ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0124-7959
Current Organisations
University of Queensland School of Social Science
,
Everick Foundation
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Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change | Archaeological Science | Quaternary Environments | Evolutionary Biology
Understanding Africa's Past | Social Impacts of Climate Change and Variability | Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology |
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 06-2022
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0268943
Abstract: Ostrich eggshell (OES) beads from southern African archaeological contexts shed light on past traditions of personal ornamentation, and they are also argued to provide a proxy for understanding past social networks. However, OES beads are often understudied and not reported on in detail. In particular, there has been little research on OES bead variation during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (29,000–12,000 years ago) which includes the Last Glacial Maximum when changing climatic conditions are hypothesized to have significant impact on forager social networks. Here, we present the first technological analysis of terminal Pleistocene OES beads and fragments in the Kalahari from the ~15 ka levels at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter. We contextualise these findings through comparison with coeval OES bead assemblages across southern Africa during MIS 2. Results indicate that OES beads were manufactured at Ga-Mohana Hill North during the terminal Pleistocene occupation, based on the presence of most stages of bead manufacture. The review shows that OES beads were present across southern Africa through MIS 2, suggesting that culturing of the body was an embodied and persistent practice during that time. While the importance of OES beads as decorative objects was shared by populations across southern Africa, variation in bead diameters indicate that there was stylistic variation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2014.06.004
Abstract: Zooarchaeologists frequently use the relative abundance of skeletal elements in faunal assemblages in conjunction with foraging theory models to infer subsistence decisions made by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. However, foraging models applied to ethnoarchaeological cases have had variable success linking skeletal transport decisions with foraging predictions. Here, we approach this issue with the well-known Hadza data to statistically model the skeletal element transport decisions in response to distance from the residential hub and the number of carriers available for carcass transport. We compare our modeling approach to the traditional skeletal element utility curves from Binford's work with the Nunamiut, and to the more recently proposed Shannon evenness measure. Our approach, based on standard yet powerful statistical modeling techniques, can help researchers gain increased insight into the prey part transport responses of hunter-gatherers. Our analyses treat in idual prey skeletal elements by body size as the response variable. The results of this analysis suggest that utility curves, and the Shannon evenness approach as a proxy for utility curves, are problematic for making statements about prehistoric foraging from zooarchaeological data. Transport distance does not explain a significant portion of small prey (size class 2) skeletal element transport variation. However, distance explains a great deal of transport variation in large prey (size classes 4 and 5). Inferences from skeletal element profiles should be made relative to prey body size and the discard probability of in idual elements. Understanding the influence of these variables allows construction of a framework for testing archaeological element profiles against ethnographically derived transport models.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-03-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-03-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-021-03419-0
Abstract: The archaeological record of Africa provides the earliest evidence for the emergence of the complex symbolic and technological behaviours that characterize Homo sapiens
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-05-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2014
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-11-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-018-0711-0
Abstract: The Cradle of Humankind (Cradle) in South Africa preserves a rich collection of fossil hominins representing Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 27-08-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2010.07.015
Abstract: Unretouched convergent flakes are frequently a well represented tool type in many Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages. Damage to the lateral margins of these points is frequent however, analytical methods for dealing with the frequency and distribution of edge damage on points have not been developed and applied to a complete MSA lithic assemblage. A method for using GIS to quantify edge damage and statistically analyze the relative location and frequency of edge damage is presented here and applied to the complete assemblage of MSA points from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B), South Africa. The results indicate a frequency of edge damage consistent with heavier utilization of the dorsal surface over the ventral surface, and the left side over the right, with the dorsal left lateral margin being most heavily damaged. Additionally, the distribution of edge damage and low frequency of impact damage to the points suggest that PP13B represents a location where points were used for cutting activities and discarded. Applying the recording procedures advocated here to controlled edge damage replication experiments will help provide the interpretive linkages to site assemblage edge damage distributions.
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2016
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 13-10-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-03-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-03-2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE11660
Abstract: There is consensus that the modern human lineage appeared in Africa before 100,000 years ago. But there is debate as to when cultural and cognitive characteristics typical of modern humans first appeared, and the role that these had in the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. Scientists rely on symbolically specific proxies, such as artistic expression, to document the origins of complex cognition. Advanced technologies with elaborate chains of production are also proxies, as these often demand high-fidelity transmission and thus language. Some argue that advanced technologies in Africa appear and disappear and thus do not indicate complex cognition exclusive to early modern humans in Africa. The origins of composite tools and advanced projectile weapons figure prominently in modern human evolution research, and the latter have been argued to have been in the exclusive possession of modern humans. Here we describe a previously unrecognized advanced stone tool technology from Pinnacle Point Site 5-6 on the south coast of South Africa, originating approximately 71,000 years ago. This technology is dominated by the production of small bladelets (microliths) primarily from heat-treated stone. There is agreement that microlithic technology was used to create composite tool components as part of advanced projectile weapons. Microliths were common worldwide by the mid-Holocene epoch, but have a patchy pattern of first appearance that is rarely earlier than 40,000 years ago, and were thought to appear briefly between 65,000 and 60,000 years ago in South Africa and then disappear. Our research extends this record to ~71,000 years, shows that microlithic technology originated early in South Africa, evolved over a vast time span (~11,000 years), and was typically coupled to complex heat treatment that persisted for nearly 100,000 years. Advanced technologies in Africa were early and enduring a small s le of excavated sites in Africa is the best explanation for any perceived 'flickering' pattern.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-06-2021
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 29-03-2017
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-07-2022
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0270104
Abstract: Detailed, well-dated palaeoclimate and archaeological records are critical for understanding the impact of environmental change on human evolution. Ga-Mohana Hill, in the southern Kalahari, South Africa, preserves a Pleistocene archaeological sequence. Relict tufas at the site are evidence of past flowing streams, waterfalls, and shallow pools. Here, we use laser ablation screening to target material suitable for uranium-thorium dating. We obtained 33 ages covering the last 110 thousand years (ka) and identify five tufa formation episodes at 114–100 ka, 73–48 ka, 44–32 ka, 15–6 ka, and ~3 ka. Three tufa episodes are coincident with the archaeological units at Ga-Mohana Hill dating to ~105 ka, ~31 ka, and ~15 ka. Based on our data and the coincidence of dated layers from other local records, we argue that in the southern Kalahari, from ~240 ka to ~71 ka wet phases and human occupation are coupled, but by ~20 ka during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), they are decoupled.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-12-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11759-022-09460-3
Abstract: Creating and sharing 3D digital replicas of archaeological sites online has become increasingly common. They are being integrated in excavation workflows, used to foster public engagement with the site, and provide communication and outreach of research, which now happen on digital media platforms. However, there has been little introspection by the community involved in the 3D documentation field, which has resulted in problematic practices. We critique the western paradigm of archaeological visualisation and propose recommendations for inclusive, decolonised visualisations of living heritage and archaeological places. To begin, we define in broad terms what an archaeological site is, and then we describe how these sites have been recorded and represented using the latest technology for digital re-production, namely laser scanning and photogrammetry. Following that we provide a critical analysis of current 3D visualisations of archaeological sites and develop an approach to ensure that the significance, meaning, and potency of archaeological and living heritage places are transferred to their digital replicas. Our case study at Ga-Mohana Hill in South Africa then offers practical approaches and methodologies that the fields of cultural heritage documentation and archaeological visualisation can employ to address their recurring issues as identified in the critical analysis. We present an online, interactive 3D digital replica of a living heritage and archaeological place that we believe responds appropriately to its political, cultural, and social context along with communicating its archaeological significance.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2020
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-08-2023
Location: Australia
Start Date: 08-2022
End Date: 08-2025
Amount: $267,053.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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