Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa.

ABSTRACT: Humans evolved in a patchwork of semi-connected populations across Africa^1,2; understanding when and how these groups connected is critical to interpreting our present-day biological and cultural diversity. Genetic analyses reveal that eastern and southern African lineages diverged sometime in the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 350-70 thousand years ago (ka)^3,4; however, little is known about the exact timing of these interactions, the cultural context of these exchanges or the mechanisms that drove their separation. Here we compare ostrich eggshell bead variations between eastern and southern Africa to explore population dynamics over the past 50,000 years. We found that ostrich eggshell bead technology probably originated in eastern Africa and spread southward app

SUBMITTER: Miller JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8755535 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature