BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A recent
archaeological discovery in a South Africa cave suggests primitive Homo sapiens
may have eaten seafood, used razor-sharp cutting tools and donned makeup long
before they were supposed to.
Researchers found harvested and
cooked seafood, reddish pigment from ground rocks and early tiny blade
technology at Pinnacle Point overlooking the Indian Ocean near South Africa's
Mossel Bay. Scientific optical dating techniques show these indicators of modern
life were from 164,000 years ago, plus or minus 12,000 years.
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Skeletal remains from the Anne and
Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural
History, a permanent exhibition hall that presents the remarkable history
of human evolution from our earliest ancestors millions of years ago to
modern Homo sapiens, are seen in New York,Feb. 7, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
"Together as a package this looks like the
archaeological record of a much later time period," said study author Curtis
Marean, professor of anthropology at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona
State University.
Marean said the findings reveal humans were eating
seafood about 40,000 years earlier than previously thought. They are also the
earliest record of humans eating something other than what they caught or
gathered on the land. Most of what Marean found were the remnants of brown
mussels, but he also found black mussels, small saltwater clams, sea snails and
even a barnacle that indicates whale blubber or skin was brought into the cave.
Marean also found 57 pieces of ground-up rock that
would have been reddish- or pinkish-brown. That would be used for
self-decoration and sending social signals to other people, much the way makeup
is used now, he said.
There have been reports of earlier but sporadic
pigment use in Africa. The same goes with rocks that were fashioned into small
pointy tools.
But having all three together shows a grouping of
people that is almost modern, Marean said. Seafood harvesting, unlike other
hunter-gatherer activities, encourages people to stay put, and that leads to
more social interactions, he said.
(Agencies)
