Once a lacuna in prehistoric archaeology, a rich Neolithic record is now apparent in northern Arabia; concentrated during the 5th and 6th millennia BCE, which is represented by habitational and hunting sites, as well as monumental structures such as mustatils. Affinities between Levantine and Northern Arabian industries have been presented as evidence for connectivity, or even migration. This is particularly the case regarding arrowhead technologies, which have functioned as 'type fossils' in culture-historical schemes. In this study we conduct an attribute analysis of Neolithic arrowheads recovered through the AAKSAU-EX and PAKEP projects in AlUla (al-'Ula) County, Saudi Arabia. Our results reaffirm certain affinities to Levantine toolkits, supporting a long history of interaction. However, the appearance of distinct arrowhead forms also signals local expressions of material culture, adding to a list of idiosyncrasies in the subsistence, architectural, and ritual customs of the region. With this evidence, the appropriacy of Levantine-lithic cultural designations is questioned for northwest Arabia.

The Watinglo rockshelter provides an occupation record from the central north coast of New Guinea from 13 ka to the last few hundred years, with a hiatus in the later Holocene. Examination of the lithic artefacts from this sequence suggests that within a paradigm of technological continuity and local resource procurement, there were notable fluctuations in the use of particular materials and the intensity with which the site was used. This suggests a pattern of small range size and population fragmentation that may have contributed to the unparalleled linguistic diversity of the wider region.

Reconstructing the complex human behaviours that manifest in the Palaeolithic archaeological record remains an elusive but important challenge for capturing traces of how the human mind evolved. The roughly 1.5 million years of handaxe-making throughout the Acheulean provides a consistently preserved manifestation of hominin technological skills. Here, we analyse 1108 3D scans of handaxes from 12 sites in the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa and the southern Levant spanning much of the Acheulean. We set out to chart the evolution of Acheulean toolmaking skill using a suite of computational 3D methods to quantify how well these handaxes have been thinned, shaped, and sharpened; traits which demand manual dexterity, planning, and hierarchical cognition. We find evidence that cognitive evolution likely played a role in improvements in handaxe-making skill, but only in the first half of the Acheulean. The most skilfully made handaxes among our sample begin to be made by about one million years ago. Any increases in cranial capacity, cognitive complexity, or manual dexterity after this point do not make a noticeable impact on how skilfully handaxes were made, and nor does raw material quality. Instead, the techno-morphology of handaxes appears to be relatively untethered from evolutionary constraints after about a million years ago, at which point we need to seek alternative explanations for handaxe variability. Above all, we show that the difficult pursuit of lowering bifacial asymmetry was more often achieved than any other skilful attribute, suggesting it was a fundamental goal of handaxe-making. Attempting to maintain 3D symmetry appears to be a common goal throughout the entire Acheulean and was routinely achieved by its second half. This capacity to consistently maintain bifacial balance while knapping was in place by at least 1.0 Ma, revealing the evolved technological abilities and hierarchical cognition of Acheulean hominins.

Fossil and artefactual evidence shows Homo sapiens in Eurasia well before 75 ka. However, genetic evidence suggests all extant non-African populations derive almost all of their ancestry from a dispersal that only diverged in the last 60-50 ka. In northern Eurasia, the Upper Paleolithic with its laminar blade knapping provides an archeological signature of this dispersal, but no equivalent is yet established for southern Asia, Wallacea, and Sahul. This paper suggests that lithic miniaturization may provide such a signature as it appears across these southern regions from around 50 ka. It can be traced back to the southwestern edge of Asia at 55 ka, and then coastal east Africa at 68 ka. In both these cases it is also associated with laminar blade technology. Lithic miniaturization is implicated in behaviors including bow-and-arrow hunting, compound tools, hair-shaving, and scarification. The ecological and social implications of these behaviors may have given later Homo sapiens a competitive advantage over both other hominins and earlier dispersals of our own species.

The Fertile Crescent region, spanning from the upper Euphrates to the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, witnessed the earliest transition in the world from hunting and gathering wild foods to farming domesticates. Natufian Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) communities in this region created distinctive stone tools across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Here we present archaeological evidence from the site of Sahout, demonstrating that communities using material culture characteristic of the Natufian and PPN were also present hundreds of kilometres south of the Fertile Crescent, in the much more arid interior of the Arabian Peninsula. Repeated occurrence of distinctive stone tools from 13.5 to 8.7 thousand years ago indicates intimate links to the Levant; showing both the far greater scale of these cultural connections than previously known, and the capacity of Natufian and PPN tool makers to subsist in marginal environments. Obsidian sourcing shows long-distance movement further southward into Arabia. At Sahout, PPN tools are associated with a regional rock art tradition of naturalistic life-sized camel engravings, which overlie representations of curvaceous women. The material culture of these communities suggests that long-term survival in relatively arid environments was based on a combination of local adaptation and a network of long-distance connections.

The Austronesian dispersal is the largest such event in human history, with descendants of people from Taiwan colonizing islands from Rapa Nui to Madagascar. The extent to which this dispersal was facilitated by an economic package or a particular ideology is uncertain. The “Austronesian Painting Tradition” (APT) is a distinctive rock art style dominated by paintings of small human figures, boats, and geometric motifs found in eastern Wallacea and islands around New Guinea. The age of the APT is thus far poorly constrained, with uncertainty over whether it appeared endogenously through earlier Holocene interisland networks, if it arrived with the earliest Austronesian migrants, or if it appeared during the intensified interisland contact of the Indonesian Metal Age beginning ~2,500 y ago. Here we report the recovery of a painted stone plaque excavated in situ from archaeological excavation on Wetar Island, Maluku. The plaque occurs in a transitional layer between Paleolithic and Neolithic occupation. It bears a classic “Austronesian” red concentric circle and sun-ray motif and is dated to between 4090 and 3900 cal. BP, significantly earlier than the first pottery at the site and in this region. The early date for this plaque in a preceramic layer and its location in southeast Maluku supports the view that the APT had an early origin, and that the Austronesian diaspora was either propelled by or leveraged a compelling symbolic ideology.

Northeast Africa and Southwest Asia present a rich record of hominin occupations between ca. 100 and 50 thousand years ago (ka) at a critical biogeographic crossroads, with differences in physical landscapes, environmental responses to climate change, and varied population histories contributing to archaeological diversity. Research in Arabia has identified previously unexplained technological heterogeneity amongst stone tool assemblages. To investigate this pattern, we compiled a database of Levallois blank attributes to quantify patterns of variability observed across sites in Northeast Africa, Arabia, and the Levant. A range of alternate explanations for variability within this comparative dataset are explored using Simple Mantel tests and Multiple Matrix regressions including assemblage age, landscape setting, palaeoenvironmental conditions, assemblage size, composition and raw material use, site type, and population history. The results highlight that shape variability in Levallois blanks across the region is best explained by differences in population history. We then train logistical regression models to differentiate the population history associated with Levallois blanks with a >93% agreement rate and apply this model to key Arabian assemblages dating to ca. 55 ka. The results strongly support a Neanderthal attribution. We interpret these findings in the context of wider debates surrounding Neanderthal expansions and a wider role for Arabia in South-West Asian hominin demography.

Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave situated in a forested upland near the coast of Kenya, contains an archaeological record that spans at least 78,000 years and is crucial for understanding the evolution of Homo sapiens populations in eastern Africa. Here we report on new systematic excavation, three-dimensional scanning, radiocarbon dating, and geoarchaeological analyses that provide insights on sedimentary dynamics, occupation patterns, and site-formation processes at PYS. Our data show that while unroofed parts of the cave probably contain the deepest stratigraphies, these are likely to be dominated by colluvial influx and yield limited cultural deposits. Sheltered zones near the chamber edges exhibit better stratigraphic integrity and higher artifact densities, with deposits exceeding 5.5 meters in thickness in the main excavation area. In this area, marked shifts in occupation intensity and sediment sources enable us to reconstruct the evolution of the inhabited cave space. Our findings underscore PYS as a key site for understanding human behavior, adaptation, and environmental interactions from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene, with implications for broader interpretations of the evolution of Homo sapiens populations in eastern Africa.

Flake scar patterning indicates Acheulean knappers were attempting to make thin, symmetrical handaxes with regular edges. In this study we quantify these elements of handaxe form and test the variation between the first two waves of Acheulean occupation in Britain. The results show a marked contrast between these groups in thinness, symmetry, and edge regularity. Handaxes from sites such as Fordwich dated to > 0.56 Ma are crude, whereas those from sites including Boxgrove dated to similar to 0.48 Ma are highly refined. This contrast in biface skill outcomes seems to have been facilitated by the use of soft-hammers and platform preparation, both of which are evident at Boxgrove. Furthermore, it suggests an increase in hominin motor control around half a million years ago that may have implications for the emergence of speech.

This paper examines regional and chronological variations in Acheulean handaxe morphology during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (c. 425-365 ka BP) in Britain. Using a data set of 737 handaxes from 13 securely dated sites in East Anglia and the Thames Valley, we apply three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis to examine morphological variability. Our results show that two distinct handaxe forms were present in different areas of Britain during MIS 11: sub-stage MIS 11c assemblages in East Anglia are dominated by ovate handaxes with twisted edges, while contemporaneous Thames Valley assemblages are characterised by pointed forms. By sub-stage MIS 11a, Thames Valley sites shift to ovate handaxes with twisted edges, whereas East Anglia now shows a predominance of pointed forms. Statistical models indicate that rather than raw material constraints or reduction intensity, regional factors such as cultural groups drive these differences. These patterns suggest persistent technological norms, strong knowledge transmission and cultural resilience across climatic oscillations. Our findings highlight the role of small-scale, juxtaposed cultural groups in shaping Acheulean variability and adapting to dynamic Middle Pleistocene environments.

This paper examines the archaeology of Marine Isotope Stage 9 (337–300 ka), the final interglacial of the Lower Palaeolithic in Britain. We present an analysis of 614 handaxes from ten key sites independently dated to MIS 9, applying traditional methodologies alongside three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis to examine morphological variability. Through this, we characterise the archaeology of the period and investigate chronological and regional patterns. Our results show a diverse technology within MIS 9 sites, but one which is homogenous across most of Britain. This technology is characterised by the predominance of pointed handaxes, which are often crude, but with the presence of fan-shaped cleavers, ficrons, and giant handaxes. Unlike MIS 11, MIS 9 lacks regional and temporal sub-groups. There appears to be a divide between expediently worked crude handaxes and ‘over-engineered’ normative sub-types which may have taken on a degree of social significance. The archaeology in Britain during MIS 9 could reflect short excursions from mainland Europe, where similarities exist, or potentially a longer stable population which became adapted to the fluctuating environment. The technological diversity of MIS 9 demonstrates an increase in artefact classes based on multiple norms, suggesting a rise in cultural complexity at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic.

Around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens' dispersal to Australia marked the earliest period of human maritime adaptation. Two models of migration routes through Island Southeast Asia and the Wallacean Archipelago are proposed-a northern one and a southern one. However, the timing and location of these migrations remains disputed. Recent studies demonstrated the presence of populations with a strong maritime culture in southern Wallacea from around 40,000 years ago, while coastal adaptation in the north remains largely unstudied. This research project, hosted at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and in collaboration with UK, Australian and local institutions, aims to understand human reliance in marine environments using samples from recently excavated archaeological sites located on the northern route. Using comparative anatomy, biomolecular techniques such as ZooMS as well as stable isotope analysis, it seeks insights into subsistence strategies and seafaring technologies, establishing a novel framework for understanding our species' adaptation and dispersal for early seafarers across challenging regions of the planet.

Dated archaeological sites are absent in northern Arabia between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and 10,000 years ago (ka), signifying potential population abandonment prior to the onset of the Holocene humid period. Here we present evidence that playas became established in the Nefud desert of northern Arabia between ~16 and ~13 ka, the earliest reported presence of surface water following the hyper-aridity of the LGM. These fresh water sources facilitated human expansions into arid landscapes as shown by new excavations of stratified archaeological sites dating to between 12.8 and 11.4 ka. During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, human populations exploited a network of seasonal water bodies - marking locations and access routes with monumental rock engravings of camels, ibex, wild equids, gazelles, and aurochs. These communities made distinctive stone tool types showing ongoing connections to the late Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations of the Levant.

The capacity to relate a signal to an arbitrary, specific and generally understood meaning-symbolism-is an integral feature of human language. Here, we explore two aspects of knapping technology at the Acheulean site of Boxgrove that may suggest symbolic communication. Tranchet tips are a difficult handaxe form to create, but are unusually prevalent at Boxgrove. We use geometric morphometrics to show that despite tranchet flaking increasing planform irregularity, handaxes with tranchet tips have more standardized 3D shapes than those without. This challenging standardization suggests tranchet tips at Boxgrove were part of a normative prescription for a particular handaxe form. Boxgrove presents some of the thinnest handaxes in the Acheulean world. To replicate such thin bifaces involves the technique of turning-the-edge. Since this technique is visually and causally opaque it may not be possible to learn through observation or even pointing, instead requiring arbitrary referents to teach na & iuml;ve knappers. We use scar ordering on handaxes to show a variety of instances of turning-the-edge in different depositional units at Boxgrove, indicating it was socially transmitted to multiple knappers. The presence of societally understood norms, coupled with a technique that requires specific referents to teach its salient features, suggests symbolism was a feature of hominin communication at Boxgrove 480,000 years ago.

The Middle Stone Age (MSA) saw the emergence of novel behaviours in the archaeological record and is generally associated with our own species, Homo sapiens. Yet, most archaeological assemblages contain no fossil remains, with those rare assemblages with a fossil association giving a less than clear-cut picture. Here, we describe the lithic assemblage from Kabwe, Zambia, a cave site that was originally discovered in the early twentieth century and is most famous for the Kabwe cranium, an exceptionally well-preserved Middle Pleistocene Homo fossil. The nature of the assemblage’s excavation means that it is not well-provenanced. To address this issue, we draw on archival data related to the original excavations and discoveries during the 1920s and use the remains of original matrix still adhering to several of the lithic artefacts to separate out the assemblage stratigraphically. This indicates no significant difference in technological strategies across the assemblage. Whilst there is an Early Stone Age component to the assemblage in the form of spheroids, it is generally consistent with MSA technological strategies, including notably Levallois-like and laminar modes of production evident from cores and debitage. We thus interpret the Kabwe assemblage as a transitional ESA/MSA industry. Due to the possible association with Homo heidelbergensis sensu lato fossils in the form of both the Kabwe cranium and postcranial remains, this hints that the early MSA could have included other members of our clade rather than just Homo sapiens, complicating current models of MSA origins.

A Quaternary sequence of subfossil terrestrial molluscs from tropical Kenya is described and discussed. It preserves a remarkably complete fauna of the Indian Ocean coastal forest from the surroundings of Panga ya Saidi cave, a site featuring repeated human occupation extending back at least 78,000 years. Mollusc diversity, composition, and abundance are very similar to extant faunas of the coastal forest. They vary relatively little over the period studied (chiefly a 50,000-year sequence from MIS 5 to the start of MIS 2) apart from a short-lived decrease in the dominance of "forest-only" species around 45,800 BP. The fauna of the most recently preserved layers (MIS 1) is likewise similar. Most of the 72 snail (and slug) species found are still extant at the coast, including some narrow-range endemics, but 8 species are now more western in their known distribution. The native African status of Kaliella barrakporensis and 2 other snail species with Asian type localities are confirmed, as is the previously disputed occurrence of native Helicoidea at the coast. Two new subfossil species were identified and are described as Maizania meteor sp. n. (Maizamidae) and Juventigulella saidii sp. n. (Streptaxidae). No major habitat or faunistic shifts are observed, confirming previous evidence for long-term ecological continuity at the site. The data are the first of their kind from coastal East Africa and provide a new independent proxy of the environmental context to the archaeological sequence, as well as a reference point for future studies of terrestrial molluscs in the region.

This paper re-examines earlier Palaeolithic core technology from British sites assigned to MIS 11, 9, and 7 using primarily a châine opératoire approach, with the objective of better understanding the earliest occurrence and distribution of Levallois and other prepared-core technologies across the Old World. Contrary to previous interpretations (White and Ashton in Current Anthropology, 44: 598–609, 2003), we find no evidence for a true Levallois concept in MIS 11 or MIS 9 in Britain. Cores previously described as ‘simple prepared cores’ or ‘proto-Levallois’ cores show neither evidence of core management nor predetermination of the resulting flakes. They can instead be explained as the coincidental result of a simpler technological scheme aimed at exploiting the largest surface area of a core, thereby maximising the size of the flakes produced from it. This may be a more widespread practice, or a local solution derived from existing principles. Levallois appears fully formed in Britain during terminal MIS 8/initial MIS 7. Consequently, Britain does not provide evidence for an in situ evolution of Levallois, rather we argue it was introduced by new settlers after a glacial abandonment: the solution to the emergence and significance of Levallois lies in southern Europe, the Levant and Africa.

Recent archaeological investigations in AlUla County have provided the first detailed chrono-cultural evidence for long-term Neolithic domestic occupation in this archaeologically unknown region of north-west Arabia. This paper presents the preliminary findings drawn from multi-scalar datasets collected through extensive aerial and ground surveys, and the excavations of 'monumental' architectural installations, named in this study as 'Standing Stone Circles'. These structures were individual dwellings, constructed in concentrations of varying numbers with associated domestic installations, such as hearths. The Standing Stone Cicle sites presented in this paper demonstrate a scale of Neolithic occupation not previously recognized in Saudi Arabia. These structures provide evidence of ongoing occupation throughout the 6th and 5th millennia BCE, concurrent with a general florescence of human activity across north-west Arabia. The faunal remains indicate a mixed subsistence economy, dominated by domesticates but supplemented by wild species. Broader considerations of the Neolithic economy, and models of pastoralism and mobility, are made possible on the basis of this, and the associated assemblages of stone artefacts and small finds. The data provided in this article offers a general picture of the Neolithic period in AlUla, addressing the significant geographical and temporal gaps within the archaeological knowledge of north-west Arabia. The identification of diagnostic Late Neolithic Levantine projectile point types, in conjunction with architectural parallels with the Levant, provides further insight into the origins of neolithization in north-west Arabia.