Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Timing and amplitude of hydroclimate changes during the last glacial cycle in southwestern North America","authors":"Simon D. Steidle ,&nbsp;Yuri Dublyansky ,&nbsp;Marco Roman ,&nbsp;Gina E. Moseley ,&nbsp;Kathleen A. Wendt ,&nbsp;R. Lawrence Edwards ,&nbsp;Christoph Spötl","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109865","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109865","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The presently (semi)arid southwestern North America experienced major shifts in hydroclimate during the Quaternary characterized by oscillations between pluvial and arid phases. On orbital timescales, regional moisture availability is attributed to latitudinal shifts of moisture-bearing storm tracks due to the expansion and retreat of North American ice sheets. Millennial-scale variability is superimposed on top of the broader glacial pluvial phases. Groundwater fluctuations recorded by calcite deposits in Devils Hole, Nevada, offer unique insights into the past hydroclimate of the southwestern USA covering both time scales. Here, we increase the resolution of the Devils Hole water table record with an additional 43 water-table markers covering the last interglacial-glacial cycle. The updated record of water-table changes enables a comparison with sea-level records between 120,000 and 70,000 years ago, revealing concurrent changes in both during this period. This strengthens the hypothesis that orbital-scale water-table changes are closely linked to ice-sheet expansion during Marine Isotope Stage 5. New water table markers of the last 60,000 years further support increased pluvial conditions during Heinrich events.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109865"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The heavy connection: Decline in heavy-duty tools correlates with megaherbivore disappearance in the Paleolithic Levant","authors":"Vlad Litov,&nbsp;Miki Ben-Dor,&nbsp;Ran Barkai","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109872","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109872","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Early Paleolithic (ca. 2-0.2 mya) lithic assemblages are marked by the recurrent presence of diagnostic heavy-duty tool classes, namely, handaxes, chopping tools, cleavers, core/massive scrapers and shaped stone balls. In the Levant, heavy-duty technologies disappear almost entirely after the Lower-Middle Paleolithic transition, which coincides with major developments in novel light-duty toolkits and technological innovations. In this study, we sought a possible connection between these significant changes in lithic technologies and local animal taxa availability fluctuations. The results indicate that departure from heavy-duty technologies co-occurred with a significant drop in the relative abundance, NISP distribution, and contribution to biomass of megaherbivores (&gt;1000 kg) after the Lower Paleolithic. Concurrently, the presence and availability of smaller prey increased during Middle Paleolithic times and peaked during the Upper Paleolithic. We suggest that Levantine Early Paleolithic heavy-duty tools were involved, first and foremost, in animal processing and were linked to a subsistence centered around the exploitation of megaherbivores, while curated light-duty toolkits emerged in response to a growing reliance on smaller prey. Stability in heavy-duty production may have persisted in other regions where common large prey remained available for longer periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109872"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fate of lithium and strategic metals under Pleistocene ice streams","authors":"S. Romppanen ,&nbsp;N. Eyles ,&nbsp;N. Putkinen ,&nbsp;H. Nygård","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109853","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109853","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We analysed 35,944 samples of last glaciation till across 149,000 km² of the beds of paleo ice streams and adjacent interlobate areas in Central and Southern Finland. Ice streams were short-lived and were triggered during a 2–300-year phase between c. 13,000–10,500 ybp within the rapidly melting Scandinavian Ice Sheet. Analysis of high-resolution LiDAR topographic imagery of ice stream beds shows flow sets of highly elongated till ridges (mega-scale glacial lineations) resulting from erosion of the bed below fast flowing wet-based ice. In contrast, adjacent interlobate areas unaffected by ice streaming show irregular hummocky till surfaces formed by melt-out of debris from slow moving ice partly frozen to its substrate. Geochemical analysis shows that melt-out tills have elevated Li concentrations reflecting local bedrock sources and short distances of subglacial of transport of Li-bearing bedrock. These tills also retain a secondary component of glacially incorporated Li-bearing marine clays of last (Eemian) interglacial age. In contrast, tills below ice stream beds are characterized by statistically validated reduced concentrations of lithium which is attributed to extended long distance comminution of mineralized debris under fast flowing ice. Other strategic metals (Ni, Cu, Co) show the same regional pattern independent of changing bedrock substrates, indicating a pervasive glaciological control on till geochemistry related to changing ice flow velocity. These findings are the foundation for a new glacio-geochemical model that relates regional variations in till geochemistry to ice flow dynamics and subglacial processes below fast and slow flowing ice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109853"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A stable environmental niche for humans in the southern Levant 70–40 ka","authors":"Mahmoud Abbas ,&nbsp;Zhongping Lai ,&nbsp;Hua Tu ,&nbsp;Xianjiao Ou ,&nbsp;Paul A. Carling ,&nbsp;Penghui Lin ,&nbsp;Mohammad Alqudah ,&nbsp;Bety S. Al-Saqarat ,&nbsp;Ting Qiu ,&nbsp;Michael D. Petraglia ,&nbsp;Zeljko Rezek ,&nbsp;John D. Jansen","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109855","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109855","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental drivers were likely key to human dispersals from Africa into and throughout Eurasia, but the effect of such drivers on human biogeography has yet to be resolved at high-resolution on a regional scale. Here, we probe the Levantine-Arabian region for environments favourable to human forager groups around 50 ka when a demographic wave surged across Eurasia imprinting the ancestry of all non-Africans living today. We present a set of 33 optically stimulated luminescence dates demonstrating more than 50,000-years of persistent riverine wetlands on the eastern margin of the Jordan Rift Valley at Hamra Faddan and Wadi al-Hasa—the latter hosting stratified Middle Palaeolithic artefacts indicative of frequent human presence. By reviewing and combining multiple climate proxy records, our analysis reveals permanent surplus moisture existed across much (∼70,000 km²) of the southern Levant during the interval 70–40 ka, in contrast to surrounding regions such as interior Arabia where intensified aridity and a paucity of archaeological sites primarily suggest landscape abandonment. We propose that the southern Levant offered a relatively stable, favourable environment for foraging human populations extending to the Upper Palaeolithic, during which time the region was a crucible for fostering human admixture, knowledge sharing and technological evolution. The southern Levant likely functioned as one of several population and cultural hubs in Southwest Asia during the Late Pleistocene.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109855"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The earliest Neolithic site in Inner Mongolia and its implications for post-Younger Dryas climate-human interactions","authors":"Xiangge Zhang ,&nbsp;Xujiao Zhang ,&nbsp;Martin Stokes ,&nbsp;Haoyue Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhihu Sun ,&nbsp;Jingwen Xu ,&nbsp;Yifan Wang ,&nbsp;Junlei Li ,&nbsp;Haoshu Rao ,&nbsp;Long Deng ,&nbsp;Jingmin Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109869","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109869","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Human evolution during the Paleolithic-Neolithic transition n (∼15,000–10,000 years ago) has been closely linked to climate fluctuations, marked by significant societal and environmental shifts. However, the West Liao River Basin (WLRB) in eastern Inner Mongolia, North China, a key region of early East Asian civilizations, remains underexplored for this period. Situated at the modern margin of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM), the WLRB offers valuable archaeological insights for understanding human responses to climate change during this pivotal phase in prehistory. Dali Lake, located in the upper reaches of the WLRB, is particularly climatically sensitive and serves as a hitherto unstudied but potentially crucial location for exploring pre-Holocene climate impacts on human development. Here, we have newly discovered an archaeological site along the shoreline of Dali Lake, named the Dali Lake site (DL site). The site contains a rich assemblage of cultural remains, including pottery shards, stone artifacts, and faunal remians. Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling of bone and charcoal samples from the cultural layer indicate that human occupation at the DL site likely began between 11,753 and 11,298 cal BP, and ended between 10,502 and 10,075 cal BP, predating the earliest known Xiaohexi and Xinglongwa Neolithic cultures in the WLRB. This finding bridges the gap in archaeological evidence from this transition period and establishes the DL site as both the earliest Neolithic site and the earliest pottery site in Inner Mongolia so far. Additionally, the DL site is positioned at one of the highest recorded lake-level highstands suggesting that human activity may have been influenced by, or even adapted to, fluctuating lake levels driven by climatic changes over time. The discovery of the DL site has significant implications for understanding the interactions between human development and climate warming, as evidenced by high lake levels in Inner Mongolia following the Younger Dryas (YD) cold period (∼12,900–11,600 cal BP).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109869"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial resilience and population replacement in Europe during MIS 3: a comparative study of Neanderthals and H. sapiens","authors":"Ariane Burke ,&nbsp;Emma Pomeroy ,&nbsp;Timothée Poisot ,&nbsp;Benjamin Albouy ,&nbsp;Simon Paquin","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109850","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109850","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Homo sapiens</em> dispersed out of Africa several times during the Late Pleistocene. The most recent dispersal event, which began around 60,000 years ago, resulted in the permanent establishment of Sapiens populations in Europe, followed by the disappearance of Neanderthals from the archaeological record. Various hypotheses suggest that the process of population replacement in Europe was influenced by climate change, habitat dynamics, demographic processes, and/or competitive exclusion. To test these hypotheses, we use habitat suitability modeling and GIS tools to predict the optimal distribution of Neanderthal and Aurignacian populations in Europe during stadial and interstadial events of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) and reconstruct their regional networks. The models show that while relatively more suitable habitat was available for <em>Homo sapiens</em> under interstadial conditions, both groups were affected by climate change resulting in shifts in the location of optimal regions and concomitant changes in the social networks that connected them.</div><div>Our analysis indicates that optimally suitable habitat persisted across the potential ranges of both species despite climate change. Climate stress alone is not indicated as a cause of Neanderthal's extinction, therefore. Several “core” regions are identified that could have sustained a pattern of demographic resilience, allowing populations to rebound and re-expand during climate upturns, notably in southwestern Europe and, in the case of Neanderthals, in southern Iberia. The optimal regions and the networks they form indicate a potential for interaction between Neanderthals and Sapiens across Europe. While their ranges overlap, however, there are subtle differences in habitat preference that mitigate the potential impact of interactions, suggesting that competition for resources may not have been the primary cause of Neanderthal extinction. The results also suggest regional differences in the combination of stressors that could have influenced Neanderthal extinction, with Sapiens potentially playing a more active role in Western Europe, where regional overlaps impinge on the “core” regions. In Southeastern Europe, where regional connection within the Neanderthal network were relatively tenuous, Neanderthal groups may have been more vulnerable to random events and demographic pressures, including genetic assimilation.</div><div>A more complex interplay of climate change, population dynamics and demographic factors is suggested to have contributed to the eventual disappearance of the Neanderthals. Ultimately, the study suggests that the process of population replacement in Europe is the result of the complex and regionally differentiated interplay of climate, geography, demography and interspecific interactions rather than a homogeneous, climate-driven process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109850"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental changes in western Siberia over the past 1800 years reconstructed by geochemical and biological records of a well-dated core from Zolotoe Lake in Altai Krai, Russia","authors":"Eslam M.A. Mitwally ,&nbsp;Gulnara Nigamatzyanova ,&nbsp;Larisa Frolova ,&nbsp;Tzu-Tsen Shen ,&nbsp;Vera Strakhovenko ,&nbsp;Andrei A. Andreev ,&nbsp;Ya-Hsuan (Sophia) Liou ,&nbsp;Hong-Chun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109814","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109814","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A 64-cm long sediment core from Zolotoe Lake (51°51′28.74″N, 80°15′59.16″E), situated in the Kulunda Plain in the West Siberian Lowland of Russia, has been dated with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C (37 dates), ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs (upper 19 cm) methods, providing a continuous record since ca 1800 cal yr BP. The comparisons of paired ¹⁴C ages of A- and ABA-treated sedimentary total organic carbon (TOC) from 20 horizons indicate that old carbon influence (OCI) existed on some ABA-treated samples due to uptake of dissolved CO₂ in the lake water. Combining sedimentary feature, mineralogy, geochemical proxies and pollen assemblages, we reconstructed detailed environmental changes since 200 CE. The acid-leachable (0.5N HCl, AL) elements and Aqua Regia open dissolution (AR) elements measured by ICP-OES were discussed for deciphering lake chemistry and terrestrial input. In the Zolotoe Lake core, AL Ca/K instead of Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca is an indicator of lake salinity, with higher ratio reflecting higher salinity; and vice versa. AL Al/Ti is positively correlated with surface runoff. AL Mn/Fe and Mn/Al (rather than AL U/Al) are proxies for redox conditions with higher ratio pointing more oxic conditions. During Roman Warm Period (RWP, 200-400 CE) warming and wet conditions were prevailing. Cold and wet climates occurred during Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP, 450-800 CE). Many lakes in the Volchikhinsky lake system might be connected at that time to form a large lake. During the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 900-1300 CE), warm and relatively wet conditions prevailed in the interval 900-1200 CE; but from 1200 to 1300 CE climate was warmer and drier. Colder and drier conditions coincided with the early Little Ice Age (LIA) (1400-1750 CE), but the late LIA (1750-1850 CE) climate was cold and wet. The large Volchikhinsky Lake became a lake system with separated small lakes around 1600 CE. The Current Warm Period (CWP, 1850 CE-present), warming trend is documented in the lake sediments coinciding well with regional instrumental records. The Zolotoe Lake sediments reflect strong human impact since 1950 CE.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109814"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water has driven the Holocene changes in diatom- and dinoflagellate-derived productivity at Palmer Deep, Western Antarctic Peninsula","authors":"Jiaxuan Chen ,&nbsp;Yuesong Gao ,&nbsp;Yuxin He ,&nbsp;Qishen Cheng ,&nbsp;Junjie Ma ,&nbsp;Pengrui Yang ,&nbsp;Hanyang Liu ,&nbsp;Xiaohong Guo ,&nbsp;Leping Chen ,&nbsp;Lianjiao Yang ,&nbsp;Zhouqing Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109841","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109841","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The western Antarctic Peninsula, one of the world's most rapidly warming regions, has undergone substantial ecosystem changes, including community succession driven by environmental stress. However, due to the lack of suitable proxies, how this succession responded to Holocene climate fluctuations remains unknown. This study focuses on a sediment core from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 178 Site 1098, Palmer Deep, western Antarctic Peninsula, a hotspot of biological activity and a core area of long-term ecosystem research. By analyzing lipid biomarkers (sterols, <em>n</em>-alkanols, phytol, and fatty acids) and other proxies throughout the Holocene, this study aims to determine the past changes in productivity and the contributions of different phytoplankton groups. Lipid biomarkers (e.g., brassicasterol, sitosterol, phytol, and 16:0 fatty acid) generally aligned with variations in diatom abundance and stable carbon isotope of organic carbon (δ¹³C_org), indicating an overall trend of the diatom-dominating productivity that was mainly influenced by Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) intrusion, along with other oceanic factors. The changes in dinosterol, however, indicated stable or even increased dinoflagellate-associated productivity during cool climates of the early Holocene and Neoglacial, concurrent with reduced diatom-associated productivity. This study highlights the advanced applicability of lipid biomarkers in reconstructing productivity changes across multiple components of phytoplankton communities, which provide a powerful tool for revealing the evolution of Antarctic marine ecosystems under climate change impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109841"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stranded shorelines in prince William sound, southern Alaska: Testing the applicability of pacific coast archaeological discovery models","authors":"John T. White ,&nbsp;John F.C. Johnson","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109844","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109844","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent decades, Coastal Migration Theory has come to prominence in discussions of the initial peopling of the Americas. Southern Alaska would have, by necessity, played an important role in any coastal migration from Northeast Asia into North America, yet the archaeological record of southern coastal Alaska post-dates those of both temperate North America and interior Alaska. Groundbreaking research in British Columbia demonstrated the necessity of paleoenvironmental reconstruction, particularly understanding of sea-level dynamics, to investigations of early coastal occupations anywhere along the north Pacific Rim. Prince William Sound in southern Alaska has been identified as an area where stranded shorelines dating to the late Pleistocene should be preserved above modern sea level, yet traditional Chugach knowledge suggests persistent glaciation of the sound, possibly into the Holocene. Here we present our reconstruction efforts for this maritime region. While we successfully identified preserved uplifted marine deposits within the Sound, they date to the early-mid Holocene rather than the late Pleistocene and their preservation is contingent on specific localized tectonic influences, including some ongoing throughout the Holocene. This research demonstrates that locating ancient shorelines stranded above modern sea level in southern Alaska will be a complex process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109844"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146102598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wind(ow) of change: The end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at Umhlatuzana rockshelter showcasing concurrent technological and techno-economic shifts","authors":"V.C. Schmid ,&nbsp;I. Sifogeorgaki ,&nbsp;T. Abruzzese ,&nbsp;S. Blik ,&nbsp;L. Huang ,&nbsp;G.L. Dusseldorp","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109806","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109806","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The site of Umhlatuzana rockshelter contains a key sequence documenting developments in human behaviour from ∼70 ka throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Re-excavation of the site yielded high-resolution lithic assemblages that clarify the character of the end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at the site. We performed a technological analysis of this lithic material across the transition from Middle to Later Stone Age. We show that this transition took place more rapidly than previously assumed. The change from the Middle to Later Stone Age is characterized by concomitant shifts in raw material provisioning, reduction strategies and tool corpus. The final Middle Stone Age features high investment in tool production, including careful shaping of bifacial pieces in hornfels, while the transition to the Later Stone Age stands out by the accelerated increase in bipolar reduction of mainly quartz and very low numbers of retouched elements. We further demonstrate the presence of an earlier Later Stone Age assemblage characterized by bladelet production using freehand percussion combined with various bipolar knapping strategies. We document a new type of assemblage between the earlier Later Stone Age and the Robberg that features Later Stone Age characteristics associated with a distinct blade production and tool types reminiscent of the Middle Stone Age. Comparison of the sequence with other sites on the subcontinent reveals that the transition from the Middle to Later Stone Age is a spatially and temporally diffuse process, which is best interpreted as the result of loose social connections and arrhythmic pace of local innovations bounded by among others raw material properties, cross-craft constraints and land-use strategies that led to a stable suite of similar solutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109806"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}