A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco

Abstract

Summary The emergence of Homo sapiens in Pleistocene Africa is associated with a profound reconfiguration of technology. Symbolic expression and personal ornamentation, new tool forms, and regional technological traditions are widely recognized as the earliest indicators of complex culture and cognition in humans. Here we describe a bone tool tradition from Contrebandiers Cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, dated between 120,000–90,000 years ago. The bone tools were produced for different activities, including likely leather and fur working, and were found in association with carnivore remains that were possibly skinned for fur. A cetacean tooth tip bears what is likely a combination of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic modification and shows the use of a marine mammal tooth by early humans. The evidence from Contrebandiers Cave demonstrates that the pan-African emergence of complex culture included the use of multiple and diverse materials for specialized tool manufacture.

Demographic history and genetic diversity of wild African harlequin quail (Coturnix delegorguei delegorguei) populations of Kenya

“…180 ka is consistent with climate change during the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary where climate oscillations resulted in range contraction of species during dry arid climate periods (deMenocal, 1995 ; Hewitt, 2004 ). The observed bottleneck is also consistent with the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa some 200,000 years ago (McDougall et al, 2005 ; White et al, 2003 ) which was associated with updated and improved technology (Bradfield et al, 2020 ; Hallett et al, 2021 ). African hominins were known for hunting terrestrial prey and the development of advanced tools facilitated the incorporation of animal protein into their diets (Faith, 2014 ).…”

The relevance of late MSA mandibles on the emergence of modern morphology in Northern Africa

“…Three of the studied specimens were associated with the “Aterian” 14 , a typological variant of the Maghrebian MSA lithic industries that dominates the archaeological record west of the Nile Valley between 145 15 and 30 ka BP. As early as 142 ka BP, Aterian material culture documents the emergence of modern behavior 14 , 16 in the form of perforated and ochre-decorated Tricia (Nassarius) shells 17 , hearths and stone-walled structures 18 as well as formal bone tools 19 – 21 . The three hereafter referred to as Aterian individuals (Supplementary Table S1 ) were recovered in close vicinity to each other from cave sites in littoral Maghreb, namely Grotte des Contrebandiers, Dar-es-Soltane II and El Harhoura 1.…”

Scales of Analysis: the Usage of Appropriate Magnification in Use-Wear Studies

“…Low-power, stereo-microscopes are readily accessible, provide a good depth of field for larger areas and provide an appropriate scale at which to observe the distribution and extent of polishes and the boundaries between zones of contact (Rots 2005;Buc, Loponte 2007;Gates St-Pierre 2007;Evans, Donahue 2008;Buc 2011;Van Gijn 2014). Contrary to what some authors have suggested (e.g., Odell, Vereecken 1980;Choyke, Daróczi-Szabó 2010;Akhmetgaleeva 2017;Zhilin 2017;Halett et al 2021), most analysts, including myself, have found magnifications much below 100x insufficient to identify contact materials, except perhaps at a generic level of hard vs soft. Indeed, the low-power micrographs provided by some of the above-referenced authors do not show sufficient detail to be able to confidently identify the contact material responsible for polish formation (cf.…”