spread along coastlines
Marc Verhaegen
David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent 13 June 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article878458.ece
The invention of the world's first bows and arrows may have played a part in
the eventual colonisation of much of the world by Homo sapiens.
In a groundbreaking paper published yesterday, Paul Mellars, one of
Britain's leading archaeologists and a Cambridge professor, suggests Homo
sapiens' dominance of much of the world was triggered by a technological
revolution which caused a demographic explosion between 60,000 and 80,000
years ago. As a result, the population of one particular human ethnic group
expanded up to 1,000 times over.
The dramatic population increase then forced tribes to search for new
hunting grounds, first within Africa, and then, by 60,000 years ago, outside
it.
The wide-ranging technological developments included improved cutting tools
and new animal skin cleaning equipment, abstract art and more effective
weaponry. The African tribes alsoinvented the world's first man-made
projectiles - light-weight throwing spears and bows and arrows. The
technological revolution was triggered by cooler and drier climatic
conditions, and possibly human brain mutations linked to language
development.
The research explains for the first time why our species started to expand
across much of the planet a mere 60,000 years ago - despite having existed
in Africa for the previous 100,000 to 140,000 years (Homo sapiens first
developed in southern or eastern Africa sometime between 200,000 and 150,000
years ago).
"The new analysis - based on field workover the past 10 years - reveals how
the period 60,000-80,000 years ago was of immense importance in pre-history.
For it is becoming clear that a series of crucial human inventions at that
time was the factor whichled to anatomically modern humanity's conquest of
the planet," said Professor Mellars.
The technological revolution and consequent population explosion allowed
Homo sapiens to spread along the coastlines of Arabia, India, south-east
Asia and Australia between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.
Basques were fishermen more than 8000 years ago 13.6.06
http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/en/life/prehistory-basques-were-
fishermen-more-than-8-000-years-ago?itemId=D36965&cl=%2Feitb24%2Fsociedad&id
ioma=en
The Basques that settled 8300 years ago in the Jaizkibel Mountain near the
Basque coast were skillful enough to go fishing two kilometres out to sea.
The human beings that lived in the Basque Country in the Mesolithic, more
than 8000 years ago, set sail out to sea fishing, something which meant 50
percent of their diet, Aranzadi society of sciences reported Tuesday after
examining archaeological remains found in Gipuzkoa.
They did not hunt whales, as their descendants many years after, neither
tuna nor anchovy as the current Basque fishermen but the Basques that
settled some 8300 years ago between the Pasaia and Hondarribia coast, were
skillful enough to set sail one or two kilometres out to sea to fish.
Moving from Paleolithic to Neolithic and immersed in climatic and cultural
changes, men had no alternative but to search for new ways to get food and
made their way out to sea, Alvaro Arrizabalaga, member of the Aranzadi
Society of Sciences and Prehistory professor at the Basque Public University
explains.
The remains discovered in Gipuzkoa show a man between 30 and 40 years old
with a diet consisting on some species of fishes that are usually caught
some kilometres far from the coast. Other human remains found in some caves
in the Spanish region of Asturias showed similar conclusions.