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Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene - Nature

  • ️Williams, Hope M.
  • ️Thu Oct 18 2007

Abstract

Genetic and anatomical evidence suggests that Homo sapiens arose in Africa between 200 and 100 thousand years (kyr) ago1,2, and recent evidence indicates symbolic behaviour may have appeared ∼135–75 kyr ago3,4. From 195–130 kyr ago, the world was in a fluctuating but predominantly glacial stage (marine isotope stage MIS6)5; much of Africa was cooler and drier, and dated archaeological sites are rare6,7. Here we show that by ∼164 kyr ago (±12 kyr) at Pinnacle Point (on the south coast of South Africa) humans expanded their diet to include marine resources, perhaps as a response to these harsh environmental conditions. The earliest previous evidence for human use of marine resources and coastal habitats was dated to ∼125 kyr ago8,9. Coincident with this diet and habitat expansion is an early use and modification of pigment, probably for symbolic behaviour, as well as the production of bladelet stone tool technology, previously dated to post-70 kyr ago10,11,12. Shellfish may have been crucial to the survival of these early humans as they expanded their home ranges to include coastlines and followed the shifting position of the coast when sea level fluctuated over the length of MIS6.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ISSR staff at ASU, the MAP staff for their assistance, the Dias Museum for field facilities, SAHRA and HWC for permits, and Waelbroeck for helping with sea level data. This research was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (to C.W.M.) and the Hyde Family Foundation (to C.W.M.).

Author Contributions C.W.M. directed the excavations and is the project principal investigator. Authors made contributions in the following areas: M.B.-M., U-series dating; J.B., analysis of orientation and dip; E.F., three-dimensional GIS; P.G. and P.K., micromorphology and geology; A.I.R.H., geology and sediment magnetics; Z.J., OSL dating; A.J., shell analysis; T.M., E.T. and H.M.W., lithics; P.J.N., co-direction of the excavations; and I.W., ochre. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Human Origins,,

    Curtis W. Marean & Erin Thompson

  2. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, PO Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402, USA ,

    Jocelyn Bernatchez & Hope M. Williams

  3. Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malchei Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel ,

    Miryam Bar-Matthews

  4. Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA,

    Erich Fisher

  5. Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA,

    Paul Goldberg

  6. Human Origins Group, School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia

    Andy I. R. Herries

  7. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522, Australia ,

    Zenobia Jacobs

  8. Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

    Antonieta Jerardino

  9. Ephoreia of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology, Ministry of Culture, Ardittou 34b, Athens 11636, Greece ,

    Panagiotis Karkanas

  10. Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Box 353100, Seattle, Washington 98195-3100, USA,

    Tom Minichillo

  11. Archaeology Division, Iziko-South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town 8000, South Africa,

    Peter J. Nilssen

  12. 58 Eastdown House, Downs Estate, Amhurst Road, London E8 2AT, United Kingdom ,

    Ian Watts

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  1. Curtis W. Marean

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  2. Miryam Bar-Matthews

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  3. Jocelyn Bernatchez

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  5. Paul Goldberg

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  6. Andy I. R. Herries

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  7. Zenobia Jacobs

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  8. Antonieta Jerardino

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  10. Tom Minichillo

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  11. Peter J. Nilssen

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  12. Erin Thompson

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  13. Ian Watts

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  14. Hope M. Williams

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Correspondence to Curtis W. Marean.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The file contains Supplementary Figures 1-13 with Legends, Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Tables 1-6, Supplementary Discussion and additional references. (PDF 2619 kb)

Supplementary Movie

The file contains Supplementary Video 1 which shows 3D model of site and finds. (MOV 65953 kb)

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Marean, C., Bar-Matthews, M., Bernatchez, J. et al. Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene. Nature 449, 905–908 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06204

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  • Received: 21 May 2007

  • Accepted: 28 August 2007

  • Issue Date: 18 October 2007

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06204

Editorial Summary

Life was a beach

It's been suggested that the first thing Homo sapiens did once he and she had evolved was head for the beach. This is demonstrated in dramatic fashion by a series of discoveries in Middle Pleistocene sediments from a South African sea cave near Pinnacle Point. The finds suggest that by around 164,000 years ago, the residents were on a diet that included shellfish — the earliest evidence for the exploitation of coastal resources by some 40,000 years. There is also evidence that they used pigments such as red ochre for symbolic behaviour. This was at a time when the world was going through a cool, dry spell, and Africa was mostly desert. Perhaps this environmental stress drove small bands of hunter–gatherers down to the sea in search of new food sources and lifestyles.

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