A recent study found the oldest archaeological site in West Africa, extending the known timeframe of Middle Stone Age toolkits to 150,000 years ago.
The durability of these toolkits suggests enduring cultural continuity due to stable environmental conditions and isolation from other African populations. The study highlights unique patterns of cultural change in West Africa and offers insights into the region’s ecological stability.
A new article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution adds to our understanding with a study of the oldest directly dated archaeological site in West Africa. The site shows technological continuity spanning roughly 140,000 years and offers insights into the ecological stability of the region.
This site provides insights into the ecological stability of the region and suggests unique patterns of cultural change in West Africa compared to other regions of the continent. While our species emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago and used Middle Stone Age toolkits until around 30-60 thousand years ago, Later Stone Age toolkits began to emerge in northern, eastern, and southern Africa. The antiquity of Middle Stone Age toolkits in West Africa is poorly understood, but recent evidence suggests their persistence until around 10 thousand years ago.
Scientists from several universities have discovered evidence of Middle Stone Age toolkits in West Africa dating back 150,000 years. The discovery was made through excavations at Bargny 1, a near-coastal site, and reveals the use of Levallois and discoidal reduction methods, as well as small retouched flake tools. The team also found microfossils of mangrove and brackish wetland plants, indicating the site was located near an estuary and highlighting the importance of such habitats to humans in the past and present. The findings suggest Bargny 1 is the first Middle Pleistocene site in West Africa and comparable to those of a similar age from across the continent.
