LondonIan
Wed, Oct-17-07, 18:45
Wallop back the seafood, boys!
Early modern humans had a taste for seafood (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626265.200-early-modern-humans-had-a-taste-for-seafood.html)
17 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
OUR ancestors dined on seafood, painted their bodies and made delicate stone blades 164,000 years ago, much earlier than previously realised. The discovery means that these cultural features must have developed soon after modern humans evolved.
The evidence comes from a cave in South Africa overlooking the Indian Ocean. Researchers led by Curtis Marean, an anthropologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, excavated a collection of shellfish remains, ochre pigments and stone blades, some of which were just a centimetre wide. The team dated the earliest material to 164,000 years ago, give or take 12,000 years (Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html), DOI: 10.1038/nature06204). This fits with estimates of sea level during that period, which indicate that the cave was only within easy walking distance of the shore about 167,000 years ago.
The earliest previous record of humans eating shellfish dates from about 125,000 years ago. Abundant shellfish may have encouraged groups to settle in one place instead of wandering nomadically and provided them with leisure time for activities such as body adornment.
From issue 2626 of New Scientist magazine, 17 October 2007, page 23
Early modern humans had a taste for seafood (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626265.200-early-modern-humans-had-a-taste-for-seafood.html)
17 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
OUR ancestors dined on seafood, painted their bodies and made delicate stone blades 164,000 years ago, much earlier than previously realised. The discovery means that these cultural features must have developed soon after modern humans evolved.
The evidence comes from a cave in South Africa overlooking the Indian Ocean. Researchers led by Curtis Marean, an anthropologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, excavated a collection of shellfish remains, ochre pigments and stone blades, some of which were just a centimetre wide. The team dated the earliest material to 164,000 years ago, give or take 12,000 years (Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html), DOI: 10.1038/nature06204). This fits with estimates of sea level during that period, which indicate that the cave was only within easy walking distance of the shore about 167,000 years ago.
The earliest previous record of humans eating shellfish dates from about 125,000 years ago. Abundant shellfish may have encouraged groups to settle in one place instead of wandering nomadically and provided them with leisure time for activities such as body adornment.
From issue 2626 of New Scientist magazine, 17 October 2007, page 23