Identifying the emergence and dispersal of human complex social, technological, and symbolic behaviors provides insight to the evolution of human behavior. Ostrich eggs offer a unique pathway to examining forager lifeways, as they provide insight into subsistence strategies, technological innovation, symbolic expression, and social connectivity. The goal of this dissertation is to understand forager use of ostrich eggs within the context of a novel eggshell taphonomic framework, and address questions about human response to changing resource distributions during Late Pleistocene shifts in the Kasitu Valley, Malawi.
