title: Ages for the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa: implications for human behavior and dispersal.
abstract: The expansion of modern human populations in Africa 80,000 to 60,000 years ago and their initial exodus out of Africa have been tentatively linked to two phases of technological and behavioral innovation within the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa-the Still Bay and Howieson's Poort industries-that are associated with early evidence for symbols and personal ornaments. Establishing the correct sequence of events, however, has been hampered by inadequate chronologies. We report ages for nine sites from varied climatic and ecological zones across southern Africa that show that both industries were short-lived (5000 years or less), separated by about 7000 years, and coeval with genetic estimates of population expansion and exit times. Comparison with climatic records shows that these bursts of innovative behavior cannot be explained by environmental factors alone.
authors.affiliation: GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. zenobia@uow.edu.au
authors.forename: Zenobia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Rex F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Galbraith
authors.forename: Hilary J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Deacon
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grün
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mackay
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vogelsang
authors.forename: Lyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wadley
mesh_terms: D000353:Africa, Southern; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001106:Archaeology; D001519:Behavior; D002980:Climate; D003469:Culture; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000266:history; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D011157:Population Dynamics