Source: @newscientist
Over tens of thousands of years, waves of Homo sapiens set out across Europe and Asia, only for their societies and cultures to mysteriously vanish. At last, ancient DNA is revealing why
By: Michael Marshall
Early BC. Butchering an elephant is an extraordinarily difficult Task, which requires serious tools and cooperation, with the reward being a protein bonanza.
Now a team of researchers led by Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo at Rice University in Texas say that ancient humans may have achieved this milestone 1.8 million years ago at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
“At about 2 million years ago humans were systematically consuming animals like gazelles or waterbucks, but not bigger game,” says Domínguez-Rodrigo.
Accompanied by stone tools, suggests early humans may have been butchering elephants as far back as 1.8 million years ago. This finding represents the oldest known evidence of such behavior, indicating advanced cognitive and technological capabilities in early hominins.
The repeated presence of elephant remains with tool marks supports systematic exploitation of large animals for meat and resources. These insights reshape our understanding of early human subsistence strategies and social cooperation.
Thanks to insights from ancient DNA, we are finally able to tell some of their stories. These lost peoples are also shining a light on why our once-insignificant branch of the wider human family tree survived and thrived.
The oldest known Homo sapiens – or what we call modern humans – lived in Africa, perhaps 350,000 years ago. Our understanding of the earliest members of our species is fragmentary, because we have hardly any fossils. But we know from genetics that all non-African people alive today seem to be descended from a single wave of migrants,
who came out of Africa 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. After entering western Asia, some went east towards what are now India, China and Russia, while others headed north and west, to Europe.
