Scientists have explored a cave site in eastern Africa, where people lived for 78 thousand years - from the Stone to the Iron Age.
A large-scale picture of life in East Africa for a long time - from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age - is shown by a study by an international group of scientists led by the director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Nicole Boivin. Local conditions at Panga ya Saidi in present-day Kenya were exceptionally stable, and people stayed here even during periods when much of Africa was not very suitable for life.
In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers write that the oldest stone tools found at Panga-i-Saidi date back 78,000 years. Other finds show that about 67 thousand years ago, there was a transition to more efficient stone processing technologies. Apparently, this process was gradual, and not one-step, which contradicts some views on the development of mankind as a series of revolutionary innovations.
From left to right - ocher samples; shell and shell beads; bone instrument (traces of processing are visible on the enlarged fragment) / Francesco D'Errico and Africa Pitarch.
Separately, the authors note that about 74 thousand years ago, when the Indonesian volcano Toba exploded, the site remained inhabited. It is believed that in the course of the cooling that followed this catastrophic event, mankind was on the verge of extinction and only a few thousand survived. However, the habitability of Panga-ya-Saidi indicates that even this test might not be so severe for young mankind - and by 60 thousand years ago, the population of the site began to grow rapidly.
However, the main thing scientists focus on is the long and uninterrupted life of people in the vicinity of Panga-ya-Saidi and the gradual change in their culture. About 65 thousand years ago, the first beads from the shell of ostrich eggs and shells of mollusks appear here. Between 48 thousand and 25 thousand years ago, there are artifacts with bone carvings. The site is located far from the coast, and there is no evidence of active economic exploitation of marine resources. Only crafts made from shells indicate a possible exchange with residents of coastal highways, along which the main routes of migration and settlement passed.
Sergey Vasiliev
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