9,000 years of genetic continuity in southernmost Africa demonstrated at Oakhurst rockshelter.

Southern Africa has one of the longest records of fossil hominins and harbours the largest human genetic diversity in the world. Yet, despite its relevance for human origins and spread around the globe, the formation and processes of its gene pool in the past are still largely unknown. Here, we present a time transect of genome-wide sequences from nine individuals recovered from a single site in South Africa, Oakhurst Rockshelter.

Bioarchaeology and evidence of violence from a precolonial later stone age communal burial in South Africa.

This study reports on the bioarchaeology and evidence of interpersonal violence in a group of archaeological skeletons found near Ladismith, Western Cape, South Africa. The co-mingled skeletal remains derive from at least ten individuals of varying ages and both sexes. Overlapping radiocarbon dates on three individuals place them in the first half of the 15th century CE, pre-dating first European contact at the end of that century.

Bilateral hip dysplasia in a South African male: A case study from the 17-18th century.

Objective: To identify, critically analyse and describe severe bilateral skeletal pathology involving the ossa coxae of an individual from historic era Cape Town.

Materials: A single individual from the University of Cape Town's Human Skeletal Repository was analysed under research approval (HREC# 035/2021).

Methods: An osteobiography was constructed, radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses were conducted.

Palaeoproteomics confirm earliest domesticated sheep in southern Africa ca. 2000 BP.

We used palaeoproteomics and peptide mass fingerprinting to obtain secure species identifications of key specimens of early domesticated fauna from South Africa, dating to ca. 2000 BP. It can be difficult to distinguish fragmentary remains of early domesticates (sheep) from similar-sized local wild bovids (grey duiker, grey rhebok, springbok-southern Africa lacks wild sheep) based on morphology alone.

Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa.

Despite advances in our understanding of the geographic and temporal scope of the Paleolithic record, we know remarkably little about the evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in human behavior. Recent inquiries suggest that human evolution reflects a long history of interconnections between the behavior of humans and their surrounding ecosystems (e.g.

Sourcing Elephant Ivory from a Sixteenth-Century Portuguese Shipwreck.

The oldest known shipwreck in southern Africa was found in Namibia in 2008. Forty tons of cargo, including gold and silver coins, helped identify the ship as the Bom Jesus, a Portuguese nau (trading vessel) lost in 1533 while headed to India. The cargo included >100 elephant tusks, which we examined using paleogenomic and stable isotope analyses.

Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes.

We present isotopic and morphometric evidence suggesting the migration of farmers in the southern Andes in the period AD 1270-1420, leading up to the Inka conquest occurring ~ AD 1400. This is based on the interdisciplinary study of human remains from archaeological cemeteries in the Andean Uspallata Valley (Argentina), located in the southern frontier of the Inka Empire. The studied samples span AD 800-1500, encompassing the highly dynamic Late Intermediate Period and culminating with the imperial expansion.

A Late Holocene community burial area: Evidence of diverse mortuary practices in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Over several decades, human skeletal remains from at least twelve individuals (males, females, children and infants) were recovered from a small area (ca. 10 x 10 m) on the eastern shore of Table Bay, Cape Town, near the mouth of the Diep River where it empties into the sea. Two groups, each comprising four individuals, appear to have been buried in single graves.

Diet and adult age-at-death among mobile foragers: A synthesis of bioarcheological methods.

Objectives: The research explores whether the combined study of cortical bone histology, bone morphology, and dietary stable isotopes can expand insights into past human health and adaptations, particularly dietary sufficiency and life span.

Materials And Methods: Midthoracic rib cortices from 54 South African Late Holocene adult skeletons (28 M, 24 F, two sex undetermined) are assessed by transmitted-light microscopy for cross-sectional area measurements, osteon area (On.Ar), osteon population density, and presence/absence of secondary osteon variants.

Diet variability among pre-Dogon and early Dogon populations (Mali) from stable isotopes and dental diseases.

Aims And Objectives: This article reports on diet variability in the Dogon Country (Mali) through a bio-archeological study of pre-Dogon and early Dogon human remains (7th century to 19th century AD) from collective burial caves in the Bandiagara Escarpment.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and twenty crania from collections curated in Leiden, Paris, and Bamako were studied for dental diseases. In a subset of teeth (n = 175), δ C and δ N were measured in bulk dentine samples.

Seasonal scheduling of shellfish collection in the Middle and Later Stone Ages of southern Africa.

This study assesses the seasonal scheduling of shellfish harvesting among hunter-gatherer populations along the southernmost coast of South Africa, based on a large number of serial oxygen isotope analyses of marine mollusk shells from four archaeological sites. The south coast of South Africa boasts an exceptional record of coastal hunter-gatherer occupation spanning the Holocene, the last glacial cycle and beyond. The significance of coastal adaptations, in this region in particular, for later modern human evolution has been prominently debated.

Coastal complexity: Ancient human diets inferred from Bayesian stable isotope mixing models and a primate analogue.

An extensive ecological literature applies stable isotope mixing models to derive quantitative dietary reconstructions from isotope ratios of consumer tissues. While this approach works well for some organisms, it is challenging for consumers with complex, varied diets, including humans; indeed, many archaeologists have avoided the use of mixing models because uncertainties in model outputs are sufficiently large that the findings are not helpful in understanding ancient lifeways. Here, we exploit an unparalleled opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of dietary quantification in a nutritionally and isotopically complex context on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.

Multi-tissue stable carbon and nitrogen isotope models for dietary reconstruction: Evaluation using a southern African farming population.

Objectives: Multi-tissue stable isotope models to reconstruct past diets (Froehle, Kellner, & Schoeninger, 2012; Kellner & Schoeninger, 2007) have lacked data from a heavily C -dependent population. Using new data from southern African agriculturalists, published models are evaluated for accuracy in dietary reconstruction and applicability to isotopically diverse diets. Additionally, isotopic variation between tooth enamel and bone apatite, which are often treated as isotopically equivalent, is investigated.

Questions of Khoesan continuity: dental affinities among the indigenous Holocene peoples of South Africa.

The present report follows up on the findings of previous research, including recent bioarchaeological study of well-dated Khoesan skeletal remains, that posits long term biological continuity among the indigenous peoples of South Africa after the Pleistocene. The Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System was used to record key crown, root, and intraoral osseous nonmetric traits in six early-through-late Holocene samples from the Cape coasts. Based on these data, phenetic affinities and an identification of traits most important in driving intersample variation were determined using principal components analysis and the mean measure of divergence distance statistic.

Earliest stone-tipped projectiles from the Ethiopian rift date to >279,000 years ago.

Projectile weapons (i.e. those delivered from a distance) enhanced prehistoric hunting efficiency by enabling higher impact delivery and hunting of a broader range of animals while reducing confrontations with dangerous prey species.

Technical note: interpreting stable carbon isotopes in human tooth enamel: an examination of tissue spacings from South Africa.

Stable isotope analysis of skeletal tissues is widely used in archeology and paleoanthropology to reconstruct diet. In material that is poorly preserved or very old, the tissue of choice is frequently tooth enamel, since this is less susceptible to diagenesis. The relationships between carbon isotope ratios in tooth enamel (δ(13) C(enamel) ), bone collagen (δ(13) C(collagen) ), and bone apatite (δ(13) C(bone apatite) ) are, however, not well understood.

Landscape-scale feeding patterns of African elephant inferred from carbon isotope analysis of feces.

The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is a large-bodied, generalist herbivore that eats both browse and grass. The proportions of browse and grass consumed are largely expected to reflect the relative availability of these resources. We investigated variations in browse (C(3) biomass) and grass (C(4)) intake of the African elephant across seasons and habitats by stable carbon isotope analysis of elephant feces collected from Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Craniofacial variation and population continuity during the South African Holocene.

We assess craniometric variation in 153 individually dated human crania from South Africa with the aim of investigating genetic continuity/discontinuity during the Holocene. Evidence from the archaeological record is used to pinpoint likely episodes of genetic discontinuity. Craniometric data are then used to assess the likelihood of genetic change having occurred.

Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa.

In the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic after about 35,000 years ago, abstract or depictional images provide evidence for cognitive abilities considered integral to modern human behavior. Here we report on two abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre recovered from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa. A mean date of 77,000 years was obtained for the layers containing the engraved ochres by thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, and the stratigraphic integrity was confirmed by an optically stimulated luminescence age of 70,000 years on an overlying dune.