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21 May 2013

Linking climate change and human evolution

Bifacial points recovered from Blombos Cave, South Africa. The tools were manufactured in the Middle Stone Age and are made of silcrete and finished by pressure flaking. © Christopher Henshilwood, University of the Witwatersrand

Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications [21 May], was conducted by a team of scientists from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Barcelona.

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