Patrick Schmidt , Armelle Charrié-Duhaut , Edmund February , Lyn Wadley
{"title":"基于生物质焦油的粘合剂技术记录了非洲中石器时代的工程能力","authors":"Patrick Schmidt , Armelle Charrié-Duhaut , Edmund February , Lyn Wadley","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103578","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The foragers of the southern African Middle Stone Age were among the first humans to adapt their environment and its resources to their needs. They heat-treated stone to alter its mechanical properties, transformed yellow colorants into red pigments and produced moldable adhesive substances from plants. Until now, only <em>Podocarpus</em> conifers have been identified as the botanical origin of Middle Stone Age adhesives. This is curious as these conifers do not produce sticky exudations that could be recognized as potential adhesives. To obtain an adhesive, tar must be made with a technical process based on fire. However, the nature of these technical processes has remained unknown, hampering our understanding of the meaning of this adhesive technology for the cultural evolution of early <em>Homo sapiens</em>. Here, we present the first evidence of a technique used for tar making in the Middle Stone Age. We created an experimental reference collection containing naturally available adhesives along manufactured tars from plants available in the Middle Stone Age and compared these to artifacts using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. We found that, in the Howiesons Poort at Sibhudu Cave, tar was made by condensation, an efficient above-ground process. Even more surprisingly, the condensation method was not restricted to <em>Podocarpus</em>. The inhabitants of Sibhudu also produced tar from the leaves of other plants. These tars were then used, either without further transformation or were processed into ochre-based compound adhesives, suggesting that people needed different moldable substances with distinct mechanical properties. This has important implications for our understanding of Middle Stone Age <em>H. sapiens</em>, portraying them as skilled engineers who used and transformed their resources in a knowledgeable way.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248424000861/pdfft?md5=56468eee8d209e0832178202cfb2a349&pid=1-s2.0-S0047248424000861-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Adhesive technology based on biomass tar documents engineering capabilities in the African Middle Stone Age\",\"authors\":\"Patrick Schmidt , Armelle Charrié-Duhaut , Edmund February , Lyn Wadley\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103578\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><p>The foragers of the southern African Middle Stone Age were among the first humans to adapt their environment and its resources to their needs. They heat-treated stone to alter its mechanical properties, transformed yellow colorants into red pigments and produced moldable adhesive substances from plants. Until now, only <em>Podocarpus</em> conifers have been identified as the botanical origin of Middle Stone Age adhesives. This is curious as these conifers do not produce sticky exudations that could be recognized as potential adhesives. To obtain an adhesive, tar must be made with a technical process based on fire. However, the nature of these technical processes has remained unknown, hampering our understanding of the meaning of this adhesive technology for the cultural evolution of early <em>Homo sapiens</em>. Here, we present the first evidence of a technique used for tar making in the Middle Stone Age. We created an experimental reference collection containing naturally available adhesives along manufactured tars from plants available in the Middle Stone Age and compared these to artifacts using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. We found that, in the Howiesons Poort at Sibhudu Cave, tar was made by condensation, an efficient above-ground process. Even more surprisingly, the condensation method was not restricted to <em>Podocarpus</em>. The inhabitants of Sibhudu also produced tar from the leaves of other plants. These tars were then used, either without further transformation or were processed into ochre-based compound adhesives, suggesting that people needed different moldable substances with distinct mechanical properties. This has important implications for our understanding of Middle Stone Age <em>H. sapiens</em>, portraying them as skilled engineers who used and transformed their resources in a knowledgeable way.</p></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":54805,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Human Evolution\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-08-14\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248424000861/pdfft?md5=56468eee8d209e0832178202cfb2a349&pid=1-s2.0-S0047248424000861-main.pdf\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Human Evolution\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"89\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248424000861\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"地球科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"ANTHROPOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Human Evolution","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248424000861","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Adhesive technology based on biomass tar documents engineering capabilities in the African Middle Stone Age
The foragers of the southern African Middle Stone Age were among the first humans to adapt their environment and its resources to their needs. They heat-treated stone to alter its mechanical properties, transformed yellow colorants into red pigments and produced moldable adhesive substances from plants. Until now, only Podocarpus conifers have been identified as the botanical origin of Middle Stone Age adhesives. This is curious as these conifers do not produce sticky exudations that could be recognized as potential adhesives. To obtain an adhesive, tar must be made with a technical process based on fire. However, the nature of these technical processes has remained unknown, hampering our understanding of the meaning of this adhesive technology for the cultural evolution of early Homo sapiens. Here, we present the first evidence of a technique used for tar making in the Middle Stone Age. We created an experimental reference collection containing naturally available adhesives along manufactured tars from plants available in the Middle Stone Age and compared these to artifacts using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. We found that, in the Howiesons Poort at Sibhudu Cave, tar was made by condensation, an efficient above-ground process. Even more surprisingly, the condensation method was not restricted to Podocarpus. The inhabitants of Sibhudu also produced tar from the leaves of other plants. These tars were then used, either without further transformation or were processed into ochre-based compound adhesives, suggesting that people needed different moldable substances with distinct mechanical properties. This has important implications for our understanding of Middle Stone Age H. sapiens, portraying them as skilled engineers who used and transformed their resources in a knowledgeable way.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Human Evolution concentrates on publishing the highest quality papers covering all aspects of human evolution. The central focus is aimed jointly at paleoanthropological work, covering human and primate fossils, and at comparative studies of living species, including both morphological and molecular evidence. These include descriptions of new discoveries, interpretative analyses of new and previously described material, and assessments of the phylogeny and paleobiology of primate species. Submissions should address issues and questions of broad interest in paleoanthropology.