Investigating the Deep Roots of Human Behaviour

When did human ancestors start behaving like us? Recent research has shown that our direct ancestor, Homo heidelbergensis, lived in Africa 600,000-200,000 years ago and was probably capable of behaviour such as language, symbol use and complex tool-making.The African archaeological record offers some clues to support this thesis, eg, ochre use, possibly for symbolic purposes, and the invention of tools made of multiple parts.Indirect fossil record evidence suggests that this large-brained species formed extended social networks using language.But all this evidence is sparse, poorly dated, unevenly distributed across the continent and insufficient to answer the questions of how, where, when or why these developments took place. This project aims both to add a significant bank of data to the evidence base and expand its geographical coverage.It will provide a research model archaeologists can use elsewhere to generate more data with which to investigate the deep roots of behaviours once thought to be the hallmark of Homo sapiens.
A multidisciplinary team will undertake excavation and analysis of three key localities (Victoria Falls, Kalambo Falls, Luangwa Valley) spanning 1100 km of south-central Africa which preserve artefacts from the period associated with H. heidelbergensis,the Early to Middle Stone Age transition,ESA/MSA,filling a large regional gap between the better known records of east and southern Africa.
The team includes archaeologists, dating specialists and a research group investigating how stone tools were made and used. Materials with high symbolic content such as beads are unlikely to survive from this period thus our primary focus is on technology as a window on the past. Recent research in east and South Africa points to an invention in tool-making that took place before 300,000 years ago,marking a break with long established traditions of the Early Stone Age. A conceptually new approach to problem solving appeared: the combining of separate parts to invent a new whole. The process of adding a stone to a handle and securing it by various means sounds simple but required levels of planning and learning not previously needed. The individual components were themselves made using other tools, other materials and routines of assembly. This recursive principle of 'combinatorial technology' underpins all later technologies including industrial manufacturing.
In the time of H. heidelbergensis we also see selection of purple, red and yellow ochres for purposes unknown but which in later periods have practical and symbolic values. These cognitively and socially complex behaviours, along with the fossil evidence for a large modern-like brain, point to a species that shared much with its descendant H. sapiens.
We lack the depth of archaeological data to answer the basic questions of time, place and processes of change that make this a potentially key interval in human evolution. This project addresses the need for an Africa-wide perspective on the ESA/MSA transition. Our regional focus offers a test case of a new model of research integrating the best of new dating methods with innovations in the study of early technology. A 'primitive technologist' embedded in the fieldwork will make and use replica tools from the time of the transition. Contemporary local knowledge about materials used in tool-making will be incorporated in the replication experiments. These data will be used to interpret patterns of microscopic wear that accumulate on artefact surfaces in their making and use.Traces of long decayed handles can now be identified by their distinctive patterns of damage. Organic residues may also survive on tool surfaces under the right conditions for preservation. We will be looking for these traces along with evidence of ochre use in the project sites. The results will be compared with what we already know about the ESA/MSA transition in Africa and the research model evaluated in a multidisciplinary workshop.

The project offers two types of societal impact linked to education. Stone Age archaeology is now part of the England & Wales primary school curriculum and Zambia's secondary school curriculum. This is an opportunity to increase public understanding of human evolution and research methods used to study the deep past. 1) We will produce formal educational material tailored to national needs, making it widely available and cost effective. 2) Using social media the educational impact will reach a global community.
In England & Wales, Key Stage 2 History curriculum now covers Stone Age to Iron Age, focusing on the British archaeological record but incorporating wider Palaeolithic topics, eg, technology and evolution of Homo sapiens. A freely available information pack for schools will be produced with a PowerPoint overview of the Stone Age illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of Palaeolithic research and exercises exploring "what the Stone Age did for us". Accessible via the project website the presentation will be regularly updated. Seventeen Merseyside schools will be offered replica Palaeolithic artefacts for handling. The selection of replicas will echo the PowerPoint content and link to an exhibition at the Victoria Gallery and Museum (Liverpool) on the origins and influence of combinatorial technology.
In Zambia's new curriculum for junior secondary schools, Social Studies topics include archaeological research methods; human evolution; Stone Age hunter-gatherers. Students are introduced to science-based evidence for human origins and asked to reflect on economic, technological and social changes in the Pleistocene. In the PI's experience of Zambian schools groups there is widespread distrust of an evolutionary perspective on human origins stemming from strong religious beliefs and ignorance of how an interdisciplinary narrative of the past is constructed. We will offer teachers an education pack complementing the Social Studies textbook consisting of a timeline and methods poster with an information booklet for teachers explaining how the past is dated, artefacts analysed and Stone Age life reconstructed. Visits to the excavations will be offered to give students and teachers first-hand experience of archaeological research and Stone Age material culture.
The project website, the portal for a global audience, will be written with non-specialist viewers in mind, with links to a project blog post and Facebook page. The blog adds a human dimension, showing the daily realities of fieldwork. Post-excavation analyses will be reported as updates from behind the microscope to maintain interest in the project. We will report on the workshop and inform followers when the final volume is published.
Resources, milestones
The project website will be online from September 2016; the Key Stage 2 PowerPoint will be online by September 2017. The website will be produced and maintained by Liverpool's School of Histories, Languages & Cultures website coordinator. Replica artefacts will be scanned and 3D printed by York Archaeological Trust. The Merseyside schools will receive a pack of replica artefacts and supporting notes (£1.2k). The schools are already involved in outreach activities with the University of Liverpool. Posters and information packs for 300 Zambian schools will be produced by Gadsden Books, Lusaka (£375). The poster will be produced using PowerPoint poster templates and will be ready, along with teacher information booklet, for the second field season July 2017. The PI will oversee blog entries and maintenance of the Facebook page. Co-I Gowlett will coordinate teacher pack distribution in Liverpool. The PI will be responsible for production and distribution of material in Zambia as well as arranging site visits for local schools.