Francesco d'Errico

CNRS-University of Bordeaux · UMR PACEA

The issue of "extended writing" is addressed in comparison with traditional writing in a wider context considering the cognitive and the environmental dimensions of the issue. Reflecting on the notions of niche construction and affordance-and the consequent idea of a strong organism-environment complementarity-we emphasize how human cultural niche...

Eyed needles are among the most iconic of Paleolithic artifacts, traditionally seen as rare indicators of prehistoric clothing, particularly tailoring. However, recent finds across Africa and Eurasia show that other technologies like bone awls also facilitated the creation of fitted garments. Nonetheless, the advent of delicate eyed needles suggest...

For at least 150,000 years, the human body has been culturally modified by the wearing of personal ornaments and probably by painting with red pigment. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the brain networks involved in attributing social status from face decorations. Results showed the fusiform gyrus, orbitofront...

Mechanisms governing the relationship between genetic and cultural evolution are the subject of debate, data analysis and modelling efforts. Here we present a new georeferenced dataset of personal ornaments worn by European hunter-gatherers during the so-called Gravettian technocomplex (34,000–24,000 years ago), analyse it with multivariate and geo...

The article addresses the challenges posed by the interdisciplinary collaboration that led to the recent Nature article presenting results of the extraction of ancient human DNA from a perforated deer tooth found in Denisova Cave. We provide a critical analysis of the contextual data that directly impacts the interpretation of the genetic data and...

The geographic expansion of Homo sapiens populations into southeastern Europe occurred by ∼47,000 years ago (∼47 ka), marked by Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) technology. H. sapiens was present in western Siberia by ∼45 ka, and IUP industries indicate early entries by ∼50 ka in the Russian Altai and 46–45 ka in northern Mongolia. H. sapiens was i...

The emergence of technologies to culturally modify the appearance of the human body is a debated issue, with earliest evidence consisting of perforated marine shells dated between 140 and 60 ka at archaeological sites from Africa and western Asia. In this study, we submit unpublished marine and estuarine gastropods from Blombos Cave Middle Stone Ag...

Upper Palaeolithic sites in southwestern France attributed to the Upper Gravettian and the Solutrean yielded sub spherical gravels with a highly shiny appearance that have intrigued researchers since the 1930s. In this work, we analyze specimens from five sites, including the recently excavated Solutrean site of Landry, to establish whether their p...

The use of mineral pigments, in particular iron‑rich rocks, holds significant importance in understanding the emergence and evolution of human cultures. However, sites that have yielded a number of pieces large enough to precisely identify how the use of this material changed through time are rare. In this study, we examine one of the largest known...

Border Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, preserves a long and continuous archaeological record from 227 ka to 24 ka years ago, rendering it a key Middle Stone Age site in southern Africa. It has yielded the skeletal remains of eight anatomically modern Homo sapiens individuals, a lithic sequence that includes MSA 1, MSA 2, MSA 3, and Early Later...

The earliest European carvings, made of mammoth ivory, depict animals, humans, and anthropomorphs. They are found at Early Aurignacian sites of the Swabian Jura in Germany. Despite the wide geographical spread of the Aurignacian across Europe, these carvings have no contemporaneous counterparts. Here, we document a small, intriguing object, that sh...

Cet article aborde les défis posés par la collaboration interdisciplinaire qui a conduit au récent article de Nature présentant les résultats de l'extraction d'ADN humain ancien à partir d'une canine de cervidé perforée trouvée dans la grotte de Denisova. Nous proposons ici une analyse critique des données contextuelles qui a un impact direct sur l...

Puncture alignments are found on Palaeolithic carvings, pendants, and other fully shaped osseous artifacts. These marks were interpreted as abstract decorations, system of notations, and features present on human and animal depictions. Here, we create an experimental framework for the analysis and interpretation of human-made punctures and apply it...

Fragments of land snail (Achatinidae) shell were found at Border Cave in varying proportions in all archaeological members, with the exception of the oldest members 5 WA and 6 BS (>227,000 years ago). They were recovered in relatively high frequencies in Members 4 WA, 4 BS, 1 RGBS and 3 WA. The shell fragments present a range of colours from lustro...

The human face has been culturally modified for at least 150,000 years using practices like painting, tattooing and scarification to convey symbolic meanings and individual identity. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the brain networks involved in attributing social status from face decorations. Results showed...

This paper will enquire into the issue of human creativity from the view- point of cultural evolution and the mechanisms underlying it. Creativity certainly has an individual and subjective dimension, but its social dimension is more and more ac- knowledged. This social dimension, moreover, is the one that can be addressed from the standpoint of cu...

Border Cave is a well-known South African Middle and Early Later Stone Age site located in KwaZulu-Natal. The site has exceptional plant preservation, unparalleled in the African Middle Stone Age archaeological record. This study focuses on the phytolith and FTIR analysis of two Members (2 BS and 2 WA) of the under-documented post-Howiesons Poort o...

The Cro-Magnon rock-shelter hosted the first discovered and certainly one of the most important Gravettian burial sites in Europe. However, the copious ornament collection found among the human skeletons was not analysed with modern techniques. After proposing a synthesis of the complex curatorial history of the Cro-Magnon material, we submitted a...

Border Cave is a well-known South African Middle and Early Later Stone Age site located in KwaZulu-Natal. The site has exceptional plant preservation, unparalleled in the African Middle Stone Age archaeological record. This study focuses on the phytolith and FTIR analysis of two Members (2 BS and 2 WA) of the under-documented post-Howiesons Poort o...

Border Cave hosts a rare Middle and Early Later Stone Age sequence of deposits that extends as far back as ca. 250 thousand years (ka). The site's chronology has been built mainly on Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) ages obtained from teeth, conducted at the end of the 1990s, and on radiocarbon dating for the more recent layers. In order to refine the...

This contribution focuses on the recently excavated lithic assemblage from Border Cave Members 1 RGBS, 3 BS, 2 WA and 2 BS. These members were attributed by Beaumont to the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort Industries of the southern African Middle Stone Age. Here we consider lithics as indicators of cultural behaviour, site formation proces...

Lithic assemblages immediately following the Howiesons Poort, often loosely referred to as the 'post-Howiesons Poort' or MSA III, have attracted relatively little attention when compared to other well-known phases of the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence. Current evidence from sites occurring in widely-differing environments suggests th...

Fully shaped, morphologically standardized bone tools are generally considered reliable indicators of the emergence of modern behavior. We report the discovery of 23 double-beveled bone tools from ~ 80,000-60,000-year-old archaeological layers at Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We analyzed the texture of use-wear on the archaeological b...

Upper Paleolithic sites in southwestern France attributed to the Upper Gravettian and the Solutrean yielded sub spherical gravels with a highly shiny appearance that have intrigued researchers since the 1930s. In this work, we analyze specimens from five sites, including the recently excavated Solutrean site of Landry, to establish whether their pr...

Border Cave is a key Middle Stone Age (MSA) site in southern Africa, with a 4 m-deep sedimentary sequence that dates from more than 227 000 (227 ka) to 44 ka ago. Lithic assemblages vary considerably during this period and artefacts made from organic materials become common at the end of the MSA sequence. Here we describe charcoal from the 10 membe...

Upper Palaeolithic sites in southwestern France attributed to the Upper Gravettian and the Solutrean yielded sub spherical gravels with a highly shiny appearance that have intrigued researchers since the 1930s. In this work, we analyze specimens from five sites, including the recently excavated Solutrean site of Landry, to establish whether their p...

This chapter highlights methodological challenges for an understanding of acculturation and creolization in early prehistory. The authors note that this is especially evident in situations such as the Châtelperronian where there is little chronological definition. In reference to the Châtelperronian, it is recognized as remarkable how such a restri...

It has been suggested that engraved abstract patterns dating from the Middle and Lower Palaeolithic served as means of representation and communication. Identifying the brain regions involved in visual processing of these engravings can provide insights into their function. In this study, brain activity was measured during perception of the earlies...

Border Cave (BC) has accumulated over 200,000 years of archaeological deposits that document remarkable evidence of human behaviour during the Middle and Later Stone Age. For nearly fifty years, researchers have relied on the stratigraphic framework established by Peter Beaumont in 1973, in which the deposits are lithostratigraphically categorized...

Junto con las cuevas de Maltravieso (Cáceres) y La Pasiega (Cantabria), la cueva de Ardales (Málaga) alberga pinturas de al menos 65.500 años de antigüedad, siendo estas las más antiguas encontradas hasta el momento. Recientemente, se ha publicado un estudio cuyo objetivo era determinar la naturaleza y origen del pigmento rojo que conforma uno de l...

In 2015, which marked 35 years since Beaumont had worked at the site, we renewed excavations at Border Cave. Our primary aims were to reassess the stratigraphic context of the sedimentary and cultural sequence, gain insight into site formation processes, make a detailed study of organic remains, identify long term cultural trends, and characterize...

Besides providing a unique archaeological assemblage that documents the early emergence of complex behaviour in the human lineage, Border Cave (South Africa) is noteworthy for having yielded hominin remains of at least nine individuals, including the partial cranium Border Cave 1. While the exact provenance of Border Cave 1 is unknown, sequence str...

Homo sapiens was present in northern Asia by around 40,000 years ago, having replaced archaic populations across Eurasia after episodes of earlier population expansions and interbreeding1–4. Cultural adaptations of the last Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the incoming populations of H. sapiens into Asia remain unknown1,5–7. Here we describe Xiamab...

Paint technology, namely paint preparation and application procedures, is an important aspect of painting traditions. With the expansion of archaeometric studies and in situ non-destructive analytical methods, a renewal of technological studies is being observed in rock art. In situ analyses have several limitations that are widely discussed in the...

Extraordinary preservation of plant remains provides an insight into the construction and materials of bedding at Border Cave, South Africa. Towards the back of the cave there are particularly thick layers of desiccated and charred grass and our botanical study is from bulk samples of these approximately 60,000 to 40,000 year-old layers (Members 3...

It has been suggested that engraved abstract patterns dating from the Middle and Lower Palaeolithic served as means of representation and communication. Identifying the brain regions involved in visual processing of these engravings can provide insights into their function. In this study, brain activity was measured during perception of the earlies...

RESUMEN Border Cave es una cueva ubicada en las montañas de Lebombo, en la frontera entre la región de KwaZulu-Natal (Sudáfrica) y Esuatini. Las excavaciones arqueológicas se iniciaron en 1934, se retomaron en los 70’ y el sitio vuelve a investigarse en la actualidad. Border Cave es una ventana al conocimiento de la prehistoria sudafricana debido a...

Clarke and Beck's defense of the theoretical construct “approximate number system” (ANS) is flawed in serious ways – from biological misconceptions to mathematical naïveté. The authors misunderstand behavioral/psychological technical concepts, such as numerosity and quantical cognition, which they disdain as “exotic.” Additionally, their characteri...

Personal ornaments have become a key cultural proxy to investigate cognitive evolution, modern human dispersal, and population dynamics. Here, we reassess personal ornaments found at Zhoukoudian Upper Cave and compare them with those from other Late Paleolithic Northern Chinese sites. We reappraise the information provided by Pei Wen Chung on Upper...

Supplementary Online Material for the article: Errico, Francesco d’, Africa Pitarch Martí, Yi Wei, Xing Gao, Marian Vanhaeren, and Luc Doyon. “Zhoukoudian Upper Cave Personal Ornaments and Ochre: Rediscovery and Reevaluation.” Journal of Human Evolution 161 (2021): 103088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103088.

Insects are of interest to forensic scientists, because they enable them to reconstruct length of body exposure, a subsequent sequence of decomposition events, and local environment. Relatively little attention has been paid to insects and other invertebrates as agents of bone modification. In order to rectify this, we conducted mostly laboratory e...

Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the strat...

The origin and development of osseous technology remains poorly documented to this day. From the first evidence of utilized bone fragments in East and South Africa, some ~2Myr ago, until the appearance of formal bone tools ~90 ka in Africa, and ~45 ka in the rest of the Old World, the archaeological record provides a limited number of specimens sca...

Significance The emergence of symbolic behavior in our genus is a controversial issue. The dating of paintings in three caves from the Iberian Peninsula supports the view that Neanderthals developed a form of cave art more than 20,000 years before the emergence of anatomical modernity in Europe. In this study, we confirm that the paintings on a lar...

Bone tool-use by Early Pleistocene hominins is at the centre of debates in human evolution. It is especially the case in South Africa, where 102 bone tools have been described from four Early Stone Age archaeological sites, which have yielded Oldowan and possibly Acheulean artefacts, as well as Paranthropus robustus and early Homo remains. Here we...

The origin and development of osseous technology remains a central focus to palaeoanthropological studies. Recognizing expedient bone tools, however, is not easy as many taphonomic processes converge to produce confounding modifications on faunal remains. Understanding what was their function is even more difficult owing to the limited number of st...

Cueva de Ardales in Málaga, Spain, is one of the richest and bestpreserved Paleolithic painted caves of southwestern Europe, containing over a thousand graphic representations. Here, we study the red pigment in panel II.A.3 of “Sala de las Estrellas,” dated by U-Th to the Middle Paleolithic, to determine its composition, verify its anthropogenic na...

The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate1–3. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa1–6. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovere...

Activities attested since at least 2.6 Myr, such as stone knapping, marrow extraction, and woodworking may have allowed early hominins to recognize the technological potential of discarded skeletal remains and equipped them with a transferable skillset fit for the marginal modification and utilization of bone flakes. Identifying precisely when and...

Carving a figurine requires the ability to mentally visualize a volume in matter and create symmetries in a three-dimensional space. During the Paleolithic, such objects were likely made to be transported, curated, manipulated, and hung on clothing. Thus far, no instances of three-dimensional portable art were documented in East Asia before the Neo...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84805-6 Neanderthals have often been seen as populations that sought refuge in southern regions of Europe during ice ages and whose ultimate disappearance could be attributed to their inability to adapt to climate change. An international team of archaeologists, ecologists, and climate modelers refute thi...

In southern Africa, key technologies and symbolic behaviors develop as early as the later Middle Stone Age in MIS5. These innovations arise independently in various places, contexts and forms, until their full expression during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort. The Middle Stone Age sequence from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, on the West Coast of the...

Neuroarchaeology is an expanding research field that applies functional brain imaging techniques to participants in order to identify the cerebral regions involved in the production or perception of artefacts produced by past hominins. Neuroarchaeology allows making inferences about hominin cognitive abilities with regards to language, praxis, and...

Activities attested since at least 2.6 Myr, such as stone knapping, marrow extraction, and woodworking may have allowed early hominins to recognize the technological potential of discarded skeletal remains and equipped them with a transferable skillset fit for the marginal modification and utilization of bone flakes. Identifying precisely when and...

Activities attested since at least 2.6 Myr, such as stone knapping, marrow extraction, and woodworking may have allowed early hominins to recognize the technological potential of discarded skeletal remains and equipped them with a transferable skillset fit for the marginal modification and utilization of bone flakes. Identifying precisely when and...

Environmental parameters constrain the distributions of plant and animal species. A key question is to what extent does environment influence human behavior. Decreasing linguistic diversity from the equator towards the poles suggests that ecological factors influence linguistic geography. However, attempts to quantify the role of environmental fact...

Bedding of grass and ashes The Border Cave site in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa has been a rich source of archaeological knowledge about Stone Age humans because of its well-preserved stratigraphic record. Wadley et al. now report the discovery of grass bedding in Border Cave, dated to approximately 200,000 years ago. The bedding, ident...

This video is in a higher resolution (26MB). For a lower resolution, please refer to the original publication (open access; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233370.s002)

Interactive 3D.pdf model of the Lingjing bird carving obtained by microtomography.