000 years ago, based on excavations carried out at the Bargny 1 site, close to the coast.
“The 150,000-year-old stone tool assemblage 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 tools,” he explains. Dr. Khady Niang, lead author of the study.
“The Bargny 1 assemblage is very comparable to those of a similar age across the continent, and is the first West African site dated to the Middle Pleistocene, before the start of substantial technological downregulation in other parts of Africa,” he adds. .
The deposit is located near the current coast, south of Dakar. Although no artifacts indicating a direct relationship between man and coastal resources were recovered from the site, study of the associated environments offers a broader perspective.
“We found plant microfossils from mangroves and brackish wetlands associated with the occupation of the site,” added Dr. Chris Kiahtipes of the University of South Florida, a co-author of the study. This is especially interesting because it shows that the site was located near an estuary and shows how important these habitats are to humans past and present.”
The study highlights the long-term durability of the basic elements of Middle Stone Age tool sets in West Africa, with no evidence of the emergence of specialized technological developments seen elsewhere.
“Middle Stone Age populations adapted to a wide range of habitats and participated in climate changes across Africa. But in West Africa we see considerable environmental stability over the past 150,000 years”adds Dr. Jimbob Blinkhorn.
“One explanation for the enduring cultural continuity that we observed is that it was stable behavioral adaptation to stable environmental conditions, while potential isolation from other populations in Africa may have led to demographic stability as well,” he says. Ultimately, our study helps illustrate the continuing utility of Middle Stone Age technologies for inhabiting the diverse habitats found throughout Africa.”
