The RStone project investigates a pivotal period in human history: the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3), spanning roughly 59,000 to 28,000 years ago. This period is critical for understanding the biocultural evolution of our species, Homo sapiens, as it marks a time of significant environmental change and technological transition in southern Africa. During this period, human groups moved between the cultural phases known as the Middle Stone Age and the Later Stone Age, leaving behind a rich but complex record of stone tools. The central motivation behind RStone is to solve a long-standing archaeological puzzle: were human populations in southern Africa during this time culturally fragmented and isolated, or were they part of a broad, interconnected social network? Current archaeological data show a high degree of variability in stone tool technologies across different regions, which some researchers believe points to isolated groups living in "cultural pockets" due to environmental barriers. However, confirming this has been difficult because researchers often use different methods to describe and measure stone tools, making it nearly impossible to compare data accurately across different sites.
To address this need, the project’s overall objectives were:
1. To establish a replicable methodological framework: By using high-resolution 3D scanning and open-source statistical programming (using the R language), the project aimed to create a standardized "common language" for analyzing stone tools. This ensures that data collected at one site can be directly compared with data from another, regardless of who performed the analysis.
2. To test the fragmentation hypothesis: By applying this standardized method to stone tool collections, the project sought to identify patterns of technological similarity or difference that would reveal how much inter-regional contact occurred between ancient human groups.
3. To promote Open Science: A key pathway to impact for RStone was the commitment to making archaeological data and analytical code publicly accessible, fostering a more transparent and collaborative scientific community.
The project contributes to the social sciences and humanities by providing a deeper understanding of human resilience and social adaptability. By reconstructing the social networks of the past, RStone helps us understand how environmental challenges influence human connectivity and innovation, lessons that remain relevant for understanding human behavior today. Although the project was concluded early due to the researcher securing a permanent academic position, the infrastructure and data generated provide a significant foundation for future research into the roots of human cultural diversity.
