Herries Andy I R
Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, School of Historical and European Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
Int J Evol Biol. 2011;2011:961401. doi: 10.4061/2011/961401. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
An understanding of the age of the Acheulian and the transition to the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa has been hampered by a lack of reliable dates for key sequences in the region. A number of researchers have hypothesised that the Acheulian first occurred simultaneously in southern and eastern Africa at around 1.7-1.6 Ma. A chronological evaluation of the southern African sites suggests that there is currently little firm evidence for the Acheulian occurring before 1.4 Ma in southern Africa. Many researchers have also suggested the occurrence of a transitional industry, the Fauresmith, covering the transition from the Early to Middle Stone Age, but again, the Fauresmith has been poorly defined, documented, and dated. Despite the occurrence of large cutting tools in these Fauresmith assemblages, they appear to include all the technological components characteristic of the MSA. New data from stratified Fauresmith bearing sites in southern Africa suggest this transitional industry maybe as old as 511-435 ka and should represent the beginning of the MSA as a broad entity rather than the terminal phase of the Acheulian. The MSA in this form is a technology associated with archaic H. sapiens and early modern humans in Africa with a trend of greater complexity through time.
由于该地区关键层序缺乏可靠年代，对阿舍利文化时代以及南部非洲向中石器时代过渡的理解受到了阻碍。一些研究人员推测，阿舍利文化大约在170万至160万年前同时首次出现在南部非洲和东部非洲。对南部非洲遗址的年代学评估表明，目前几乎没有确凿证据证明阿舍利文化在140万年前之前出现在南部非洲。许多研究人员还提出存在一种过渡性石器工艺——福尔史密斯文化，涵盖了从旧石器时代早期到中石器时代的过渡，但同样，福尔史密斯文化的定义、记录和年代测定都很不完善。尽管在这些福尔史密斯文化组合中有大型切割工具，但它们似乎包含了中石器时代所有典型的技术元素。来自南部非洲有福尔史密斯文化层的遗址的新数据表明，这种过渡性石器工艺可能有51.1万至43.5万年的历史，应该代表了作为一个广义实体的中石器时代的开端，而不是阿舍利文化的末期。这种形式的中石器时代是一种与非洲的古人类和早期现代人类相关的技术，并且随着时间推移有日益复杂的趋势。
