Homo sapiens Corridor - Gondwana Alive...Woolly mammoth 270-190 Ma 542 Ma– ca 2 Ma-12Ka Antarctica...

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1st-person short stories

Homo sapiens CorridorCradle of our species & emergence of our culture

From Cape to Rio

J.M. Anderson & M. de Wit

Homo sapiens Corridor

Africa Alive Corridors

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Tracking our 200,000 year epic journey

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Pinnacle Point

Fire as an engineering tool

162,000 years ago

PINNACLE POINT 162,000 years ago

Pinnacle Point

Brown mussel (Perna Perna)

Alikreukal(Turbo sarmaticus) Whale Barnacle

IndicatesScavenging of Whale Skin and Blubber




Phalium

labiatum,

Helm

etS

hell

Glycym

erisconnollyi,D

og Cockel

Phaliumlabiatum,HelmetShell

Glycymerisconnollyi ,Dog Cockel




Typical seashells collected from Pinnacle Point




162,000 years ago

140

150

160

170

180

ka Climate curve

cold10ºC swing

hot

early MSA 162,000 BP

Earliest use of ochre, shellfish, bladeletsOf the growing number of sites along the southern Cape coast, this is perhaps the single most prolific. Discovered only recently, in 1997 by Peter Nilssen, it includes beds going back to 166,000 BP (the oldest known occupation level along the HSC Corridor). These levels yield the earliest evidence of shell-fish collecting (diet), heat-treated silcrete blades (technology), & use of ochre pigment (culture).

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Langebaan Lagoon

LANGEBAAN 120,000 years ago

Langebaan

Eve’s footprints

100

110

120

130

140

Klasies River

cold10ºC swing

hot

Climate curveka

120,000 BP

Earliest known human footprintsLangebaan, with our earliest known human footprints dating to 120,000 years ago is of the greatest interest. They have been fondly dubbed ‘Eve’s footprints’. Dave Roberts, who discovered the prints, interprets them as those of a pregnant female (or one with particularly large buttocks) descending with waddling gait diagonally down the side of an ancient sand dune. It is an evocative picture.

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Klasies River

KLASIES RIVER 115,000 years ago

Klasies

Klasies River

Climate curve

cold10ºC swing

hot

ka100

110

120

130

140

Klasies River 115,000 BP115,000 BP2 individuals

90,000 BP5 individuals

5 mandibles1 parietal fragment

1 ulna

2 maxillary fragments

Klasies River

Earliest reliably dated H sapiens skeletal remains.It’s foremost significance is that it has yielded far more early-human skeletal fragments (>30 specimens, 7 individuals) than any other site. These date to 90,000 & 115,000 BP. Interestingly, this unique sample has been attributed to cannibalism—its earliest known occurrence. The whole sequence shows that the coastal resources, e.g., shell fish & seals, were systematically exploited.

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Blombos Cave

engraved ochre

sharpened bone tool

BLOMBOS CAVE 75,000 years ago

Blombos Cave

Nassarius beads

Climate curve

cold10ºC swing

hot

60

70

80

90

Howieson’s Poort

Pre-Still Bay

Still Bay75,000 BP

kapunctured beads

Earliest known artwork globally, cross-hatched ochre. Excavations have uncovered a series of finds opening new vistas on our behavioural evolution. From occupation levels dated ca 75 ka have come the earliest evidence of personal ornaments (a supposed shell-bead necklace) & abstract art (geometric designs on ochre & bone). And from those dated 100 ka come abalone shell containers in which were evidently mixed ochre rich pigment.

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Pinnacle Point

PINNACLE POINT 71,000 years ago

1cm

microlithic blades made from silcrete

silcrete blades experimentally attached to shaft

Pinnacle Point

50

60

70

80

Sibudu

Howieson’s Poort

cold10ºC swing

hot

Climate curveka

71,000 BPStill Bay

Pre-Still Bay

90

Earliest evidence of the bow & arrow.Of the growing number of sites along the southern Cape coast, this is perhaps the single most prolific. Discovered only recently, in 1997 by Peter Nilssen.The younger 71,000 BP occupation levels have yielded the evidence for the bow & arrow.

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Diepkloof shelter

Diepkloof

DIEPKLOOF 60,000 years ago

engraved ostrich eggshells

50

60

70

80

Sibudu

Still Bay

Pre-Still Baycold

10ºC swing hot

Climate curveka

Howieson’s Poort 60,000 BP

Engraved ostrich eggshell water containers are at the heart of this rock shelter’s significance. A unique tally of 270 fragments of these EOES represent a minimum number of 25 containers. They ‘appear in 18 sequential stratigraphic levels’, thus representing a tradition that very likely persisted for ‘several thousand years’. These are some of the earliest known symbols thought to identify individuals within a group.

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Klein Swartberg

9. Klein Swartberg

KLEIN SWARTBERG 2,000 years ago

Frieze of 24 ostrich-men

9. Klein Swartberg

Klein Swartberg

ka

10

20

30

40

0WiltonOakhurst

Robberg

early LSA

cold10ºC swing

hot

2,000 BPfinal LSA

Watermeide

Numerous rock-art sites depicting therianthropes. The Klein Swartberg and adjacent ranges are rich with San rock art sites. The paintings echo a world of social relationships, mythology, rituals & beliefs—offering a special glimpse of our human past. The common depiction of therianthropes—half human half animal, fish or bird—suggests the spiritual leaning of the people. Ostrich men and watermeide portray transformation during trance, altered states of consciousness.

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2. The last 65 million yearsFrom dinosaurs to mammals

The dinosaurs were cold-blooded creatures & thrived in hot temperatures (a hothouse world); mammals are warm-blooded animals & thrive in cold temperatures (an icehouse world). The mammals became the dominant land animals after the extinc-tion of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous (65 myr). They have evolved to great diversity in a cooling world—through a drop of 20°C. If things return to the hothouse world of the dino-saurs, the mammals, including ourselves, will not survive.

0

10

20

30

40

50

5 4 3 2 1 0

Polar Ocean Equivalent ∆T(°C)

4 6 8 10 12

Ma

70 Ma

-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2Equivalent

Vostok ∆T(°C)Mio

cene

Olig

ocen

eE

ocen

eP

aleo

cene

Pleistocene

Pliocene

Col

d

Hot

60

56

20°C swing

Paleocene EoceneThermal Maximum

°C

Ant

arct

ic

regl

acia

tion

Ant

arct

ic

glac

iatio

n

Ant

arct

ic

thaw

ing

Eoc

ene

O

ptim

um

PETM

65,5Cretaceous

5,5 Ma

Woolly mammoth

270-

190

Ma

542

Ma–

ca 2

Ma-

12Ka

Antarctica

ca 3

4 M

a

Antarctica

pre

34 M

a

6. The last 350,000 yearsAcross the divide to Homo sapiens

On this graph, we home in on the last three major interglaci-al-glacial cycles. Each spanning ca 100,000 years and reflect-ing a swing of ca 10°C. Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) first appeared somewhere, at around 200 ka, on the cooling curve from the interglacial MIS 7 to the glacial MIS 6. The compelling thing from this time on is how closely our major cultural breakthroughs—our genius moments—parallel the cli-mate curve. We will consider this further in the following graph.

200 ka

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

260

280

300

340

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2.2

3.1

3.3

5.1ab

c

d

5.2

5.35.4

5.5

6.2

6.3

6.5

a

bc

d

e

7.1

7.3

7.5

a

b

c

8.28.3

8.5

9.1

9.3

ka

isotype stages

5 4 3

ice volumeinterglacialglacial

10°C swing

°C

320

Col

d

Hot

12

24

H. s

apie

ns

H. n

eand

erth

ales

isH

omo

erec

tus

350,000 years ago

H. h

eide

lber

gens

is

190

Pinnacle Point

Cou

rtesy

Cur

tis M

area

n

Today18,000 years ago

Today

Cou

rtesy

Ric

hard

Cow

ling

18,000 years

Glacials-interglacialsOur world is a hugely differ-ent place during glacial & in-terglacial epochs. At 18,000 years ago & at 135,000 years ago, the ice-caps were far more extensive than now; with the Arctic ice covering the greater part of North America and Western Europe.

Vegetation biomesDuring intervals of maxi-mum glaciation, Africa was a parched and far grimmer place for humans to eke out an existence. The Cape coastal region would have been one of the few plac-es where the climate and food resources (terrestrial & marine) would have been manageable.

Sea-level fluctuationHunter-gatherers occupying Pinnacle Point on the Cape coast during these same glacial & interglacial epochs, would have seen all-togeth-er different scenes—from landscape with a diversity of antelope to seascape with whales & seals.

At 18 000 & again at around 138 000 years ago, the world was very different from how we know it today. The ice caps were far more extensive, the continental shelves largely exposed, the deserts way more expansive & the tropical forests much reduced.

Today18,000 years ago

SHIFTING COASTLINESCHANGING CLIMATE

African vegetation

Expanded continental shelf with sea level ca 120 m lower than today;Southern Coastal Plain expanded by ca twice the area of the Kruger National ParkA

dopt

ed fr

om C

ompt

on (2

011)

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THE ANTHROPOCENE (6th EXTINCTION)

TSWAING TOBA GOBEKLI TEPE

220,000 years ago 75,000 years ago 9,600 years ago

Asteroid impact Volcanic explosion Human megaliths

Pretoria, South AfricaGenetic mutationMitochondrial Eve

(Our mutual great-greatgreat ...... granny)

Sumatra, IndonesiaPopulation bottleneck(50 - 100,000 humans)

Bow & ArrowGlobal colonisation

(1st Wave, Out of Africa)

Turkey, Middle-EastOrganised Religion

TownsFarming, Domestication

Global colonisation(2nd Wave, Out of Mid.-East)

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CAPE FOLD BELT FYNBOS

Ericaceae (Erica)627 species

Proteaceae (Protea)330 species

6 Plant Kingdoms WorldwideCape Floral Kingdom, 9,000 species

(British Isles, 3,5x larger, 1,500 species)

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MARINE DIVERSITYFrom mollucs to whales

Bryde’s Whale. Humpback Whale Southern Right Whale

77 species globally

37 species SA

Warm Mosambique

current

Cold Benguella

current

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Homo sapiens Corridor - Gondwana Alive...Woolly mammoth 270-190 Ma 542 Ma– ca 2 Ma-12Ka Antarctica...

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