The Middle to Later Stone Age transition at Panga ya Saidi, in the tropical coastal forest of eastern Africa

The Middle to Later Stone Age transition is a critical period of human behavioral change that has been variously argued to pertain to the emergence of modern cognition, substantial population growth, and major dispersals of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. However, there is little consensus about when the transition occurred, the geographic patterning of its emergence, or even how it is manifested in the stone tool technology that is used to define it. Here, we examine a long sequence of lithic technological change at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, that spans the Middle and Later Stone Age and includes human occupations in each of the last five Marine Isotope Stages. In addition to the stone artifact technology, Panga ya Saidi preserves osseous and shell artifacts, enabling broader considerations of the covariation between different spheres of material culture. Several environmental proxies contextualize the artifactual record of human behavior at Panga ya Saidi. We compare technological change between the Middle and Later Stone Age with on-site paleoenvironmental manifestations of wider climatic fluctuations in the Late Pleistocene. The principal distinguishing feature of Middle from Later Stone Age technology at Panga ya Saidi is the preference for fine-grained stone, coupled with the creation of small flakes (miniaturization). Our review of the Middle to Later Stone Age transition elsewhere in eastern Africa and across the continent suggests that this broader distinction between the two periods is in fact widespread. We suggest that the Later Stone Age represents new short use-life and multicomponent ways of using stone tools, in which edge sharpness was prioritized over durability

The Middle to Later Stone Age transition at Panga ya Saidi, in the tropical coastal forest of eastern Africa

The Middle to Later Stone Age transition is a critical period of human behavioral change that has been variously argued to pertain to the emergence of modern cognition, substantial population growth, and major dispersals of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. However, there is little consensus about when the transition occurred, the geographic patterning of its emergence, or even how it is manifested in the stone tool technology that is used to define it. Here, we examine a long sequence of lithic technological change at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, that spans the Middle and Later Stone Age and includes human occupations in each of the last five Marine Isotope Stages. In addition to the stone artifact technology, Panga ya Saidi preserves osseous and shell artifacts, enabling broader considerations of the covariation between different spheres of material culture. Several environmental proxies contextualize the artifactual record of human behavior at Panga ya Saidi. We compare technological change between the Middle and Later Stone Age with on-site paleoenvironmental manifestations of wider climatic fluctuations in the Late Pleistocene. The principal distinguishing feature of Middle from Later Stone Age technology at Panga ya Saidi is the preference for fine-grained stone, coupled with the creation of small flakes (miniaturization). Our review of the Middle to Later Stone Age transition elsewhere in eastern Africa and across the continent suggests that this broader distinction between the two periods is in fact widespread. We suggest that the Later Stone Age represents new short use-life and multicomponent ways of using stone tools, in which edge sharpness was prioritized over durability.1. Introduction 1.1. Identifying the MSA-LSA technological transition in eastern Africa 1.2. Site and environment 2. Materials and methods 3. Results 3.1. Local stone sources 3.2. Lithic materials, frequency, and size 3.3. Core reduction 3.4. Flakes 3.5. Retouched flakes 4. Discussion 4.1. The Panga ya Saidi lithic sequence in context 4.2. Overview of the Panga ya Saidi sequence 4.3. The MSA-LSA lithic transition in eastern Africa and beyond 5. Conclusion

Reinvestigation of Kuumbi cave, Zanzibar, reveals later stone age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and iron age reoccupation

The late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the site of Kuumbi Cave in the Zanzibar Archipelago of Tanzania reported late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) and LSA, mid-Holocene Neolithic and late Holocene Iron Age occupations (Sinclair et al. 2006 Sinclair, P.J.J., Juma, A., and Chami, F.A. 2006. “Excavations at Kuumbi Cave on Zanzibar in 2005.” In The African Archaeology Network: Research in Progress, edited by J. Kinahan and J.H.A. Kinahan, 95–106. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.[Google Scholar]; Chami 2009 Chami, F.A. 2009. Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast from c.30,000 Years Ago. Dar es Salaam: E&D; Vision Publishing.[Google Scholar]). Kuumbi Cave considerably extends the chronology of human occupation on the eastern African coast and findings from the site have been the basis for the somewhat contentious identification of both a coastal Neolithic culture and early chicken, a domesticate that was introduced to Africa from Asia. The site therefore warrants further investigation. Here we report on a new excavation of the Kuumbi Cave sequence that has produced a suite of 20 radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates. Our results suggest that the cave’s stratigraphy is complex, reflecting taphonomic processes that present interpretive and dating challenges. Our assessment of the stratigraphic sequence demonstrates three phases of habitation, two of which reflect terminal Pleistocene occupation and are characterised by quartz microliths, bone points and the exploitation of terrestrial and marine species, and one of which reflects later reoccupation by AD 600. In this latter phase, Kuumbi Cave was inhabited by a population with a locally distinct material culture that included idiosyncratic Tana or Triangular Incised Ware ceramics and medium-sized limestone stone tools, but with a subsistence economy similar to that of the late Pleistocene, albeit with more emphasis on marine foods and smaller terrestrial mammals. Our results suggest that Kuumbi Cave may have been unoccupied for much of the Holocene, after Zanzibar became an island. Our findings also place into question earlier identifications of domesticates, Asian fauna and a mid-Holocene Neolithic culture at the site

Ação para a aprendizagem: uma descrição histórica e contemporânea das atividades das Empresas Juniores da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Sócio-Econômico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração.O estudo ora apresentado teve como tema e problema de pesquisa verificar até que ponto e de que maneira as Empresas Juniores (EJ) são parceiras da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) na contribuição para a formação profissional dos discentes. Para atingir o objetivo, foram estabelecidos como objetivos específicos: a descrição do surgimento, organização e funcionamento das EJ, destacando os aspectos significativos, a descrição dos principais resultados alcançados e as dificuldades encontradas pelas EJ e a descrição das perspectivas destas EJ num contexto nacional sob a ótica política, social e econômica. Esta pesquisa se caracteriza por um estudo empírico do tipo exploratório, explicativo, não experimental, e o delineamento utilizado foi o estudo de caso que permitiu analisar as configurações estruturais das sociedades civis denominadas Empresa Júnior. Trabalhou-se com uma amostra significativa de 87,5% do total das EJ existentes no período da coleta de dados (documental e entrevistas), não alcançando os 100% somente porque as mesmas estavam temporariamente desativadas. A amostra totalizou 07 (sete) EJ, mais a Federação das Empresas Juniores do Estado de Santa Catarina (FEJESC), com 42 (quarenta e dois) participantes diretamente envolvidos. Os dados primários foram coletados através de análise documental e os dados secundários por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com formulações e interrogações abertas. Estas entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram gravadas e no momento adequado foram transcritas para seguir o procedimento padrão de melhor análise. Os resultados foram analisados a partir da análise documental e análise de conteúdo para as entrevistas semi-estruturadas, onde foram categorizadas conforme procedimento para este tipo de pesquisa qualitativa. No referencial teórico procurou-se apresentar: evolução histórica da educação; as habilidades e competências para transmitir e receber conhecimento no processo de aprendizagem; o trabalho como método e fundamento pedagógico, encerrando com uma breve apresentação das relações entre universidades e empresas. No capítulo da metodologia, caracterizou-se a pesquisa em: Referências Norteadoras da Pesquisa; Delimitação do Estudo; Definição de Termos; Questões de Pesquisa; Técnicas de Coleta de Dados; Procedimentos de Coleta de Dados e Limitações da pesquisa. No capítulo quarto, analisaram-se e interpretaram-se os dados coletados da pesquisa, dividindo-os por questões de pesquisa, analisando-as separadamente. Nas conclusões, para melhor entendimento, dividiu-se em subitens assim definidos: conclusões em relação ao resultado da pesquisa; recomendações e sugestões

Earliest Known Human Burial in Africa

The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate1–3. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa1–6. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya7,8. Recent excavations have revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the pit was deliberately excavated. Taphonomical evidence, such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction, support the in-place decomposition of the fresh body. The presence of little or no displacement of the unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth), making the PYS finding the oldest known human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to Homo sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual assembly of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead. The earliest known human burial in Africa, that of a young child, is dated to around 78,000 years ago