By J. Desmond Clark
Quantity I of The Cambridge background of Africa offers the 1st really entire and authoritative survey of African prehistory from the time of the 1st hominids within the Plio-Pleistone as much as the unfold of iron expertise after c.500 BC. the amount hence units the degree for the historical past of the continent inside the next volumes. the cloth continues to be of earlier human existence recovered via excavation are defined and interpreted within the gentle of palaeo-ecological proof, primate experiences and ethnographic remark, to supply a checklist of the evolving abilities and adaptive behaviour of the prehistoric populations. the original discoveries in East and South Africa of early hominid fossils, stone instruments and different surviving facts are mentioned with complete documentation, prime directly to the arrival of contemporary guy and the start of local patterning. the quantity offers a survey of the now significant fabric exhibiting the various methods of lifestyles within the forests, savannas and arid zones in the course of the 'Later Stone Age'.
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Extra info for The Cambridge history of Africa. Vol. 1, From the earliest times to c.500 BC
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Some species are present at most of the sites but others are known only at one. Analyses of the species present at more than one site suggest that the main Sterkfontein and Makapansgat faunal assemblages are the older and the Swartkrans and Kromdraai faunas successively younger (Vrba 1975). The scanty fauna from Taung makes correlation more difficult but its affinities suggest that it may occupy a position intermediate between Makapansgat and Swartkrans. From an ecological viewpoint, the overall picture created by the faunal assemblages is one of dry grassland with rocky areas and scrub, or even localized bush in sheltered locations (Cooke 1978).
Taung has more species favouring fairly dry conditions but this is not a strong trend and does not demand an arid environment. The Makapansgat fauna suggests more bush, in keeping with its closed valley setting, and the dominant faunal elements indicate grassland and thorn scrub with water available nearby. Vrba (1975) considers that there was more bush cover at Sterkfontein than was the case later at Swartkrans and Kromdraai. Stone tools of Oldowan type were discovered at Sterkfontein in 1956 by Brain (1958) on the west side of the original quarry (Sterkfontein Type Site) and this is known as the Sterkfontein Extension Site.
The land mammal fauna of the Eocene is very poorly known and consists solely of three genera of proboscideans, one little bigger than a domestic pig and another as large as an elephant. In the Oligocene 18 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONTINENT proboscideans are more varied but still form a major part of the fauna, together with hyracoids that are clearly divided into two different lineages. Proboscideans and hyracoids are manifestly of African origin and indicate a long period of isolated evolution from a pre-Eocene stock.