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. 2021 Sep 16;24(9):102988.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988. eCollection 2021 Sep 24.

A worked bone assemblage from 120,000-90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco

Emily Y Hallett  1   2   3 , Curtis W Marean  2   3   4 , Teresa E Steele  5   6 , Esteban Álvarez-Fernández  7 , Zenobia Jacobs  8 , Jacopo Niccolò Cerasoni  1 , Vera Aldeias  6   9 , Eleanor M L Scerri  1 , Deborah I Olszewski  10 , Mohamed Abdeljalil El Hajraoui  11 , Harold L Dibble  2   6   10
Affiliations

A worked bone assemblage from 120,000-90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco

Emily Y Hallett et al. iScience. .

Abstract

The emergence of Homo sapiens in Pleistocene Africa is associated with a profound reconfiguration of technology. Symbolic expression and personal ornamentation, new tool forms, and regional technological traditions are widely recognized as the earliest indicators of complex culture and cognition in humans. Here we describe a bone tool tradition from Contrebandiers Cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, dated between 120,000-90,000 years ago. The bone tools were produced for different activities, including likely leather and fur working, and were found in association with carnivore remains that were possibly skinned for fur. A cetacean tooth tip bears what is likely a combination of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic modification and shows the use of a marine mammal tooth by early humans. The evidence from Contrebandiers Cave demonstrates that the pan-African emergence of complex culture included the use of multiple and diverse materials for specialized tool manufacture.

Keywords: Anthropology; Biological sciences; Evolutionary biology; Evolutionary processes; Paleobiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Contrebandiers Cave, El Mnasra, and Dar es-Soltan I are coastal caves with bone tools in stratified archaeological deposits in the Témara region of Morocco. Elevation map of Morocco, where km refers to kilometers, and ka refers to thousands of years Map of (A) Morocco with (B) location of Contrebandiers Cave and archaeological sites mentioned in text.
Figure 2
Figure 2
CB E21-105 spatulate bone tool photographs and illustration (A, B, and D)Show somewhat wavy, rather than straight striations, due to the unevenness of retouched lithic edges and lateral movement of the lithic edge against the bone blank. (C) Is an example of short, deep, non-parallel striations restricted to limited areas of a bone tool that were interpreted as resulting from use. (A and B) show examples of sheen and polish from use and restricted to the sides of the piece. (D) Shows what are interpreted as manufacture marks on the body of the tool, and the lack of sheen and polish on the body away from the end and sides. (A–D) are microscope photographs with 1 cm scale. (E–H) Illustrates both sub-parallel shaping marks covering the extent of the surface and short, irregular marks from use. Yellow areas on F and H represent the lightly burned and darkened area at the tip of this bone tool, where polish and sheen from use are frequent. Dotted outlines on (F and H) represent the extent of polish.(E–H) illustrated by J. N. Cerasoni.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spatulate tools made on rib bones from Contrebandiers Cave (A–C) On specimen CB G22-312 are microscope photographs showing manufacture marks and smoothed edges from use, with post-depositional damage at the tip. CB G22-312 and CB G22-303 represent a spatulate bone tool refit, where the dashed lines represent an estimate of what the bone tool would look like complete. (D–F) On specimen CB E22-561 show manufacture marks on the body and edges of the piece and polish restricted to the edges and tip. (A–F) are microscope photographs with 1 cm scale.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatulate bone tool manufacture stages To manufacture a spatulate, a rib bone is broken at the ends, split lengthwise, reduced in size, and shaped then regularized with a lithic edge. Polish on the Contrebandiers Cave spatulates is interpreted as the result of use against the interior portion of skin to scrape hides for leather or fur preparation. Illustrated by J. N. Cerasoni.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Skinned fox bones from Contrebandiers Cave (A–D) CB J19-251 is a cut-marked fox tibia showing marks consistent with skinning, and CB K8-337/CB K8-425 is a cut-marked fox mandible showing marks consistent with skinning. (A–D) on specimens CB J19-251 and CB K8-337/CB K8-425 are microscope photographs with 1 cm scale.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cetacean tooth pressure flaker (A–D) On CB-1641 are microscope photographs showing marks interpreted as resulting from use as a hand-held pressure flaker, with 1 cm scale.
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