So far, the coastal areas of Africa have been considered the hotspots of prehistoric innovation, because this is where the earliest evidence of ritual objects, jewelry and other signs of the advanced culture of Homo sapiens come from. But now a research team has discovered more than 100,000 year old crystals and drinking vessels from our ancestors in the Kalahari Desert – a good 600 kilometers from the coast. These findings suggest that the early populations of Homo sapiens inland contributed as much to the spiritual and cultural advancement of our species as their coastal contemporaries.
The cradle of Homo sapiens is in Africa – that much seems clear. Early representatives of our species lived around 300,000 years ago in what is now Morocco, but also in East Africa and the south of the continent, the first populations of anatomically modern humans probably developed almost at the same time. At first they made rather simple tools that hardly differed from those of the older Neanderthals or Denisovans. There are also hardly any further cultural features from this early period. Around 100,000 years ago, however, a turning point set in: around this time, our ancestors began to leave behind signs of advanced cultural and intellectual development, including pieces of jewelry in the form of decorated seashells, remains of pigment production and painted objects. These and other finds are the earliest indications of a symbolic, not strictly utilitarian use of the property.
Is there a leap in development only on the coasts?
So far, most of these prehistoric innovations have been found near the coast. So far, this has led to the widespread assumption that the development of Homo sapiens into a social, creative and culturally capable living being comparable to us was closely related to the way of life at the sea or at least in larger bodies of water. The abundant resources in these areas, including seafood, fish, water, and often caves, gave our ancestors the space they needed to innovate – this is popular belief. It was also supported by the fact that the interior of Africa, with a few exceptions, especially along the East African Rift Valley, has so far hardly been explored anthropologically or archaeologically. Much of the continent is still a “terra incognita” in this regard.
Now, however, finds from the “African Outback” shed new light on the cultural development of our ancestors and their spatial distribution. Jayne Wilkins from Griffith University in Australia and her colleagues tracked down the prehistoric relics in a rock shelter on the southern edge of the Kalahari Desert – around 665 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. There are several overhangs on the slope of the Ga Mohana hill, which were used as a shelter by early representatives of Homo sapiens. Numerous stone blades, spearheads and flakes of flint and other stones used for tool manufacture testify to this. Dating using, among other things, optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) suggest that these relics date from around 105,000 years ago.
Regular crystals for the ritual?
In addition to the stone tools, the scientists discovered other, unexpected finds: a piece of red ocher with clear signs of use, 22 rectangular, white calcite crystals lying close together in one corner, and fragments of ostrich eggshells. While the eggshells were probably used as water containers and drinking vessels, the origin and purpose of the crystals were initially less clear: “These crystals did not get into the rock shelter through natural processes,” reports the team. The rock composition of the rock walls in the interior of the rock overhang and in its immediate vicinity also excludes that they have fallen off on site. Because the nearest source of such calcite formations is around 2.5 kilometers from the shelter, people must have purposely brought these crystals to their camp from there. “But it is unlikely that the crystals were collected to be used as raw material for stone tools – the calcite is too soft for that,” explain Wilkins and her team.
They therefore assume that the early representatives of Homo sapiens did not collect and store these smooth, shiny crystals for practical reasons. “We suspect that the geometric calcite crystals are deliberately collected objects that served spiritual and ritual purposes,” says Wilkins. “Crystals have been closely linked to rituals and spiritual beliefs in many times and around the world, including in the Stone Age of southern Africa.” 100,000 years ago not only took place on the coasts, but also far away in the interior of Africa. “The findings show that these Stone Age inland people displayed behaviors and cognitive abilities that are equivalent to those found in Homo sapiens at the same time in the immediate vicinity of the coast,” explains co-author Michael Meyer from the University of Innsbruck.
Source: Jayne Wilkins (Griffith University, Brisbane) et al., Nature, doi: 10.1038 / s41586-021-03419-0