www.thevillagenews.co.za
17 February 2021
15
MY ENVIRONMENT
Cradle of human culture on our doorstep By Dr Anina Lee
H
ow do we define modern humans? How do they differ from early hominids and, for that matter, from animals like chimpanzees? Experts use three criteria to describe human behaviour: cognitive capacity (the ability to think about the world); planning capacity (ability to understand steps needed to achieve a goal); and the use of symbolism to convey meaning. Until recently it was believed that truly modern human behaviour started in Europe and Asia – 40 000 to 50 000 years ago.
PHOTO: golfscape.com
Yes, 160 000 years ago, the world was in the grip of an Ice Age. So much seawater was tied up in polar ice caps that sea levels were considerably lower than they are now. The distance between the present Overstrand coast to the seashore all those ages ago was easily 10 km and, in some cases, 100 km away, at the current edge of the Agulhas Bank. Around the caves, the coastal plain was akin to the present Serengeti, with rolling savanna and large antelope and other food sources aplenty. It was a paradise for early humans, while most of the world was under snow and ice. They were also less affected by the ‘volcanic winter' caused by a huge volcanic eruption that blacked out large areas of the planet.
ABOVE: The Pinnacle Point Golf Estate was built above the caves, which were damaged by water seeping into the caves from the irrigation of the golf course. BELOW: Excavations in the coastal caves at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay revealed archaeological artefacts and other physical evidence critically important to understanding how and when fully modern humans evolved. Several of these caves were occupied by Stone Age people and house the earliest evidence for modern human behaviour dating back to 163 000 years ago.
This new research has detailed the hidden ecosystem that once acted as an Eden-like sanctuary for animal life, including early humans, at the southern tip of South Africa. The Quaternary Science Reviews 2020 reported:
Since the year 2000 discoveries from Blombos Cave near Stilbaai turned that notion around. They found evidence of modern human behaviour from 65 000 to 100 000 years ago – i.e. 50 000 years before Europe. Then came further discoveries at Pinnacle Point. A series of coastal caves here on the Southern Cape coast near Mossel Bay contain archaeological artefacts and other physical evidence critically important to understanding how and when fully modern humans evolved. Several of these caves were occupied by Stone Age people and house the earliest evidence for modern human behaviour dating back to 163 000 years ago. Scientists now believe that these findings are the earliest evidence that humans had developed the intellectual capacity that characterises modern people. Inhabitants of these caves produced composite tools. They fashioned tiny stone blades and glued them to a shaft to make arrows. To exploit the intertidal zone to access shellfish, they connected lunar phases with the tides. It was only worth trekking 5 – 10 km to the coast at new moon or full moon to collect the very nutritious shellfish at the lowest tides.
"During interglacials, when the coast moved closer to the caves, humans had shellfish and other marine resources, and when the coast expanded in glacial times, hunters had access to a rich, terrestrial environment… This unique confluence of food from the land and sea cultivated the complex cultures revealed by the archaeology and provided safe harbour for humans during the glacial cycles that made much of the rest of the world unwelcoming to human life." Why would these early humans move from this paradise? It was only when the Ice Age let up that humans started to move north, out of Africa, and eventually across the world. So evidence of human culture has been found on the Southern Cape coast long before it appeared in Europe and Asia. Ochre is a poorly metamorphosed stone, rich in iron oxide. The stone can be ground to form orange to red powder. As seen in these caves, the use of ochre indicates symbolic behaviour, a cultural trait of modern humans. Animism – the belief system that attributed a spirit and soul to all things in nature – was common to all societies. Is it at all surprising that we still "find our soul" in wild places?
PHOTO: Erich Fisher This precious heritage site at Pinnacle Point was almost irretrievably damaged by post-industrial human greed in the guise of ‘development’.
resorts company, Pinnacle Point Resorts, to stop irrigating sites on the golf course to prevent further damage.
These important early human habitation sites were being destroyed by water seeping into it from a golf course. Researchers claimed that the seepage was happening because a proper drainage system was not installed on the golf course above the caves.
The judge dismissed WESSA's application, but the resorts company went bust and the homeowners' association took over and negotiated with the heritage community. These environmentally conscious homeowners came to the rescue of the priceless national heritage and resolved the problems. This is just another example of how responsible civil society had to step in and care for the environment, when big business and government seemed to care little.
In May 2008 the Wildlife & Environment Society of SA (WESSA) unsuccessfully attempted to get an urgent high court interdict to force the then
