Editing Early modern human (section)

==Behavioral modernity==
{{main|Behavioral modernity}}
[[File:Lithic Industries at Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa (c. 105 – 90 Ka).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Lithic Industries of early ''Homo sapiens'' at [[Blombos Cave]] (M3 phase, MIS 5), Southern Cape, South Africa (c. 105,000 – 90,000 years old)]]
[[Behavioral modernity]], involving the development of [[origin of language|language]], [[Paleolithic Art|figurative art]] and early forms of [[Paleolithic religion|religion]] (etc.) is taken to have arisen before 40,000 years ago, marking the beginning of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] (in African contexts also known as the [[Later Stone Age]]).<ref name="Klein 1995">{{cite journal |last=Klein |first=Richard |title=Anatomy, behavior, and modern human origins |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |date=1995 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=167–198 |doi=10.1007/bf02221838|s2cid=10402296 }}</ref>

There is considerable debate regarding whether the earliest anatomically modern humans behaved similarly to recent or existing humans. [[Behavioral modernity]] is taken to include fully developed [[Origin of language|language]] (requiring the capacity for [[abstract thought]]), [[Art of the Upper Paleolithic|artistic expression]], early forms of [[Paleolithic religion|religious behavior]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Feierman, Jay R. |page=220|title=The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOLGXhzAXhsC |year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0313364303}}</ref> increased cooperation and the formation of early settlements, and the production of articulated tools from [[lithic core]]s, bone or antler. The term [[Upper Paleolithic]] is intended to cover the period since the [[Coastal migration|rapid expansion]] of modern humans throughout Eurasia, which coincides with the first appearance of [[Paleolithic art]] such as [[cave paintings]] and the development of technological innovation such as the [[spear-thrower]]. The Upper Paleolithic begins around 50,000 to 40,000 years ago, and also coincides with the disappearance of archaic humans such as the [[Neanderthal]]s.

[[File:Blombos point white.JPG|thumb|left|Bifacial silcrete point of early ''Homo sapiens'', from M1 phase (71,000 BCE) layer of [[Blombos Cave]], South Africa]]
The term "behavioral modernity" is somewhat disputed. It is most often used for the set of characteristics marking the Upper Paleolithic, but some scholars use "behavioral modernity" for the emergence of ''H. sapiens'' around 200,000 years ago,<ref>Soressi M. (2005) [http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/soressi/pdf/Soressi2005_ToolsToSymbols.pdf Late Mousterian lithic technology. Its implications for the pace of the emergence of behavioural modernity and the relationship between behavioural modernity and biological modernity], pp. 389–417 in L. Backwell et F. d'Errico (eds.) ''From Tools to Symbols'', Johannesburg: University of Witswatersand Press. {{ISBN|1868144178}}.</ref> while others use the term for the rapid developments occurring around 50,000 years ago.<ref>''Companion encyclopedia of archaeology'' (1999). Routledge. {{ISBN|0415213304}}. Vol. 2. p. 763 (''cf''., ... "effectively limited to [[Organic matter|organic samples]]" [ed. [[organic compound]]s ] "or [[biogenic|biogenic carbonate]]s that date to less than 50 ka (50,000 years ago)."). See also: [[Later Stone Age]] and [[Upper Paleolithic]].</ref><ref name="mellars">{{cite journal |author-link=Paul Mellars |last=Mellars |first=Paul |title=Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? |year=2006 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0510792103 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=103 |pages=9381–9386 |pmid=16772383 |issue=25 |pmc=1480416 |bibcode=2006PNAS..103.9381M|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shea |first1=John |title=Homo sapiens Is As Homo sapiens Was |journal=Current Anthropology |date=2011 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1086/658067|s2cid=142517998 }}</ref> It has been proposed that the emergence of behavioral modernity was a gradual process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McBrearty |first1=Sally |last2=Brooks |first2=Allison |date=2000 |title=The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=453–563 |doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0435 |pmid=11102266|bibcode=2000JHumE..39..453M |s2cid=42968840 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henshilwood |first1=Christopher |last2=Marean |first2=Curtis |date=2003 |title=The Origin of Modern Human Behavior: Critique of the Models and Their Test Implications |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=44 |issue=5 |pages=627–651 |doi=10.1086/377665|pmid=14971366 |s2cid=11081605 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marean |first1=Curtis |title=Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene |journal=Nature |date=2007 |volume=449 |issue=7164 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1038/nature06204 |pages=905–908 |pmid=17943129 |bibcode=2007Natur.449..905M|s2cid=4387442 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15550/files/PAL_E2962.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=Adam |title=Late Pleistocene Demography and the Appearance of Modern Human Behavior |journal=Science |date=2009 |volume=324 |issue=5932 |pages=1298–1301 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1126/science.1170165 |bibcode=2009Sci...324.1298P |pmid=19498164|s2cid=206518315 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/210393/files/PAL_E4401.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829071205/http://doc.rero.ch/record/210393/files/PAL_E4401.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-29 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Premo |first1=Luke |last2=Kuhn |first2=Steve |title=Modeling Effects of Local Extinctions on Culture Change and Diversity in the Paleolithic |journal=PLOS ONE |date=2010 |volume=5 |issue=12 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0015582 |pmid=21179418 |pages=e15582 |bibcode=2010PLoSO...515582P |pmc=3003693|doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Examples of behavioral modernity===
[[File:Claimed Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave.jpg|thumb|Claimed "[[History of art#Lower and Middle Paleolithic|oldest known drawing by human hands]]", discovered in [[Blombos Cave]] in [[South Africa]]. Estimated to be a 73,000-year-old work of a ''Homo sapiens''.<ref name="NYT-20180912">{{cite news |last=St. Fleur |first=Nicholas|title=Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/science/oldest-drawing-ever-found.html |date=12 September 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=15 September 2018 }}</ref>]]

The equivalent of the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic in African archaeology is known as the [[Later Stone Age]], also beginning roughly 40,000 years ago. While most clear evidence for behavioral modernity uncovered from the later 19th century was from Europe, such as the [[Venus figurine]]s and other artefacts from the [[Aurignacian]], more recent archaeological research has shown that all essential elements of the kind of material culture typical of contemporary [[San people|San]] hunter-gatherers in [[Southern Africa]] was also present by at least 40,000 years ago, including digging sticks of similar materials used today, [[ostrich egg]] shell beads, bone [[arrow]] heads with individual maker's marks etched and embedded with red [[ochre]], and poison applicators.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1204213109 |pmid=22847420 |title=Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=33 |pages=13214–13219 |year=2012 |last1=d'Errico |first1=F. |last2=Backwell |first2=L. |last3=Villa |first3=P. |last4=Degano |first4=I. |last5=Lucejko |first5=J. J. |last6=Bamford |first6=M. K. |last7=Higham |first7=T. F. G. |last8=Colombini |first8=M. P. |last9=Beaumont |first9=P. B. |bibcode=2012PNAS..10913214D |pmc=3421171|doi-access=free }}</ref> There is also a suggestion that "pressure flaking best explains the morphology of lithic artifacts recovered from the c. 75-ka Middle Stone Age levels at [[Blombos Cave]], South Africa. The technique was used during the final shaping of Still Bay bifacial points made on heat‐treated silcrete."<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1195550 |pmid=21030655 |title=Early Use of Pressure Flaking on Lithic Artifacts at Blombos Cave, South Africa |journal=Science |volume=330 |issue=6004 |pages=659–662 |year=2010 |last1=Mourre |first1=V. |last2=Villa |first2=P. |last3=Henshilwood |first3=C. S. |bibcode=2010Sci...330..659M|s2cid=34833884 }}</ref> Both pressure flaking and heat treatment of materials were previously thought to have occurred much later in prehistory, and both indicate a behaviourally modern sophistication in the use of natural materials. Further reports of research on cave sites along the southern African coast indicate that "the debate as to when cultural and cognitive characteristics typical of modern humans first appeared" may be coming to an end, as "advanced technologies with elaborate chains of production" which "often demand high-fidelity transmission and thus language" have been found at the South African [[Pinnacle Point]] Site 5–6. These have been dated to approximately 71,000 years ago. The researchers suggest that their research "shows that [[microlithic technology]] originated early in South Africa by 71 kya, evolved over a vast time span (c. 11,000 years), and was typically coupled to complex heat treatment that persisted for nearly 100,000 years. Advanced technologies in [[Africa]] were early and enduring; a small sample of excavated sites in Africa is the best explanation for any perceived 'flickering' pattern."<ref name="auto2">{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature11660 |pmid=23135405 |title=An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71,000 years ago in South Africa |journal=Nature |volume=491 |issue=7425 |pages=590–593 |year=2012 |last1=Brown |first1=Kyle S. |last2=Marean |first2=Curtis W. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Zenobia |last4=Schoville |first4=Benjamin J. |last5=Oestmo |first5=Simen |last6=Fisher |first6=Erich C. |last7=Bernatchez |first7=Jocelyn |last8=Karkanas |first8=Panagiotis |last9=Matthews |first9=Thalassa |bibcode=2012Natur.491..590B|s2cid=4323569 }}</ref> Increases in behavioral complexity have been speculated to have been linked to an earlier climatic change to much drier conditions between 135,000 and 75,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.0703874104 |title=East African megadroughts between 135 and 75 thousand years ago and bearing on early-modern human origins |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=104 |issue=42 |pages=16416–16421 |year=2007 |last1=Scholz |first1=C. A. |last2=Johnson |first2=T. C. |last3=Cohen |first3=A. S. |last4=King |first4=J. W. |last5=Peck |first5=J. A. |last6=Overpeck |first6=J. T. |last7=Talbot |first7=M. R. |last8=Brown |first8=E. T. |last9=Kalindekafe |first9=L. |last10=Amoako |first10=P. Y. O. |last11=Lyons |first11=R. P. |last12=Shanahan |first12=T. M. |last13=Castaneda |first13=I. S. |last14=Heil |first14=C. W. |last15=Forman |first15=S. L. |last16=McHargue |first16=L. R. |last17=Beuning |first17=K. R. |last18=Gomez |first18=J. |last19=Pierson |first19=J. |bibcode=2007PNAS..10416416S |pmid=17785420 |pmc=1964544|doi-access=free }}</ref> This might have led to human groups who were seeking refuge from the inland droughts, expanded along the coastal marshes rich in shellfish and other resources. Since sea levels were low due to so much water tied up in [[glacier]]s, such marshlands would have occurred all along the southern coasts of Eurasia. The use of [[raft]]s and boats may well have facilitated exploration of offshore islands and travel along the coast, and eventually permitted expansion to New Guinea and then to [[Australia]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey|author=Wells, Spencer|url=https://archive.org/details/journeyofmangene00well|isbn=978-0691115320|year=2003|url-access=registration|publisher=Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press}}</ref>

In addition, a variety of other evidence of abstract imagery, widened subsistence strategies, and other "modern" behaviors has been discovered in Africa, especially South, North, and East Africa, predating 50,000 years ago (with some predating 100,000 years ago). The Blombos Cave site in South Africa, for example, is famous for rectangular slabs of ochre engraved with [[geometric]] designs. Using multiple dating techniques, the site was confirmed to be around 77,000 and 100,000–75,000 years old.<ref name="Henshilwood 2002">{{cite journal |last1=Henshilwood |first1=Christopher |title=Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa |journal=Science |date=2002 |volume=295 |issue=5558 |pages=1278–1280 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1126/science.1067575 |pmid=11786608 |bibcode=2002Sci...295.1278H |s2cid=31169551 }}</ref><ref name="Henshilwood et al. 2009">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.005 |pmid=19487016 |title=Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=27–47 |year=2009 |last1=Henshilwood |first1=Christopher S. |last2=d'Errico |first2=Francesco |last3=Watts |first3=Ian|bibcode=2009JHumE..57...27H }}</ref> Ostrich egg shell containers engraved with geometric designs dating to 60,000 years ago were found at [[Diepkloof Rock Shelter|Diepkloof]], South Africa.<ref name="Texier">{{cite journal | last1 = Texier | first1 = PJ | last2 = Porraz | first2 = G | last3 = Parkington | first3 = J | last4 = Rigaud | first4 = JP | last5 = Poggenpoel | first5 = C | last6 = Miller | first6 = C | last7 = Tribolo | first7 = C | last8 = Cartwright | first8 = C | last9 = Coudenneau | first9 = A | last10 = Klein | first10 = R | last11 = Steele | first11 = T | last12 = Verna | first12 = C | year = 2010 | title = A Howiesons Poort tradition of engraving ostrich eggshell containers dated to 60,000 years ago at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa | journal =   Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences| volume = 107 | issue = 14| pages = 6180–6185 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0913047107 | pmid = 20194764 | pmc = 2851956 | bibcode = 2010PNAS..107.6180T | doi-access = free }}</ref> Beads and other personal ornamentation have been found from Morocco which might be as much as 130,000 years old; as well, the Cave of Hearths in South Africa has yielded a number of beads dating from significantly prior to 50,000 years ago,<ref name="McBrearty Brooks 2000">{{cite journal |last1=McBrearty |first1=Sally |last2=Brooks |first2=Allison |date=2000 |title=The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=453–563 |doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0435 |pmid=11102266 |bibcode=2000JHumE..39..453M |s2cid=42968840 }}</ref> and shell beads dating to about 75,000 years ago have been found at Blombos Cave, South Africa.<ref name="Henshilwood et al. 2004">{{cite journal | last1 = Henshilwood | first1 = Christopher S. | author-link = Christopher Henshilwood | display-authors = etal | year = 2004 | title = Middle Stone Age shell beads from South Africa | journal = Science | volume = 304 | issue = 5669| page = 404 | doi = 10.1126/science.1095905 | pmid = 15087540 | s2cid = 32356688 }}</ref><ref name="d'Errico et al. 2005">{{cite journal | last1 = d'Errico | first1 = Francesco | display-authors = etal | year = 2005 | title = Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 48 | issue = 1| pages = 3–24 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.09.002 | pmid = 15656934 | bibcode = 2005JHumE..48....3D }}</ref><ref name="Vanhaeren et al. 2013">{{cite journal | last1 = Vanhaeren | first1 = Marian | display-authors = etal | year = 2013 | title = Thinking strings: Additional evidence for personal ornament use in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 64 | issue = 6| pages = 500–517 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.02.001 | pmid = 23498114 | bibcode = 2013JHumE..64..500V }}</ref> Specialized projectile weapons as well have been found at various sites in Middle Stone Age Africa, including bone and stone arrowheads at South African sites such as [[Sibudu Cave]] (along with an early bone needle also found at Sibudu) dating approximately 72,000–60,000 years ago<ref name="Backwell">{{cite journal | last1 = Backwell | first1 = L | last2 = d'Errico | first2 = F | last3 = Wadley | first3 = L | year = 2008 | title = Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers, Sibudu Cave, South Africa | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 35 | issue = 6| pages = 1566–1580 | doi = 10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.006 | bibcode = 2008JArSc..35.1566B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wadley |first1=Lyn |year=2008 |title=The Howieson's Poort industry of Sibudu Cave |journal= South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series |volume=10}}</ref><ref name="Lombard">{{Cite journal |title=Indications of bow and stone-tipped arrow use 64,000 years ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |journal=Antiquity |volume=84 |issue=325 |pages=635–648 |year=2010 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00100134 |vauthors=Lombard M, Phillips L|s2cid=162438490 }}</ref><ref name="Lombard M">{{Cite journal|title=Quartz-tipped arrows older than 60 ka: further use-trace evidence from Sibudu, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|year=2011|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2011.04.001 |vauthors=Lombard M|volume=38|issue=8|pages=1918–1930|bibcode=2011JArSc..38.1918L }}</ref><ref name="Backwell2018">{{cite journal | last1 = Backwell | first1 = L | last2 = Bradfield | first2 = J | last3 = Carlson | first3 = KJ | last4 = Jashashvili | first4 = T | last5 = Wadley | first5 = L | last6 = d'Errico | first6 = F | year = 2018 | title = The antiquity of bow-and-arrow technology: evidence from Middle Stone Age layers at Sibudu Cave | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 92 | issue = 362| pages = 289–303 | doi = 10.15184/aqy.2018.11 | doi-access = free | hdl = 11336/81248 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> some of which may have been tipped with poisons,<ref name="Lombard2020">{{Cite journal|title=The tip cross-sectional areas of poisoned bone arrowheads from southern Africa |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=33 |year=2020 |doi= 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102477 |vauthors=Lombard M|page=102477 |bibcode=2020JArSR..33j2477L |s2cid=224889105 }}</ref> and bone harpoons at the Central African site of Katanda dating ca. 90,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A middle stone age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire |date=28 April 1995 |last=Yellen |first=JE |author2=AS Brooks |author3=E Cornelissen |author4=MJ Mehlman |author5=K Stewart |journal=Science |volume=268 |pages=553–556 |issue=5210 |doi=10.1126/science.7725100 |pmid=7725100|bibcode=1995Sci...268..553Y }}</ref> Evidence also exists for the systematic heat treating of silcrete stone to increase its flake-ability for the purpose of toolmaking, beginning approximately 164,000 years ago at the South African site of Pinnacle Point and becoming common there for the creation of microlithic tools at about 72,000 years ago.<ref>{{citation|last1=Brown|first1=Kyle S. |last2= Marean| first2= Curtis W. |last3= Herries |first3= Andy I.R. |last4= Jacobs |first4= Zenobia |last5=Tribolo |first5= Chantal |last6= Braun |first6=David |last7=Roberts |first7= David L. |last8=Meyer |first8=Michael C. |author9=Bernatchez, J. |date=14 August 2009 |title= Fire as an Engineering Tool of Early Modern Humans| journal= Science |volume= 325 |issue=5942 |pages= 859–862 |doi=10.1126/science.1175028 |pmid=19679810|bibcode=2009Sci...325..859B |hdl=11422/11102 |s2cid=43916405 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="auto2"/>

In 2008, an ochre processing workshop likely for the production of paints was uncovered dating to ca. 100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Analysis shows that a liquefied pigment-rich mixture was produced and stored in the two abalone shells, and that ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones and hammer-stones also formed a composite part of the toolkits. Evidence for the complexity of the task includes procuring and combining raw materials from various sources (implying they had a mental template of the process they would follow), possibly using pyrotechnology to facilitate fat extraction from bone, using a probable recipe to produce the compound, and the use of shell containers for mixing and storage for later use.<ref name="bbc.com-15257259">{{cite news |last=Amos |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Amos |title=A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity – Ancient 'paint factory' unearthed |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15257259 |date=13 October 2011 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=13 October 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Washington Post-2011/10/12/gIQApyHrhL">{{cite news |last=Vastag |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Vastag |title=South African cave yields paint from dawn of humanity |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/african-cave-yields-paint-from-dawn-of-humanity/2011/10/12/gIQApyHrhL_story.html |date=13 October 2011 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=13 October 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Henshilwood et al. 2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Henshilwood | first1 = Christopher S. | display-authors = etal | year = 2011 | title = A 100,000-Year-Old Ochre-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa | journal = Science | volume = 334 | issue = 6053| pages = 219–222 | doi = 10.1126/science.1211535 | pmid = 21998386 | bibcode = 2011Sci...334..219H | s2cid = 40455940 }}</ref> Modern behaviors, such as the making of shell beads, bone tools and arrows, and the use of ochre pigment, are evident at a Kenyan site by 78,000-67,000 years ago.<ref>Shipton C, d'Errico F, Petraglia M, et al. (2018). 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nature Communications</ref> Evidence of early stone-tipped projectile weapons (a characteristic tool of ''Homo sapiens''), the stone tips of javelins or throwing spears, were discovered in 2013 at the Ethiopian site of [[Gademotta]], and date to around 279,000 years ago.<ref name="SahlePLOS1">{{Cite journal |last1=Sahle |first1=Y. |last2=Hutchings |first2=W. K. |last3=Braun |first3=D. R. |last4=Sealy |first4=J. C. |last5=Morgan |first5=L. E. |last6=Negash |first6=A. |last7=Atnafu |first7=B. |editor1-last=Petraglia |editor1-first=Michael D |title=Earliest Stone-Tipped Projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift Date to >279,000 Years Ago |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0078092 |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=e78092 |year=2013 |pmid=24236011 |pmc=3827237 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...878092S |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Expanding subsistence strategies beyond big-game hunting and the consequential diversity in tool types have been noted as signs of behavioral modernity. A number of South African sites have shown an early reliance on aquatic resources from fish to shellfish. [[Pinnacle Point]], in particular, shows exploitation of marine resources as early as 120,000 years ago, perhaps in response to more arid conditions inland.<ref name="Marean et al 2007">{{cite journal|last1=Marean|first1=Curtis|title=Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene|journal=Nature|date=2007|volume=449|issue=7164|display-authors=etal|doi=10.1038/nature06204|pages=905–908|pmid=17943129|bibcode=2007Natur.449..905M|s2cid=4387442|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15550/files/PAL_E2962.pdf }}</ref> Establishing a reliance on predictable shellfish deposits, for example, could reduce mobility and facilitate complex social systems and symbolic behavior. Blombos Cave and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in fish skeletons from Blombos Cave have been interpreted as capture of live fish, clearly an intentional human behavior.<ref name="McBrearty Brooks 2000" />

Humans in North Africa ([[Nazlet Sabaha]], [[Egypt]]) are known to have dabbled in [[chert]] [[mining]], as early as ≈100,000 years ago, for the construction of [[stone tool]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.promine.com/blog/5-oldest-mines-in-the-world-a-casual-survey |title=5 Oldest Mines in the World: A Casual Survey |access-date=2019-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105054434/https://www.promine.com/blog/5-oldest-mines-in-the-world-a-casual-survey |archive-date=2019-01-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Records2015">{{cite book|author=Guinness World Records|title=Guinness World Records 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f896CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|date=10 September 2015|publisher=Guinness World Records|isbn=978-1910561034|page=27}}</ref>

Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago at the site of [[Olorgesailie]] in Kenya, of the early emergence of modern behaviors including: the trade and long-distance transportation of resources (such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. The authors of three 2018 studies on the site observe that the evidence of these behaviors is roughly contemporary with the earliest known ''Homo sapiens'' fossil remains from Africa (such as at Jebel Irhoud and Florisbad), and they suggest that complex and modern behaviors began in Africa around the time of the emergence of ''Homo sapiens''.<ref name="NPR-593591796">{{cite news |last=Chatterjee |first=Rhitu |author-link=List of NPR personnel |title=Scientists Are Amazed By Stone Age Tools They Dug Up In Kenya |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/15/593591796/scientists-are-amazed-by-stone-age-tools-they-dug-up-in-kenya |date=15 March 2018 |work=[[NPR]] |access-date=15 March 2018 }}</ref><ref name="The Atlantic-555674">{{cite news |last=Yong |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Yong |title=A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity – New finds from Kenya suggest that humans used long-distance trade networks, sophisticated tools, and symbolic pigments right from the dawn of our species. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/a-deeper-origin-of-complex-human-cultures/555674/ |date=15 March 2018 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=15 March 2018 }}</ref><ref name="Brooks">{{Cite journal|title=Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age|journal=Science|volume=360|issue=6384|pages=90–94|year=2018|doi = 10.1126/science.aao2646|pmid=29545508|vauthors=Brooks AS, Yellen JE, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK, Deino AL, Leslie DE, Ambrose SH, Ferguson JR, d'Errico F, Zipkin AM, Whittaker S, Post J, Veatch EG, Foecke K, Clark JB|bibcode=2018Sci...360...90B|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2019, further evidence of Middle Stone Age complex projectile weapons in Africa was found at Aduma, Ethiopia, dated 100,000–80,000 years ago, in the form of points considered likely to belong to darts delivered by spear throwers.<ref name="Sahle">{{Cite journal|title=Assessment of complex projectiles in the early Late Pleistocene at Aduma, Ethiopia|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=14|issue=5|pages=e0216716|year=2018|doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0216716|pmid=31071181|pmc=6508696|vauthors=Sahle Y, Brooks AS|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1416716S|doi-access=free}}</ref>