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Ancient humans live in tropic rainforests much earlier than we first think , a new study finds .
Before now , the earliest evidence of world ( man sapiens ) experience in rainforest environments dated to70,000 years agoin Asia and Oceania , and only18,000 years agoin Africa .
A 150,000-year-old stone tool from the Ivory Coast
Now , according to a new study release Wednesday ( Feb. 26 ) in the journalNature , researcher have found evidence that humans lived in rainforest - like area in Africa as far back as 150,000 year ago .
" Our results push back the earliest sleep together presence of humans in tropical woodland by more than twice the antecedently established estimate in another region of the mankind and also in Africa , " subject area lead authorEslem Ben Arous , a research worker at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany , told Live Science in an electronic mail .
New human beings evolved from our hominin ancestors in Africa some300,000 year ago , allot to the oldest knownH. sapiensfossils , which were found in Jebel Irhoud , Morocco . Others discovered in Ethiopia date toabout 200,000 years ago . However , these were found in field that are thought to have been grassland at the time of ancient human inhabitance .
The original trench where researchers found the 150,000-year-old stone tools in the Ivory Coast.
Related : forward-looking man arose after 2 distinct chemical group in Africa mated over tens of grand of years
Finding and dating stone tools
In the 1980s , researchers discovered stone creature , such as pick , entomb deep underground at a land site named Bété I in West Africa ’s Ivory Coast . But at the clock time , they were ineffective to date the stone tools , according to astatement . Now , with the Parousia of new techniques , such asoptically stimulated luminescence , which enables researchers to see when object were last exposed to heat from the sun ’s beam of light , researcher were able to date the peter to 150,000 years ago .
What ’s more , the team unveil traces of ancient rain forest - specific flora , offering novel insights into the humid environments in which these ancient human race lived .
" Our palaecological study have shown the comportment ofHunteriaand Oil Palms , they are distinctive taxon [ a group of organisms ] for this ecozone and that [ of ] a wet tropic forest , " Ben Arous explained .
today , the southerly Ivory Coast is a tropic rainforest ecosystem , but until now , it was unclear whether it was still a wet tropic forest 150,000 years ago .
These discoveries indicate that rainforest - like environments were not a roadblock to human expansion , and instead were inhabited hundreds of thou of age ago . Additionally , the bearing of such erstwhile human artifacts in this neighborhood supports the hypothesis thatHomo sapiensmay have arisen in multiple places around Africa , rather than all originating in a single location and go around outwards .
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" We acknowledge humans did not have one single ' birthplace ' in Africa . Yet it is presently unclear whether we are looking at humans evolving in Africa ’s grasslands and savannahs , or whether a routine of different environment were involve , " Ben Arous say . " Our solvent indicate that we are looking at the latter scenario . "
Ben Arous also suggests that ancient humans who were powerfully adapted to living in rainforests did not often encounter mass who were conform to living in receptive grasslands .
" At 150 thousand years old , it ’s the oldest known situation in West Africa and shows that multitude have been live in this region since at least the MiddlePleistocene , " Ben Arous say . " This is important because prior to our work , the West African phonograph recording was thought to be much younger . "
Human evolution quiz: What do you know about Homo sapiens?
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