[2] The site of Shum Laka is located approximately 15 kilometers from the town of Bamenda, and it resides on the inner wall of the Bafochu Mbu caldera.

[4] The importance of geoarchaeological investigations conducted at Shum Laka includes the construction of a reliable cultural chronology of the area, and an emphasis on the need to critically evaluate other rockshelter sites in the region.

[7] Based upon the small amounts of materials found in individual strata, it is proposed that the site was occupied for numerous short periods of time.

[2] The lithic assemblage in some of the late Pleistocene occupations at Shum Laka are unique in the presence of a quartz industry early than most other sites in the region.

[5] The presence of a microlithic quartz industry at Shum Laka, when combined with supporting evidence from other rockshelter and late Pleistocene sites in the Grasslands, is indicative of a more mobile population that exploited a variety of resources in the ecotonal landscape.

[8] Phylogenetic model including Shum Laka features three major radiations within Africa: one phase early in the history of modern humans, one close to the time of the migration giving rise to non-Africans, and one in the past several thousand years.