A West African Middle Stone Age site dated to the beginning of MIS 5

Archaeology, chronology, and paleoenvironment of the Ravin Blanc I (eastern Senegal)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5708684
AutoresKatja Douze (0000-0001-9997-1605, University of Geneva, autor de correspondencia), Laurent Lespez (0000-0003-3256-1999, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Michel Rasse (Lyon 1 Université), Chantal Tribolo (0000-0003-0506-2430, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Aline Garnier (0000-0003-2812-9220, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Brice Lebrun (0000-0002-2713-2834, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), N Mercier (0000-0002-6375-9108, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Matar Ndiaye (0000-0002-8068-8938, Cheikh Anta Diop University), Benoît Chevrier (0000-0002-9065-0984, University of Geneva), Éric Huysecom (0000-0003-4205-0914, University of Geneva)
Año2021
Volumen154
Páginas102952
Fecha de publicación2021-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Human Evolution (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2484 • E-ISSN: 1095-8606
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102952
PMID33751962
OpenAlexW3136365013
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas90

The Ravin Blanc I archaeological occurrence, dated to MIS 5, provides unprecedented data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of West Africa since well-contextualized archaeological sites pre-dating MIS 4/3 are extremely rare for this region. The combined approach on geomorphology, phytolith analysis, and OSL date estimations offers a solid framework for the MSA industry comprised in the Ravin Blanc I sedimentary sequence. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction further emphasizes on the local effects of the global increase in moisture characterizing the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene as well as the later shift to more arid conditions. The lithic industry, comprised in the lower part of the sequence and dated to MIS 5e, shows core reduction sequences among which Levallois methods are minor, as well as an original tool-kit composition, among which pieces with single wide abrupt notches, side-scrapers made by inverse retouch, and a few large crudely shaped bifacial tools. The Ravin Blanc I assemblage has neither a chronologically equivalent site to serve comparisons nor a clear techno-typological correspondent in West Africa. However, the industry represents an early MSA technology that could either retain influences from the southern West African 'Sangoan' or show reminiscences of the preceding local Acheulean. A larger-scale assessment of behavioral dynamics at work at the transition period between the Middle to Upper Pleistocene is discussed in view of integrating this new site to the global perception of this important period in the MSA evolutionary trajectories

Archaeology · Cave · Chronology · Geography · Later Stone Age · Middle Stone Age · Pleistocene · Stone Age · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology