Follow the evidence.

A cave in the Essaouira region of Atlantic Morocco, approximately 12 km from the present coast. Excavations between 2014 and 2018 recovered 33 perforated marine shells: all but one from Middle Stone Age layer 4c, the other from layer 4a. Most are Tritia gibbosula, with one Columbella rustica. Layer 4c also contains stone tools, ash and…

≥142 ka; minimum, contested

U-series / luminescence

• Sehasseh et al., *Science Advances* 7, eabi8620 (2021) — Place and context.

A southern Cape cave in South Africa with several Middle Stone Age occupation phases. We treat three findings as related research questions but separate pieces of evidence: (a) two abalone shells with a prepared ochre-rich mixture and associated grinding/processing materials from a roughly 100 ka context; (b) deliberately incised ochre…

100–75 ka engraved-ochre contexts

Luminescence

• Henshilwood et al., ochre processing, *Science* 334 (2011) — Place and context.
• Henshilwood et al., engraved ochres, *Journal of Human Evolution* 57 (2009) — Place and context.
• Henshilwood et al., drawing, *Nature* 562 (2018) — Place and context.
• Jacobs, Duller and Wintle, *Journal of Human Evolution* 51 (2006) — What was dated.

A ceiling panel in Leang Karampuang cave in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, documented in a poor state of preservation. The researchers identify a large painted pig and three human-like figures positioned as if interacting with it. Some details have been lost through exfoliation. The specific action depicted is unclear; the authors explicitly…

≥51.2 ka; minimum painting age

U-series

• Oktaviana et al., *Nature* 631 (2024) — Place and context.
• 2026 primary study of Liang Metanduno on Muna Island — Revision note.

A Pre-Pottery Neolithic mound near Şanlıurfa in southeastern Türkiye, with carved T-shaped pillars, large round or oval “special buildings,” and smaller structures. The German Archaeological Institute (DAI) currently describes the site as a settlement with a pronounced ritual component. Its project overview gives an approximate span from…

c. 9600–8000 BCE

Radiocarbon

• DAI project overview — Place and context.
• Gresky and colleagues, *PLOS One* (2026) — Place and context.
• dating explanation — What was dated.

Offshore from the Isle of Wight in the western Solent, England, archaeological material survives at several underwater loci, around 11 m below the modern water surface in the investigated area. At BC-II, excavators recovered worked flint from an eroding former land surface. At BC-V, they documented burnt flints, charcoal, worked wood, a…

6150–6010 cal BCE; 95% interval

Radiocarbon

• Momber et al., *Mesolithic Occupation at Bouldnor Cliff and the Submerged Prehistoric Landscapes of the Solent* (2011) — Place and context.
• Maritime Archaeology Trust project page — Place and context.
• Historic England tree-ring and radiocarbon report — What was dated.

Madjedbebe is a rock shelter on Mirarr land in northern Australia. Excavations found stone artifacts and pigments in deep occupation bands. The research was conducted through an agreement with the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation representing Mirarr Traditional Owners. Their account of the collaboration is part of the source record.…

c. 65 ±5 ka; contested

Luminescence

• account of the collaboration — Observation and setting.
• Clarkson and colleagues, *Nature* (2017) — Observation and setting.
• plant study — Observation and setting.
• grinding-stone study — Observation and setting.
• Williams et al., *Geoarchaeology* (2021) — Interpretations and alternatives.
• Allen and O'Connell, *Archaeology in Oceania* (2025) — Interpretations and alternatives.
• later Madjedbebe publication — Next test and care.

Human trackways occur on former lake and wetland surfaces at White Sands National Park, New Mexico. The footprints themselves are physical evidence of people walking across those surfaces. The key question is their age, rather than whether a stone-tool type has been correctly…

23.5–21.7 ka; footprint sequence

Radiocarbon / luminescence

• 2023 independent dating study — Dated material and method.
• 2025 paleolake study — Dated material and method.
• 2026 study — Dated material and method.

Ohalo II was a lakeside hunter-gatherer camp at the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret). Waterlogging preserved an exceptional quantity of plants. Snir and colleagues, PLOS One (2015) examined approximately 150,000 plant remains, identifying more than 140 gathered species, wild cereals, species that thrive in disturbed ground, and evidence…

c. 23 ka; uncertainty not quantified here

Radiocarbon

• Snir and colleagues, *PLOS One* (2015) — Observation and setting.
• Nadel, Carmi and Segal, *Journal of Archaeological Science* (1995) — Dated material and method.

At Cape Bruguieres Channel in Murujuga, northwestern Australia, divers mapped hundreds of stone artifacts in a shallow channel. The 2020 project paper interprets much of the assemblage as remaining on a land surface submerged by postglacial sea-level rise. The Deep History of Sea Country project was undertaken with the approval of the…

≥c. 7 ka only if pre-inundation

Landscape association

• 2020 project paper — Observation and setting.
• Larcombe, Ross and Fandry, *Geomorphology* (2025) — Interpretations and alternatives.
• responded in *Geomorphology* (2026) — Interpretations and alternatives.

Ngarrindjeri peoples of South Australia tell narratives of the ancestral being Ngurunderi. A 2024 study coauthored by the Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporation and Ngarrindjeri scholar Christopher Wilson compares several narrative elements with independently reconstructed coastal changes: the Younghusband Peninsula, islands near the…

6.8–10.4 ka proposed landscape events

Landscape association

• 2024 study coauthored by the Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporation and Ngarrindjeri scholar Christopher Wilson — Observation and setting.

The original investigations reported worked wood, stakes, organic remains, stone artifacts, and plant and marine material in a waterlogged setting. A study of nine marine-algae species from hearths and other features reported direct radiocarbon dates for algae of about 14,220–13,980 cal BP. This is narrower and younger than the often…

14,220–13,980 cal BP algae; competing 8.2–4.2 ka deposits

Radiocarbon / luminescence

• Dillehay et al., *Science* (2008) — Observation.
• Surovell et al., *Science* (2026) — Chronological dispute.
• Dillehay et al., response (2026) — Chronological dispute.

Pottery fragments were recovered from cave layers in Jiangxi, China. The excavators analyzed the stratigraphy at microscopic scale and dated associated charcoal and bone. They report contexts with early pottery at 20,000–19,000 cal BP, long before local agriculture. Wu et al., Science (2012); Cohen and colleagues, archaeological…

20–19 ka cal BP; contested in detail

Radiocarbon

• Wu et al., *Science* (2012) — Observation.
• Cohen and colleagues, archaeological reassessment (2017) — Observation.
• comparative radiocarbon analysis — Dated material and dispute.

At a Kenyan cave, excavators documented a pit containing the partial skeleton of a child estimated to have died around age 2½–3. The body lay flexed; bone articulation, decomposition traces, and microscopic analysis of pit and surrounding sediment support deliberate interment. Martínón-Torres et al., Nature…

78.3 ±4.1 ka; modeled sequence

Luminescence

• Martínón-Torres et al., *Nature* (2021) — Observation.

Excavations in Kenya's Olorgesailie Basin document prepared stone cores and points, worked iron-rich red pigment, and raw material transported at least 25–50 km. The investigated Middle Stone Age sites are placed around 320–295 ka by argon-argon and uranium-series dating of geological contexts. Brooks et al., Science…

320–295 ka; site contexts

Argon-argon / U-series

• Brooks et al., *Science* (2018) — Observation.

A human femur from western Siberia was directly radiocarbon dated to roughly 45 ka and sequenced at high coverage. The researchers identified Neanderthal-derived genomic segments that were longer on average than in many living people. From their lengths, they estimated gene flow into ancestors of this individual roughly 7,000–13,000…

c. 45 ka; uncertainty not quantified here

Radiocarbon / genomic

• Fu et al., *Nature* (2014) — Observation and dating.