ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS CONNECTS MISSING DOTS BETWEEN MSA & LSA Posted on : Nov 13 - 2020

The Machine learning model classifies lithic assemblages of Eastern Africa to identify major incidents of history.

Archaic incidents have shaped the existence of human civilization. It tells about the evolution of humans over centuries. Understanding these incidents helps us to have a peek in the past. Moreover, it helps in analyzing the various processes that led to the development of humans. Archaeology is the science that highlights the incidents before human civilization shaped the world. For a long time, archaeologists, historians, researchers and scientists have tried to determine the transition between the middle stone age and later stone age. Explicitly they are trying to identify incidents that differentiated both these ages.

Undoubtedly, these time periods have significantly shaped human history. This was also the period which carved the artistic skills and sense of protection amongst humans. For example, the carving of weapons and tools enabled humans to have a heightened response against dangers.

So, knowing about these incidents plays a pivotal role to comprehend the formulation and development of human civilization. Archaeologists and researchers have resorted to using traditional methods such as fossils to classify the middle Stone Age and later Stone Age. However, as such methods failed to produce fruitful results, researchers are using artificial intelligence to classify assemblages based on MSA and LSA. In archaeology, the assemblage is defined as the aggregate of artefacts and other remains found on a site that is considered as material evidence in support of a theory concerning the culture or cultures inhabiting it.

According to a new research, machine learning is identified as the potential tool which can aid researchers in identifying incidents that differentiated MSA from LSA. A research paper titled “Neural Networks differentiate between Middle and Later Stone Age lithic Assemblages in Eastern Africa” states that trained neural networks ensembles classified over 94% of assemblages correctly, and identified 7 key technologies that significantly distinguish between assemblage classes. These results clarify both temporal changes within the MSA and differences between MSA and LSA assemblages in Eastern Africa.

Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age

The researchers state that the onset of transition from middle Stone Age to later Stone Age happened over 67000 years ago. The transition is often characterized archaeologically by the decrease in prepared-core technologies and the production of retouched points and by concomitant increases in microliths, prismatic blade and bipolar reduction method. In the Stone Age, bipolar reduction method is defined as the carving the stones or rocks into tools or weapons by removing some parts.

During this transition period, the frequencies of ochre use and bead produced had significantly increased. Various innovations which are employed to characterize LSA indicate “time-transgressive process that differed in both chronology and technology between regions. View More