Examining tools found in Africa contradicts assumptions according to which abstract thinking developed in a "burst of creativity" 40 years ago
By John Noble Wilford The New York Times
Scientists believe that man adopted modern behavior patterns about 30 years earlier than what has been assumed so far. This, following a new archaeological study that analyzes findings discovered in a cave in South Africa about a decade ago.
According to them, the research on the findings, which were discovered in the Lombos Cave located about 300 km east of Cape Town, overturns old assumptions. Until now, the experts believed that the behavior patterns of modern man were adopted in a late sudden process, a kind of "creative burst", which happened in Europe 40 thousand years ago.
The new study provides conclusive evidence that the humans who lived in Lombos Cave more than 70 years ago were not only anatomically similar to modern humans, they also carved tools and jagged-pointed weapons from animal bones. The craft of designing tools from bone was a much more advanced skill than the skill required to create tools from stone. The cave dwellers even engraved artistic symbols on some of the vessels, and these decorations are an expression of abstract and creative thinking, as well as evidence of the existence of a spoken language.
"I used to support the 'creative burst' hypothesis," says Rick Potts, director of the Human Descent Program at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "But now it seems to me that this assumption is wrong. There is evidence that modernity developed in a much earlier period, and in a more gradual manner, in Africa."
The oldest tools found so far in Africa were 25 thousand years old, while Homo sapiens, the man with modern anatomical features, evolved in Africa about one hundred thousand to one hundred fifty thousand years ago. The vast majority of evidence for creative behavior - such as the artistic design of tools and cave paintings - was found in Europe, after Homo sapiens moved there from Africa 40 years ago.
If the researchers' hypotheses are correct, then the new findings indicate that when Homo sapiens arrived in Europe from Africa, it not only had complete anatomical data, but was also equipped with the patterns of modern human behavior that are at least 30 years old.
The study was published by a group of archaeologists led by Christopher Henshillwood, an archaeologist at the South African Museum in Cape Town. The researchers published the findings in the current issue of the journal "." Journal of Human Evolution
"We are completely sure of the age of the finds," Henshillwood said. "This is a tool manufacturing industry, not casual objects."
The development of human culture - map
