Modern man has African roots
2002-01-10 20:56
Cape Town - Ochre artefacts indicating that modern man originated from Africa and not from Europe as previously thought have been found in the Blombos cave near Stilbaai on the Cape coast.
The discovery of pieces of engraved ochre and finely crafted bone tools provide evidence that cognitive abilities, considered integral to modern human behaviour, were present in humans that lived in the area almost 70 000 years ago.
"We know that humans originated in Africa 150 000 years ago. In fact, all humans living today originate from these first men," the South African Museum's Dr Chris S Henshilwood, who led the discovery at Blombos, told News24.
Questions about origin of modern man
"Humans started leaving Africa about 50 000 to 70 000 years ago, moving to western Europe, Australia and the likes. But the question has always remained over where modern humans developed," says Henshilwood.
Until now it was believed that the humans that originated from Africa were anatomically modern, but remained behaviourally non-modern until about 40 000 to 50 000 years ago when they suddenly changed and moved to Europe and elsewhere.
The discovery at Blombos indicates that people in Africa possessed some of the important characteristics of modern human behaviour.
"Evidence up until now indicate that there were [modern] humans in Europe up to 30 000 ago. Proof of this can be found in cave art in France [at Lascaux] and Spain [at Altamira] as well as personal ornamentation, bone tools et cetera," explains Henshilwood.
The Blombos discovery turns this theory on its head though, as "here we have evidence of modern human beings dating back to 40 000 years before they were living in Europe".
"When people left Africa 50 000 to 70 000 years ago, they were anatomically and behaviourally modern human beings."
The dating process
Most of the 28 bone tools recovered were probably used to pierce leather, but show a level of craftsmanship and attention to detail that indicate its makers were taking an important step towards modernity.
"The tools were made to standards unnecessary for common use," says Henshilwood.
The actual pieces of ochre are not dated, but archaeologists date the deposits around and on top of the pieces through the process of thermoluminescence dating.
"The deposits are made up of sand that blew into the cave and sealed it off after the humans left," explains Henshilwood. The sand has been accurately dated to 70 000 years. Burned stone from fireplaces next to the findings were dated to 77 000 years.
Henshilwood first came across the Blombos cave when he made a survey of the coast in 1990 and recorded a number of sites for possible excavation.
"We didn't know at that stage what was in the cave," he admits. In 1999 excavation began at Blombos and the first piece of ochre was found. The second piece was found a year later.
The findings of the group of archaeologists will completely change the theory of the existence of modern man. For the first time there is evidence that Southern Africa is not only the birthplace of man, but also the birthplace of modern human kind.
The findings of the group of archaeologists will be published in Science magazine.