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Ecology and demography of early Homo sapiens: a synthesis of archaeological and climatic data from eastern Africa.

Authors :
Timbrell, Lucy
Source :
Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. Mar2024, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p76-110. 35p.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Eastern Africa maintains a key position in debates surrounding the emergence of Homo sapiens across Africa. Extensive research in the region has revealed a rich fossil record in association with a 'generic' but variable Middle Stone Age (MSA) material culture, providing an important laboratory for testing hypotheses about the behavioural evolution of our species. For example, multiple archaeological studies of the eastern African MSA note a link between the distribution and density of sites, archaeological diversity and environmental conditions, with ecology and demography often cited as key drivers of cultural evolution. This article formulates new hypotheses using theoretical models of complex fitness landscapes of evolution and reviews the archaeological and climatic records of Middle-late Pleistocene eastern Africa in the light of these ideas. It proposes that evidence from eastern Africa implicates much of the region as a refugial zone within Pleistocene Africa, providing consistently suitable conditions for survival that were characterised by high and changing biodiversity, facilitating population growth and interconnectivity as well as material culture diversification. Interactions between different evolutionary processes likely resulted in the complex cultural mosaic observed across Africa, including the appearance of 'specific' innovations against a backdrop of more 'generic' MSA elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subjects

Subjects :
*HUMAN beings
*MESOLITHIC Period

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0067270X
Volume :
59
Issue :
1
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
176179330
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2024.2307790