Chicago City Wire

Researchers from the Field Museum's Negaunee Integrative Research Center have unveiled new insights into the lives of prehistoric people in South Africa based on artifacts excavated from caves in the region. According to Sara Watson, a postdoctoral scientist and lead author of the study, these findings shed light on how people adapted to their environment between 24,000 and 12,000 years ago.

The artifacts were discovered in the Robberg technocomplex, a series of caves that were once positioned near open plains, despite now being situated atop cliffs overlooking rocky beaches. "Instead of being right on the water like they are today, these caves would have been near vast, open plains with large game animals like antelope,” Watson explains. “People hunted those animals, and to do that, they developed new tools and weapons.”

Each day, Watson and her team ascended a 75-foot cliff to access the caves, equipped with safety ropes and sandbag staircases. “We had safety ropes and a staircase made of sandbags, and we had to be harnessed in while doing the excavation,” Watson details. The team employed meticulous techniques to preserve the integrity of the sites, using dental tools and mini trowels to carefully excavate layers of ancient sediment.

Underneath these layers, the team uncovered thousands of stone tools, including sharp blades and larger rocks known as cores. Watson explains the significance of these cores, noting that they reveal the methods used by prehistoric people to create their tools. “When your average person thinks about stone tools, they probably focus on the detached pieces, the blades and flakes. But the thing that is the most interesting to me is the core, because it shows us the particular methods and order of operations that people went through in order to make their tools.”

Distinct patterns of tool-making were identified in the cores, indicating shared techniques among distant groups. Watson states, “If we see specific methods of core reduction at multiple sites across the landscape, as an archaeologist, it tells me that these people were sharing ideas with one another.” A specific core reduction pattern found at the site was also identified in regions as far as Namibia and Lesotho. “Same core reduction pattern, same intended product,” she notes. “The pattern is repeated over and over and over again, which indicates that it is intentional and shared, rather than just a chance similarity.”

Watson concludes that these findings highlight the connectedness of ancient peoples and the extensive history of human existence. “We have a very long and rich history as a species, and humans go back a lot farther in time than most people realize,” she remarks. “People living around the last ice age were very similar to people today.”