Howiesons Poort may prove humans were ‘home bodies’ 58,000 years ago
A study has found that "staying longer at home" was key to a Stone Age technology change about 60‚000 years ago. Research by scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) suggests this was about the time when Stone Age humans began to settle down‚ staying in one area for longer periods. Wits said the research also provides a potential answer to a long-held mystery: why older‚ Howiesons Poort complex technological traditions in SA‚ suddenly disappeared at that time. The research paper by Dr Paloma de la Peña and Prof Lyn Wadley from the Evolutionary Studies Institute and the school of geography‚ archaeology and environmental studies at Wits in Johannesburg‚ was published in PlosOne‚ titled: Technological variability at Sibudu Cave: The end of Howiesons Poort and reduced mobility strategies after 62‚000 years ago. De la Peña and Wadley explored the changes observed between an industry known as the Howiesons Poort (dated about 65‚000 to 62‚000 years ago at Sibudu) and the on...
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