Abstract
Given the apparent chronological association between the Howieson’s Poort (HP; ~65–60 ka)—a sub-stage of the southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA) showing evidence for advanced technology and material culture—and a glacial period, the innovations evidenced in the HP have long been modeled as an adaptation to a particular set of environmental conditions. In this paper, I use faunal data from the HP and post-HP MSA deposits at Sibudu Cave to explore the relationship between environmental and cultural change at the end of the HP. The data indicate that despite the seemingly abrupt shifts in material culture and technology, changes in the local environment and in animal procurement strategies were more gradual in nature, with the most marked changes taking place during the course of the post-HP MSA. These data suggest the need for a greater focus on demographic and/or social explanations for behavioral change during this period.
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to thank Lyn Wadley for her continued support—one could not ask for a better project director/colleague/friend. I also thank Grant McCall and the two anonymous reviewers for their useful commentary. Any mistakes that remain, are, of course, my own. Funding for this work was provided by the Leakey Foundation, the Palaeontological Scientific Trust, the National Science Foundation (DDIG # 0612606), and various units at the University of Michigan.
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Clark, J.L. (2013). Exploring the Relationship Between Climate Change and the Decline of the Howieson’s Poort at Sibudu Cave (South Africa). In: Clark, J., Speth, J. (eds) Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6766-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6766-9_2
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