The following story shows that our current scientists are still guessing about ancient human behaviours ...
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From
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/pr ... 07,00.html
LONDON: Modern human behaviour such as body adornment, figurative thought and probably complex language began at least 25,000 years earlier than previously believed, according to an analysis of shell beads kept in museum collections since the early 20th century.
The perforated shells from 100,000 years ago, held by London's Natural History Museum and the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, have been identified as the earliest known example of jewellery.
The discovery shows that the early humans who made the beads, which were probably strung as necklaces, were capable of the sophisticated behaviour that we recognise in people today.
Making and wearing beads requires an ability to understand symbols and a concept of beauty, both of which are considered hallmarks of the modern human brain.
Scientists said it was probable the jewellers spoke a form of language, and as some of the shells were found hundreds of kilometres from the coast, that they might even have traded with one another.
The findings push back the confirmed origins of modern thought by at least 25,000 years. The previous oldest example of jewellery, from Blombos Cave in South Africa, dates from 75,000 years ago.
The shells, unearthed in the 1930s at Es-Skhul in Israel and at Oued Djebbana in Algeria, have now been dated to at least 100,000 years ago, according to a study published in the journal Science.
Detailed examinations have confirmed they were perforated deliberately for use as beads. Together with the Blombos evidence, the research means the history of human mental development must be rewritten.
While Homo sapiens became anatomically modern between 200,000 and 160,000 years ago, it was assumed the characteristic features of the modern mind emerged much later - between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Evidence from those years pointed to a "creative explosion" in Europe, Asia and Africa, in which cave painting, body adornment and bone tools became commonplace as humans acquired the ability to think in abstract ways. It now appears certain that capacity emerged much earlier.
As evidence now exists from three sites, two at either end of Africa and one in the Middle East, it is likely none of these was the place where human creativity began.
"These sites are only going to be part of the story," said professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum.
"Humans were all over Africa and the Middle East by 100,000 years ago, and modern behaviour is turning up all over that range. This must go even further back, though we don't know how much further back or to what place."
The shells from the sites belong to the species Nassarius gibbosulus, a scavenging sea snail. The Blombos shells are from a related species, Nassarius kraussianus.
Professor Stringer said their similarity suggested a cultural tradition with a common origin elsewhere.
The Algerian site is 200km from the coast, indicating the shells were sufficiently valued for people to have carried them long distances, or to have traded them.
"If people were using beads, they were using them to convey a message about themselves," Professor Stringer said. "I believe that implies there was language, which does much the same thing."
The Times
Creativity older than thought
Moderator: Moderators
It's always our delusion and assumption that we're more advanced than our ancestors, isn't it? Our collective picture of ancient human beings resembles apes more than human beings, and hence amazement at their achievements and lifestyle.