Latest palaeo-find throws up possibility of remarkable ‘double origin’

Could SA have been the font of all humanity — two times over?

Though  pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are still missing, the latest palaeo find in hills northwest of Johannesburg, put together with what we already know from research on the southern and Eastern Cape coast, seems to point to this possibility.

Palaeo-anthropologist Stephanie Baker, manager of the Drimolen Caves site in the Cradle of Humankind, where the landmark discovery of a new human-like fossil was recently made, said the find comprised a series of fragments that the researchers had gradually assembled until they realised it was the upper portion of a skull — a skull cap.

“We compared the skull cap to all the other examples of human-like hominins in the cradle area.

“Eventually, its teardrop shape and relatively big brain cavity meant we were looking at Homo erectus.”

Baker, who is with the Palaeo-Research Institute at the University of Johannesburg, said this realisation was exciting because Homo erectus was known to be one of the direct ancestors of modern humanity.

“Homo erectus is best known for migrating out of Africa into the rest of the world.

“These hominins walked upright and were a more human-like species than the other hominins found in the cradle.

“They had shorter arms and longer legs.

“They could walk and run for longer distances over the African grasslands than the others.”

In an effort to date the skull cap, labelled DNH 134, the researchers applied various dating techniques to their evidence, including fragments of lizards and bats and samples of soil collected in the vicinity of the skull cap pieces.

The project team — led by researchers from La Trobe University in Australia and Washington University in the US — then collated all these dates.

Taken together, they showed a very precise age, she said.

“We now know that the Drimolen Main Quarry and all of the fossils in it are dated from 2.04- to 1.95-million years ago.

“That means that DNH 134 is much older than the next oldest Homo erectus in Africa and Georgia.”

The lead researcher on the project, Prof Andy Herries, said this dating evidence was pivotal.

“It shows that Homo erectus existed 150,000 to 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.

“And because Homo erectus is one of our direct ancestors, the discovery has implications for the origins of modern humans.”

Baker said that until the Drimolen Caves discovery the assumption had been that Homo erectus came from East Africa.

“But DNH 134 shows that Homo erectus, one of our direct ancestors, possibly comes from Southern Africa instead.

“That would mean that they later moved northwards into East Africa. From there they went through North Africa to populate the rest of the world.”

Responding this week to questions from The Herald, Nelson Mandela University Centre for Coastal Palaeo-Science director Dr Jan de Vynck said the palaeolithic research done on the southern and Eastern Cape coast revealed a remarkable story.

“The sites which truly define us as a species, cognitive modernity — places like Klasies River Mouth in the Eastern Cape and Pinnacle Point and Blombos Cave in the southern Cape — are between 168,000 and 70,000 years old.

“There are a few other sites in Africa with evidence of cognitively modern Homo sapiens but this small stretch of coastline is off the charts, a huge contender as the cradle of human culture.

“Nowhere else do you have so many sites, finds and dates condensed in such a small area.”

A member of the research team and former director of the institute, world-renowned botanist Prof Richard Cowling, said an amazing scenario had played out on this narrow strip of land.

“The brutal ice age at the time had reduced Homo sapiens to this population of about 600 breeding adults and a maximum of 3,000 in total.

“They ate bulbs, tubers and corms, a rich source of carbohydrates, from the surrounding fynbos, as well as shellfish, rich in omega-3, perfect for brain development, and giant species of zebra, warthog and buffalo.

“They had to work out how to drain toxic tannins from some of the bulbs and how to bring down the game without injuring themselves.

“They developed practically and culturally, fashioning for the first time digging sticks and fish hooks, calendars to help them forecast the low tide necessary for the best shellfish harvest, and also decorations.

“Then at a certain point they trekked out of Africa and seeded the new population of modern Homo sapiens that spread through the world.”

These Homo sapiens were the direct ancestors of the San of Southern Africa, but they also colonised the rest of the world, he said.

“So everybody alive today comes from this coast. That’s the theory — and all the evidence so far supports it.”

De Vynck said it was not clear where and when the Homo sapiens of the southern and Eastern Cape had evolved from ancient Homo erectus that strode out of Africa but the theory that SA had twice over been the font of all humankind was worth pursuing.

“No-one has thrown this double possible out there, so go for it.”