20,000 years of small game hunting in southern Somalia

Abstract

Archaeologists relate increasing forager reliance on small animals and broad-spectrum resource use to environmental and demographic changes in temperate regions during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2, 29-14.7 thousand years ago (ka), and MIS 1, after 14.7 ka. However, little research has examined the factors that influenced small game hunting in the arid and semi-arid tropics of eastern Africa during this period. To address this research gap, we report on a large MIS 2/1 (N = 81,986) faunal assemblage from Guli Waabayo rock shelter in southern Somalia. Dates from the site show repeated Later Stone Age (LSA) forager occupation throughout the mostly arid MIS 2 and wetter African Humid Period (AHP; 14.7–5 ka). Evidence of a major lithic transition between MIS 2 and the AHP suggests changing LSA mobility patterns and economic systems corresponded with regional precipitation fluctuations. However, unusually high frequencies of small taxa (e.g., dik-dik, rock hyrax, monitor lizard) and fewer large and medium species (e.g., kudu and warthog) throughout the Guli Waabayo sequence crosscut both climatic and technological changes. These findings contrast with studies in other world regions that emphasize small game hunting in response to environmental reorganization, changing forager land use strategies, and large game overhunting.