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Further work by Stiner and colleague Steven Kuhn in several Upper Paleolithic
sites around the Mediterranean has revealed a change in the prey hunted by
early humans in the east about 40,000 to 50,000 years ago. Stiner says there
are also early indications of similar changes in Africa.Their analysis showed
a significant shift from slow-reproducing and easy-to-catch animals like
shellfish and tortoises, to quickly-reproducing and more agile animals like
partridges, hares, and rabbits. The reason for the shift is likely to be an
increased pressure on resources, Stiner says: "If you have over-used your
preferred resource, you can respond by turning to lower-ranked,
harder-to-catch resources."An increasing population may also explain the use
of adornments, due to the increased need to communicate with each other.
"Ornamentation is universal among all modern human foragers," says Stiner,
noting that these groups use the ornaments to convey information about
kinship and status to outsiders.