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Eyestalk Ablation to Increase Ovarian Maturation in Mud Crabs

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Archaeological shellfish size and later human evolution in Africa.

Richard G Klein¹, Teresa E Steele

¹Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|June 19, 2013

Summary

Early human expansion from Africa (Middle Stone Age) showed no signs of population growth, contrary to previous assumptions linking behavioral changes to increased populations. Archaeological evidence suggests small, stable populations during this period.

Keywords:

Howieson's Poort Still Bay modern human origins prehistoric coastal foraging stone age population size

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Area of Science:

Archaeology
Paleoanthropology
Human Evolution

Background:

The African Middle Stone Age (MSA) (~200-50 ka) is investigated for the origins of behavioral modernity preceding the global expansion of modern humans.
Potential early art objects like incised ocher and shell beads from MSA sites suggest cognitive modernity.

Observation:

Archaeologists often link the emergence of art and behavioral changes to population growth.
Gastropod shell size in coastal middens can indicate collection intensity, reflecting population size.

Findings:

Economically important Cape turban shells and limpets from South African MSA layers are significantly larger than those from later Later Stone Age (LSA) layers under similar environmental conditions.
Larger shell size in MSA sites suggests less intense collection, implying smaller, stable human populations.

Implications:

Cognitive modernity during the MSA was not driven by population growth.
Significant human population increase occurred later, near the MSA/LSA transition, coinciding with the Out-of-Africa expansion.