Comparative analysis of Middle Stone Age artifacts in Africa (CoMSAfrica)

Will, Manuel; Tryon, Christian A.; Shaw, Matthew; Scerri, Eleanor M. L.; Ranhorn, Kathryn L.; Pargeter, Justin; McNeil, Jessica; Mackay, Alex; Leplongeon, Alice; Groucutt, Huw S.; Douze, Katja; Brooks, Alison S.

doi:10.1002/evan.21772

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…One outcome of this is the difficulty in measuring incremental changes in artifact frequency over time, potentially exaggerating similarities or differences between artifact assemblages. The region still lacks terminological or data reporting standards, although efforts are underway to correct this …”

Section: Moving Forward: Assessing the Timing Tempo And Nature Of Tmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The region still lacks terminological or data reporting standards, although efforts are underway to correct this. 92 At present, the East African MSA/LSA lithic record is comprised largely of typological descriptions of the kinds of artifacts found (particularly deliberately shaped or retouched tools) or technological studies that ultimately provide at best a superficial, and largely typological description of past production methods, 86,93 such as the recognition of different Levallois approaches (e.g., recurrent, centripetal, unidirectional, etc.) based on core morphology at discard.…”

Section: Better Analytical Approaches In Lithic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Middle/Later Stone Age transition and cultural dynamics of late Pleistocene East Africa

Tryon

2019

Evolutionary Anthropology

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The Middle to Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) transition is a prominent feature of the African archeological record that began in some places ~30,000–60,000 years ago, historically associated with the origin and/or dispersal of “modern” humans. Unlike the analogous Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Eurasia and associated Neanderthal extinction, the African MSA/LSA record remains poorly documented, with its potential role in explaining changes in the behavioral diversity and geographic range of Homo sapiens largely unexplored. I review archeological and biogeographic data from East Africa, show regionally diverse pathways to the MSA/LSA transition, and emphasize the need for analytical approaches that document potential ancestor‐descendent relationships visible in the archeological record, needed to assess independent invention, population interaction, dispersal, and other potential mechanisms for behavioral change. Diversity within East Africa underscores the need for regional, rather than continental‐scale narratives of the later evolutionary history of H. sapiens.

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Section: Moving Forward: Assessing the Timing Tempo And Nature Of Tmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Better Analytical Approaches In Lithic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Middle/Later Stone Age transition and cultural dynamics of late Pleistocene East Africa

Tryon

2019

Evolutionary Anthropology

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“…A recent review [ 12 ], for example, makes it clear that even the ‘characteristic artefacts’ associated with a given industrial complex are neither unique to that complex nor always present in assemblages identified as belonging to that complex. That a recent meeting of leading MSA researchers failed to develop a ‘unified analytical approach’ [ 16 ] also hints at the scale of the problem. The analyses reported below attempt to shift the debate from one focussed on individual artefact types towards the consideration of recurring associations between constellations of technologies that mark genuine, demonstrable divisions in the data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural networks differentiate between Middle and Later Stone Age lithic assemblages in eastern Africa

Grove

Blinkhorn

2020

PLoS ONE

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The Middle to Later Stone Age transition marks a major change in how Late Pleistocene African populations produced and used stone tool kits, but is manifest in various ways, places and times across the continent. Alongside changing patterns of raw material use and decreasing artefact sizes, changes in artefact types are commonly employed to differentiate Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) assemblages. The current paper employs a quantitative analytical framework based upon the use of neural networks to examine changing constellations of technologies between MSA and LSA assemblages from eastern Africa. Network ensembles were trained to differentiate LSA assemblages from Marine Isotope Stage 3&4 MSA and Marine Isotope Stage 5 MSA assemblages based upon the presence or absence of 16 technologies. Simulations were used to extract significant indicator and contra-indicator technologies for each assemblage class. The trained network ensembles classified over 94% of assemblages correctly, and identified 7 key technologies that significantly distinguish between assemblage classes. These results clarify both temporal changes within the MSA and differences between MSA and LSA assemblages in eastern Africa.

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“…Despite their potential, interpreting stone tool assemblages remains challenging and controversial. We grapple with outdated and quasi‐narrative explanations and research orientations, imprecisely understood interobserver variability, weak or unclear cross‐disciplinary research aims, and interpretations ungrounded by actualistic or experimental evidence. These issues hamper archaeologists' use of stone tools to address the field's “big questions.”…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the evolution of human social learning through collaborative experimental archaeology

Ranhorn

Pargeter

Premo

2020

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Comparative analysis of Middle Stone Age artifacts in Africa (CoMSAfrica)

Cited by 28 publications

References 14 publications

The Middle/Later Stone Age transition and cultural dynamics of late Pleistocene East Africa

The Middle/Later Stone Age transition and cultural dynamics of late Pleistocene East Africa

Neural networks differentiate between Middle and Later Stone Age lithic assemblages in eastern Africa

Investigating the evolution of human social learning through collaborative experimental archaeology

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