Le Sahara n’a pas toujours été un désert… mais même sa période humide n’était pas stable. Une nouvelle étude révèle que l’African Humid Period (AHP) (environ 14 800 à 5 500 ans avant aujourd’hui) a été interrompue par au moins 3 sécheresses brutales www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#Communiqué 🗞️ Cette découverte, exceptionnelle par la quantité d’éléments retrouvés et par la diversité des traces de façonnage et d’utilisation observées, permet de comprendre comment nos ancêtres portaient ces premiers « bijoux » de l’humanité 🐚
👉 www.cnrs.fr/fr/presse/de...
Finally, I want to thank Emilie once again, who sadly passed away in 2016 from breast cancer. This publication honors the memory of our beloved colleague, who did not live to see the final results of her remarkable work. To Emilie!
©R. Nespoulet-E. Lesvignes
We have compared archaeological shells, mainly Tritia gibbosula, with modern specimens to understand how they were selected and used. Larger shells were clearly preferred. We also distinguish natural wear from human modification, revealing multiple techniques used to transform shells into beads.
Dated between 114,000 and 95,000 years ago, these shells offer an unprecedented dataset, opening a unique and incredibly precise window into how these human groups explored nearby coastlines and used their resources!
One of the key aspects of this work is highlighting the specificities of North African Aterian ornaments, contributing to broader discussions on the emergence of symbolic culture across Africa.
Over the years, the study brought together multiple specialists, combining archaeological context, traces analysis, and taphonomic approaches to understand how these beads were used and coloured by pigment!
The assemblage studied here is the largest collection of shell beads currently known from across Africa, making it a key reference for understanding early personal ornamentation.
The El Mnasra cave was excavated by international team under the direction of M.A. El Hajraoui and R. Nespoulet.
The story starts in 2012, when Emilie first set out to investigate a remarkable collection of shell beads from El Mnasra Cave, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in which more than 800 shells were discovered within the MSA layers of this coastal site.
The article is available here : journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Below is a thread about a study that began almost 14 years ago, spanning years of research, collaboration, and persistence!
I am immensely proud to announce the publication of our latest article “Aterian shell beads from the coastal site of El Mnasra Cave (Rabat-Témara, Morocco): Specificities of the North African MSA personal ornaments”, led by our beloved Emilie Campmas 🧵
@umr5608traces.bsky.social @mnhn.fr @INSAP
Acheulian to MSA artefacts from Area 7. 1) A large, retouched flake, 2–3) bifacial handaxes, and 4) bifacial knife from GH4. 5–7) Early MSA technology from GH3, showing unretouched convergent flakes with prepared platforms. 8) Denticulate, 9–10) blade and convergent flake, and 11) proximal blade with lateral retouch from GH2. 12) Convergent flake, and 13–15) blades from GH1. (Arrows: notches; dashed lines: feathered, parallel, or scalar retouch; dotted lines: mixed/minimal retouch).
Regional variability in the Acheulian to Middle Stone Age transition in southern Africa 🏺🧪
A. F. Blackwood, @ozarchaeomaglab.bsky.social , et al
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Shows that the MSA emerged around 230 ± 18 ka, significantly earlier than previously documented along the southern coast.
There are only a few days left to submit your abstract! #PanAf2026
Back to Oxford to calibrate our new gamma probe for ESR and Luminscence dating of African Pleistocene sites !
The Smithsonian will be hosting a free webinar this Sunday, February 22 from 1:30-3:00 EST, The Impact of Human Origins on People's Understanding of the World. Check it out! naturalhistory.si.edu/events/impac... #museums #humanorigins #evosky
Call for papers!
#UISPP2026 in Poznan
Thematic Session S-12C: Approaches to Early & Middle Stone Age/Palaeolithic open-air contexts in arid landscapes
uispp2026.syskonf.pl
I would love to attend but not sure yet if I will make the UISPP this year :(
Sorry but...WHAT ?
Reminder: ASAPA abstract deadline 31 Jan ⏰
We invite abstracts for our session on the Pleistocene record of the Kalahari and interior southern Africa, including comparative studies with other regions of southern Africa or Africa.
Submit via the ASAPA portal: asapa2026.co.za/submissions....
Depuis le 24 janv, nous sommes à Banjeli, centre Togo. Cette année pas de fouilles paléometallurgiques mais une expérimentation avec les locaux. Le but construire et faire fonctionner un fourneau de réduction de minerai de fer du XVIIIe siècle @umr5608traces.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social
📣 Yonatan Sahle and I are delighted to invite abstracts for Session# 18 of the 17th PanAf Congress (July 26–31, 2026, Maputo, Mozambique). The session welcomes interdisciplinary contributions on the Middle and Late Pleistocene archaeology of eastern Africa. Submit your abstract by March 15, 2026.
📣 Work with us! 📣
We are seeking to appoint a part-time, permanent Biomolecular Research Laboratory Technician!
Hear a bit more about the role from @matthewcollins.bsky.social
📅 Closing date: 2 February
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/biomole...
Between my various trips to Africa planned for 2026, I am also starting my tour of UK labs. First stop: London for a few weeks!
Screen grab of bluesky post showing text about Neanderthal aesthetics and a gen-AI image showing a male with inaccurate facial anatomy in a cave looking pensive, in front of him is a very complex graphic engraving in the floor and behind that is a red handprint on the wall with six fingers and a star-shape negative inside it.
Screenshot of bluesky post with text about Neanderthals and fire, and a gen-AI image showing a group of male Neanderthals near extremely small mammoths in a snowy forest. The Neanderthals have a mix of fur and leather belts and wristguards, with metallic details including buckles. They have spears, the tips of which are clearly modelled on metal spears and in no way resemble any known Neanderthal artefacts.
Close-up on the body of one Neanderthal in the forest showing details of the metal and leather belts and wrist-guards, and metallic-looking spears.
🏺🧪 Reminder - it's never good #SciComm practice to make inaccurate/misleading gen-AI imagery.
Case in point- recent posts here of #Neanderthals with complex engravings, & metallic-looking objects.
(they also apparently have 6 fingers, but I guess who tf cares when it's just vibes for the public 🙄)
Our session is organized by Emuobosa Orijemie, Tebogo Makhubela, @makariusitambu.bsky.social and myself @eslembenarous.bsky.social !
🚨CALL FOR PAPERS!🚨 @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and I are running a session (S17) at PanAf2026 in Mozambique, titled: Pan-African Homo sapiens evolution: linking processes with data. More info: panaf2026moz.com/panaf-sessio... & submit an abstract: panaf2026moz.com/paper-submis... deadline March 15th
CALL FOR PAPERS ALERT 🚨 For the next PanAf2026 in Mozambique, we are organizing the session "Beyond the frontiers in Palaeoscience: renewing chronological, geoarchaeological, palaeolandscape and palaeoenvironmental approches to the African Pleistocene".
In 2026, we are taking back our science. You don’t have to love all our tactics, but please trust me when I say @standupforscience.bsky.social is on the right side of history and we will remain so.
The original call out remains: GET IN, DORKS!
open.substack.com/pub/sciencef...
