Humans who lived in the region between 59500 and 65800 years ago developed "cultural innovations" to survive what a team from France, Norway and South Africa called "a prolonged period of pronounced aridification".
The people from the Howiesons Poort period were involved in a life-and-death struggle.
"The most distinct among the many innovations in the culture were the invention of the bow and arrow, methods of heating raw materials [stones] before knapping them to produce arrow heads, engraving ostrich eggshells with elaborate patterns, intensive use of hearths and relatively intense hunting and gathering practices," said Christopher Henshilwood, of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.
These innovations allowed the people of the Howiesons Poort era - named after an archaeological site near Grahamstown - to "significantly enlarge the range of environments they occupied," compared with the people of Still Bay who preceded them.
Using climate data and simulations, researchers documenting "the oldest known case of an ecocultural niche expansion" found that the Howiesons Poort tradition developed during a period of pronounced aridity.
Writing in the Journal of Human Evolution, Henshilwood said the results showed that, despite the drought, Howiesons Poort populations exploited territories and ecosystems unknown to Still Bay people.
"It seems that the population of Homo sapiens in southern Africa was considerably larger during the Howiesons Poort period.
"There are many more Howiesons Poort than Still Bay sites in southern Africa and their locations are widespread across southern Africa," he said.
Source: The Times
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