New research by an international team has unearthed clues about the cultural practices of early populations of the southern African hunter–gatherers.
The research team, consisting of teams from Kyushu University, University of Bergen, and the University of Copenhagen, performed a protein analysis of a 60,000-year-old ochre-rich sediment surface found at a South African archeological site located within the coastal cliffs of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, which reveals deeper insights into the interactions between these ancient people and their local environment.
The team behind the analysis said their approach could also give archaeologists a new tool for analyzing ancient proteins that can survive longer and under more challenging environmental conditions than ancient DNA.
60,000-Year-Old Ochre and a “Pivotal Period in Human Prehistory”
In a recent study detailing the new protein analysis of the 60,000-year-old ochre-covered surface, the research team noted that the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) represents a “pivotal period in human prehistory,” including the emergence of Homo sapiens and the “subsequent introduction of several key cultural and technological innovations.”
“These cognitively demanding innovations include the use of mineral pigments such as iron oxides, commonly referred to as ochre, sophisticated tool production methods, the use of personal ornaments, and organic and inorganic materials to produce compounds, usually for the hafting of tools,” the study authors explained.
Such complex behaviors also often required ancient humans to plan, possess a working knowledge of their surrounding environment, and multitask. The team said the technological and social advancements seen during the MSA also suggest a need for older generations to transmit knowledge to younger generations, “potentially leading to multi-generation accumulation of technical expertise.”
Protein From Large Plains Antelope Suggests Deliberate Human Use
To better understand the role that ancient colorings like ochre may have played in that process, including the red substance’s potential functional, symbolic, and ritual uses, the team studied ancient proteins still contained within the 60,000-year-old material.
The study authors said they studied ancient proteins, called palaeoproteomics, because they “have proven more resilient than ancient DNA (aDNA),” including a greater capacity to “survive over extended time spans and under harsher, warmer environmental conditions.”
This included extracting samples from site sediments and analyzing them using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). This process allowed the team to isolate the ancient protein fragments from the 60,000-year-old ochre sample.
Next, the study authors compared the detected protein fragments with large protein databases. They also compared the findings with a custom collagen database designed to narrow down the protein’s origin.
This comparison revealed that the proteins found in the ochre included ancient collagen protein from Taurotragus oryx. A large plains antelope, T. oryx is an eland common to the region during the MSA.
The team said that finding proteins from an eland in 60,000-year-old ochre provides “biomolecular evidence” that animal-derived materials were associated with ochre use during the Middle Stone Age. Previously, evidence of organic components mixed with ochre during this ancient period has been extremely rare, especially in Africa.
Method Opens Up Avenues for Further Research
When discussing the scientific significance of their findings, the researchers noted that the protein analysis provided “new evidence for the complex technical and possibly symbolic behaviors of early Homo sapiens.”
“Considering this finding alongside ethnographic and experimental evidence for ochre use, the presence of eland collagen is most probably due to human action, likely involving both utilitarian practices and early symbolic behaviours,” they write.
While the researchers interpret this as evidence suggesting deliberate human activity, they haven’t established precisely how the materials were used. Possibilities include mixing animal-derived substances with ochre to make a pigment preparation or treating eland hides with ochre.
Nonetheless, the researchers said the findings demonstrate the benefit of palaeoproteomics for recovering and identifying ancient proteins from archaeological sediments, “even in challenging African environments where ancient DNA rarely survives.”
“Given their higher resistance to degradation compared with DNA, proteins may therefore represent the only taxonomically informative biomolecular evidence retrievable when DNA is no longer present,” they explained, adding that the process could offer a new way to investigate how ancient human MSA populations used ochre and other organic materials “in their daily, technical, and potentially symbolic activities.”
“This could open up avenues for further research in order to better understand past human activities, particularly when the conventional materials for palaeoproteomics studies, such as bone and teeth, are unavailable or unable to unravel such information,” the research team concluded.
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.