Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Early human occupation of the Red Sea coast of Eritrea during the last interglacial

Abstract

The geographical origin of modern humans is the subject of ongoing scientific debate. The ‘multiregional evolution’ hypothesis argues that modern humans evolved semi-independently in Europe, Asia and Africa between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago1, whereas the ‘out of Africa’ hypothesis contends that modern humans evolved in Africa between 200 and 100 kyr ago, migrating to Eurasia at some later time2. Direct palaeontological, archaeological and biological evidence is necessary to resolve this debate. Here we report the discovery of early Middle Stone Age artefacts in an emerged reef terrace on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea, which we date to the last interglacial (about 125 kyr ago) using U–Th mass spectrometry techniques on fossil corals. The geological setting of these artefacts shows that early humans occupied coastal areas and exploited near-shore marine food resources in East Africa by this time. Together with similar, tentatively dated discoveries from South Africa3 this is the earliest well-dated evidence for human adaptation to a coastal marine environment, heralding an expansion in the range and complexity of human behaviour from one end of Africa to the other. This new, widespread adaptive strategy may, in part, signal the onset of modern human behaviour, which supports an African origin for modern humans by 125 kyr ago.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The study area.
Figure 2: Archaeological finds and their locations.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Thorne,A. & Wolpoff,M. The multiregional evolution of humans. Sci. Am. April, 28–33 (1992).

  2. Stringer,C. B. The emergence of modern humans. Sci. Am. December, 98–104 (1990).

    Article  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Deacon,H. J. in The Human Revolution: Behavioural and biological perspectives on the origins of modern humans (eds Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.) 547– 564 (Princeton Univ. Press, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Faure,H. & Roubet,C. Découverte d’un biface Acheuléen dans les calcaires marins du golfe Pléistocène de l’Afar (Mer Rouge, Éthiopie). C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 267, 18–21 ( 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Montenat,C. Un aperçu des industries préhistoriques du golfe de Suez et du littoral Égyptien de la Mer Rouge. Bull. Inst. Fran. d’Archéol. Orien. 86, 239– 255 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Plaziat,J.-C. et al. in Sedimentation and Tectonics in Rift Basins: Red Sea-Gulf of Aden (eds Purser, B. H. & Bosence, D. W.J.) 537– 573 (Chapman & Hall, London, 1998).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Clark,J. D. The Middle Stone Age of East Africa and the beginnings of regional identity. J. World Prehist. 2, 237– 305 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Walter,R. C., Buffler,R. T., Berhe,S., Vondra,C. & Yemane,T. in Lithospheric Structure, Evolution And Sedimentation In Continental Rifts (Abstracts) (eds Jacob, A. W. B., Delvaux, D. & Khan, M. A.) (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Phillipson,D. W. African Archaeology (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Van Peer,P. The Nile corridor and the out-of-Africa model. Curr. Anthropol. 39, 115–140 ( 1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gvirtzman,G., Kronfeld,J. & Buchbinder, B. Dated coral reefs of the southern Sinai (Red Sea) and their implication to late Quaternary sea levels. Mar. Geol. 108, 29–37 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. El-Asmar,H. M. Quaternary isotope stratigraphy and paleoclimate of coral reef terraces, Gulf of Aqaba, south Sinai, Egypt. Quat. Sci. Rev. 16, 911–924 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hoang,C. T. & Taviani,M. Stratigraphic and tectonic implications of uranium-series dated coral reefs from uplifted Red Sea islands. Quat. Res. 35, 264–273 ( 1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hoang,C. T., Dalongeville,R. & Sanlaville, P. Stratigraphy, tectonics and paleoclimatic implications of uranium-series dated coral reefs from the Sudanese coast of the Red Sea. Quat. Int. 31, 47–51 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Conforto,L., Delitala,M. C. & Taddeucci, A. Datazioni col 230Th di alcune formazioni coralligene delle Isole Dahlak (Mar Rosso). Soc. It. Min. Pet. 32, 153–158 ( 1976).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hoang,C. T., Lalou,C. & Faure,H. Les récifs soulevés a l’ouest du golfe d’Aden (T. F. A. I.) et les hauts niveaux de coraux de la dépression de l’Afar (Éthiopie), géochronologie et paléoclimats interglaciaires. Col. Int. CNRS 219, 103– 116 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Faure,H., Hoang,C. T. & Lalou,C. Datations 230Th/234U des calcaires coralliens et mouvements verticaux a Djibouti. Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 22, 959–962 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Taviani,M. in Sedimentation and Tectonics in Rift Basins: Red Sea-Gulf of Aden (eds Purser, B. H. & Bosence, D. W. J.) 574–582 (Chapman & Hall, London, 1998).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. Edwards,R. L., Chen,J. H. & Wasserburg, G. J. 238U-234U-232Th systematics and the precise measurement of time over the past 500,000 years. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 81, 175– 192 (1986/87).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cheng,H. et al. The half-lives of uranium-234 and thorium-230 (in the press).

  21. Chen,J. H., Curran,H. A., White,B. & Wasserburg,G. J. Precise chronology of the last interglacial period: U-234-Th-230 data from fossil coral reefs in the Bahamas. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 103, 82–97 (1991).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Stirling,C. H., Esat,T. M., Lambeck,K. & McCulloch,M. T. Timing and duration of the Last Interglacial: evidence for a restricted interval of widespread coral reef growth. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 160, 745–762 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Gvirtzman,G., Buchbinder,B., Sneh,A., Nir,Y. & Friedman,G. Morphology of the Red Sea fringing reefs: a result of the erosional pattern of the last-glacial low-stand sea level and the following Holocene recolonization. Mém. Bur. Rech. Géol. Min. 89, 480–491 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Klein,R. G. in The Human Revolution: Behavioural And Biological Perspectives On The Origins Of Modern Humans (eds Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.) 529– 546 (Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Brink,J. & Deacon,H. A study of a last interglacial shell midden and bone accumulation at Herold's Bay, Cape Province, South Africa. Paleoecol. Afr. 15, 31– 39 (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Leney,M. The road out of Africa. Discov. Archaeol. 1, 18 (1999).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Freytet,R., Baltzer,F. & Conchon, O. A Quaternary piedmont on an active margin: the Egyptian coast of the NW Red Sea. Z. Geomorph. N. F. 37, 215–236 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Horowitz,A. Continuous pollen diagrams for the last 3.5 m.y. from Israel: vegetation, climate and correlation with the oxygen isotope record. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 72, 63–78 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Grûn,R. & Stringer,C. B. Electron spin resonance dating and the evolution of modern humans. Archaeometry 33 , 153–199 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Leakey,L. The Stone Age Cultures of Kenya Colony (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1931).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Permission to conduct field work was granted by the Department of Mines of the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Resources of Eritrea. We are grateful to A. Kibreab, T. Keleta, A. Mesfin and M. Abraha, G. Ogubazghi and B. Woldehaimanot, and the staff of the National Museum of Eritrea for their support. Financial support was provided by grants from Anadarko Petroleum Company, the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Human Origins, the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto. Donations by TOTAL Eritrea are gratefully acknowledged. We thank M. Kusmu, L. Le Vert, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Canadian Consulate and the US Embassy in Asmara. We also thank M. Abdelsalam, T. Andemariam, J. Aronson, B. Collins, C. Cermignani, M. Chazan, S. Churchill, D. Doumenc, E. Goodman, M. Gorton, D. Guinot, Y. Lam, A. Martyn, N. Mohammed, N.-H. Nguyen, J. Pandolfi, K. Reed, H. Shoshani, G. Smithwalter, R. Stern, M. Tesfaye, J. Trondle, M. de Saint Laurent, F. Taylor, G. Watson, C. Vondra and T. Yemane for assistance and/or discussions. Bifaces were first observed on the coast near Abdur by C. Hillman and reported to RCW. in 1995.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert C. Walter.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Walter, R., Buffler, R., Bruggemann, J. et al. Early human occupation of the Red Sea coast of Eritrea during the last interglacial. Nature 405, 65–69 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35011048

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35011048

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing