Last few early humans survived in ‘Eden’ during ice age

MELBOURNE - Researchers have found ochre and evidence of shellfish - which has revealed the earliest dated evidence of modern humans at Pinnacle Point.

A strip of land on Africa’s southern coast sustained the human population through a devastating ice age that wiped out the species elsewhere, scientists maintained.

The land, referred to by researchers as ‘the garden of Eden,’ may have been the only part of Africa to remain continuously habitable during the ice age that began about 195,000 years ago.

Scientists’ study has shown how a combination of rich vegetation on land and nutrient-laden currents in the sea created a source of food that could sustain early humans through devastating climate changes.

“Shortly after Homo sapiens first evolved, the harsh climate conditions nearly extinguished our species,” News.com.au quoted Curtis Marean of Arizona State University.

“Recent finds suggest the small population that gave rise to all humans alive today survived by exploiting a unique combination of resources along the southern coast of Africa,” he said.

During the study, Marean discovered that the isolated caves around an area known as Pinnacle Point, South Africa, 386 kilometres east of Cape Town, were rich in ancient human artifacts.

Marean and his colleagues argued the caves contain archaeological remains going back at least 164,000 years - and possibly even further back.

The remains also showed that, irrespective of the tough times seen by early humans in other places, the inhabitants of Pinnacle Point were living in a land of plenty. (ANI)