“Of Sheep and Men”: Earliest Direct Evidence of Caprine Domestication in Southern Africa at Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibia)

International audienc

Faunal list of the squares N7, M7 and O7 (layers 5 and 6) of Leopard Cave.

<p>Faunal list of the squares N7, M7 and O7 (layers 5 and 6) of Leopard Cave.</p

Location of Leopard Cave (Omandumba West, Erongo, Namibia).

<p>Plan of the cave and location of the excavated area.</p

Synthetic stratigraphic section E-W (transversal) of 7/8 band of Leopard Cave (in cm), with location of the dated samples.

<p>Examples of archaeological remains found in Layers 5, 6 and 7.</p

Later Stone Age sites of southern Africa with early evidence of caprines (after [<b>15]</b>–[17], [19], [30], [34], [57], [72], [83]–[87]).

<p>Later Stone Age sites of southern Africa with early evidence of caprines (after <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Henshilwood2" target="_blank">[<b>15]</b></a>–<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Robbins1" target="_blank">[17]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Albrecht1" target="_blank">[19]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Bousman1" target="_blank">[30]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Sandelowsky2" target="_blank">[34]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Jacobson1" target="_blank">[57]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Robbins2" target="_blank">[72]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Walker2" target="_blank">[83]</a>–<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-Schweitzer1" target="_blank">[87]</a>).</p

Measurements (in mm) of the caprines teeth from Leopard Cave (A: Upper M2; B: Lower M3) compared with modern african specimens from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN).

<p>N: Number of specimens; min: minimum; max: maximum.</p

¹⁴C dates at Leopard cave (calibration curve: SHCal 04 [71], using OxCal 4.1).

<p>¹⁴C dates at Leopard cave (calibration curve: SHCal 04 <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040340#pone.0040340-McCormac1" target="_blank">[71]</a>, using OxCal 4.1).</p

New investigations at the Middle Stone Age site of Pockenbank Rockshelter, Namibia

In southern Africa, Middle Stone Age sites with long sequences have been the focus of intense international and interdisciplinary research over the past decade (cf. Wadley 2015). Two techno-complexes of the Middle Stone Agethe Still Bay and Howiesons Poorthave been associated with many technological and behavioural innovations of Homo sapiens. The classic model argues that these two techno-complexes are temporally separated horizons' with homogenous material culture (Jacobs et al.2008), reflecting demographic pulses and supporting large subcontinental networks. This model was developed on the basis of evidence from southern African sites regarded as centres of subcontinental developments