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.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Early humans far from the South African coast collected unusual objects

Ostrich eggshells and crystals gathered more than 100,000 years ago shed light on the cultural evolution of early humans. Found in South Africa’s interior, they reveal that technological innovations occurred beyond its coast.
  1. Pamela R. Willoughby

    1. Pamela R. Willoughby is in the Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Ex Africa semper aliquid novi, the ancient Roman Pliny the Elder once remarked — there is always something new from Africa. Writing in Nature, Wilkins et al.1 present an example of such news in their report of material excavated from a rock shelter in a northern inland region of South Africa. The objects they found suggest it is time to revise current thinking about the emergence of cultural innovations among early human populations.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 592, 193-194 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00795-5

References

  1. Wilkins, J. et al. Nature 592, 248–252 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Cann, R. L., Stoneking, M. & Wilson, A. C. Nature 325, 31–36 (1987).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Stringer, C. B. & Andrews, P. Science 239, 1263–1268 (1988).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Willoughby, P. R. The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A Comprehensive Guide (Altamira, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bergström, A., Stringer, C. B., Hajdinjak, M., Scerri, E. M. L. & Skoglund, P. Nature 590, 229–237 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Gregory, J. W. The Great Rift Valley (Murray, 1896).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bonner, P., Esterhuysen, A. & Jenkins, T. (eds) A Search for Origins: Science, History and South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind (Witwatersrand Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Texier, P.-J. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 6180–6185 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Miller, J. M. & Willoughby, P. R. J. Hum. Evol. 74, 118–122 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. d’Errico, F. et al. J. Hum. Evol. 141, 102737 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Shipton, C. et al. Nature Commun. 9, 1832 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Brooks, A. S. et al. Science 360, 90–94 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Yellen, J. E., Brooks, A. S., Cornelissen, E., Mehlman, M. J. & Stewart, K. Science 268, 553–556 (1995).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Bushozi, P., Skinner, A. & de Luque, L. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 37, 293–310 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Langejans, G. H. J., Van Niekerk, K., Dusseldorp, G. L. & Thackeray, J. F. Quat. Int. 270, 80–94 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Larrasoaña, J. C., Roberts, A. P. & Rohling, E. J. PLoS ONE 8, e76514 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Petraglia, M. D., Parton, S., Groucutt, H. S. & Alsharekh A. Quat. Int. 382, 1–7 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Leakey, M. D. et al. Nature 262, 460–466 (1976).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

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

Search

Advanced search

Quick links