In the last issue there was an article discussing the use of perforated beads in Morocco. The latest news suggests that over 164,000 years ago our early ancestors went out collecting mussels from the shore at Pinnacle Point overlooking the Indian Ocean near South Africa's Mossel Bay. Professor Curtis Marean believes that these humans were eating seafood about 40,000 years earlier than previously thought. He also suggests that this is the earliest record of humans eating something other than what they had caught or gathered on the land. The sea would have been about 2 to 3 miles from the cave, so Professor Marean suggests that they put the seafood over hot rocks to cook. Marean and colleagues tried out this ancient cooking technique to see what the meal would have tasted like: "We've prepped them the same way, ...and they're a little less moist" than modern steamed mussels. The seafood bake was mainly brown mussels, but he also found black mussels, small saltwater clams, sea snails and even a barnacle suggesting that whale blubber or skin might have been brought into the cave. Shellfish may have been crucial to the survival of these early humans as they expanded their home ranges to include coastlines and followed the shifting position of the coast when sea level lowered. This was at a time when the world was going through a cool, dry spell, and Africa was mostly desert. Perhaps this environmental stress drove small bands of huntergatherers down to the sea in search of new food sources and lifestyles.
Nature 449, 905-908 (18 October 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature06204.