Abstract
The development of modernity in early human populations has been linked to pulsed phases of technological and behavioural innovation within the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. However, the trigger for these intermittent pulses of technological innovation is an enigma. Here we show that, contrary to some previous studies, the occurrence of innovation was tightly linked to abrupt climate change. Major innovational pulses occurred at times when South African climate changed rapidly towards more humid conditions, while northern sub-Saharan Africa experienced widespread droughts, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of extreme cooling. These millennial-scale teleconnections resulted from the bipolar seesaw behaviour of the Atlantic Ocean related to changes in the ocean circulation. These conditions led to humid pulses in South Africa and potentially to the creation of favourable environmental conditions. This strongly implies that innovational pulses of early modern human behaviour were climatically influenced and linked to the adoption of refugia.
Highlights
The development of modernity in early human populations has been linked to pulsed phases of technological and behavioural innovation within the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
Regional climate in the Eastern Cape is dominated by austral summer rainfall, primarily dictated by the seasonal interplay between subtropical highpressure cells and the migration of easterly flows associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) that brings rain to the tropics (Fig. 2)
The major oxide elemental ratios in sediments from CD154-17-17K are very similar to the ratios in the suspended load of rivers in South Africa[36] that drain similar rock types as the Great Kei river, suggesting that the terrestrial material is of local origin
Summary
Major innovational pulses occurred at times when South African climate changed rapidly towards more humid conditions, while northern subSaharan Africa experienced widespread droughts, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of extreme cooling These millennial-scale teleconnections resulted from the bipolar seesaw behaviour of the Atlantic Ocean related to changes in the ocean circulation. Excavations in South African archaeological sites (Fig. 1) and new developments in dating techniques place the South African MSA industries in a very well-constrained temporal context[7,8,9,10,11,12] These studies document several abrupt pulses of major technological advancement that have been interpreted to reflect the emergence of modern behaviours of innovation, language and cultural identity[7,11]. The region becomes cool and dry during the austral winter months as the land surface cools relative to the oceans and a broad anticyclonic circulation prevails
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