Ancient life by the sea
Thursday, 18 Oct 2007 15:34
Specimens with ochre were found in the seacave
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Evidence of the earliest human settlement by the sea has been found on the coast of South Africa, scientists claim.
Reports of the find say the settlement existed about 164,000 thousand years ago, far earlier than previously thought.
The humans living there expanded their diet to include seafood, used complex tools and created red pigments for symbolic behaviour, according to the journal Nature.
"Generally speaking, coastal areas were of no use to early humans - unless they knew how to use the sea as a food source," said Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University.
"For millions of years, our earliest hunter-gatherer relatives only ate terrestrial plants and animals. Shellfish was one of the last additions to the human diet before domesticated plants and animals were introduced."
Evidence of life beside the sea was found in a seacave at the Cape of South Africa at Pinnacle Point.
Bladelets - little blades less than 10mm in width - were found and scientists from Arizona State University believe they were used on the ends of sticks as spears. Red ochre was also found which they propose was used in symbolic ways.
The researchers argue that the adaptation to coastal life was essential for survival at a time when the world was going through a cool, dry spell and Africa was mostly desert.
"We believe that on the far southern shore of Africa there was a small population of modern humans who struggled through this glacial period using shellfish and advanced technologies, and symbolism was important to their social relations," Dr Marean concluded.
"It is possible that this population could be the progenitor population for all modern humans."
