🧐 Ancient Beat #54: Stone ships, shark fishing, and the benefits of hunter-gatherer admixture
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Fragments of land snail shells found at Border Cave in South Africa have colors ranging from beige to brown to gray. While that may not sound overly important, it turns out that this color variability happens when the shell is heated. The researchers concluded that the snails were systematically brought to the site by humans, then roasted and consumed. And since the shells date back as far as 170,000 years ago, this is the earliest known evidence of this subsistence strategy. The shells, along with remains of rhizomes and tubers, show that members of a group were provisioning others who used the cave as a home base. So not only is this a “first-ever” type of find, but it gives us a nice little peak at how early Homo sapiens lived too.
🧐 Ancient Beat #54: Stone ships, shark fishing, and the benefits of hunter-gatherer admixture
🧐 Ancient Beat #54: Stone ships, shark…
🧐 Ancient Beat #54: Stone ships, shark fishing, and the benefits of hunter-gatherer admixture
Fragments of land snail shells found at Border Cave in South Africa have colors ranging from beige to brown to gray. While that may not sound overly important, it turns out that this color variability happens when the shell is heated. The researchers concluded that the snails were systematically brought to the site by humans, then roasted and consumed. And since the shells date back as far as 170,000 years ago, this is the earliest known evidence of this subsistence strategy. The shells, along with remains of rhizomes and tubers, show that members of a group were provisioning others who used the cave as a home base. So not only is this a “first-ever” type of find, but it gives us a nice little peak at how early Homo sapiens lived too.