Stone Pages - Archaeo News (Africa)

Is this the oldest example of a burial in Africa?

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:20:26 +0100

Back in the day, archaeologists could only rely on fairly basic technology to help them with dating. Then, in the 20th Century, as technology became more sophisticated, so did the dating methods, such as stratigraphy, dendrochronology, radiocarbon, potassium-argon, thermoluminescence and many more.
Most of these techniques relied on the artefact being in a fairly stable condition. Now, a relatively new technique, known as 'Microcomputed tomography', or microCT for short, uses a non-destructive imaging technique to examine extremely fragile objects, producing a high-resolution three-dimensional image, compose of two-dimensional trans-axial projects, or 'slices'. This allows for a detailed analysis without the need to possibly damage the artefact by removing surrounding material.
It was this technique that was used to astonishing effect by a Spanish anthropologist, Maria Martinon-Torres, to uncover what could probably be the oldest example of a human burial. The fragile artefact in question had been excavated from a site in Kenya, known as the Panga ya Saidi Cave, and transported intact, with all the surrounding material, to Spain. Martinon-Torres is a director of the Spanish National Research Centre for Human Evolution and it was there that the microCT was carried out.
The findings showed that they were the remains of a 3-year-old child, which was curled up and had been buried with love and kindness, with the head originally resting on a pillow. The analysis of the surrounding soil placed the burial as having occurred in approximately 76,000 BCE, earlier than the previously believed earliest burials in 72,000 BCE in South Africa and 67,000 BCE in Egypt, although these two finds were dated using less sophisticated technology and the accompanying margin of error.
The remains have now been returned to a permanent home in the National Museum of Kenya

Edited from Discover (5 January 2022)

Ostrich eggshell beads reveal prehistoric network in Africa

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 11:09:30 +0100

It is difficult to known when, how, and why different populations were able to connect in the past. The answer to these questions are crucial for interpreting biological and cultural diversity that is seen in modern human. While DNA research has uncovered genetic interactions, it cannot address the cultural exchanges in these ancient meetings. However, thanks to the work of two scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History have found an unexpected source to answer these questions, ostrich eggshell beads. This new study by Dr. Jennifer Miller and Dr. Yiming Wang reports on the connection and isolation in southern and eastern Africa over 50,000 as the result of rainfall patterns through these beads.
The Ostrich Eggshell beads are the perfect artifacts for studying these relations as they are the oldest fully manufactured ornaments. Due to the extensive shaping that takes place during the production of these beads it allows for a larger variation in style, which can then be traced archaeologically. "It's like following a trail of breadcrumbs," says Miller, lead-author of the study. "The beads are clues, scattered across time and space, just waiting to be noticed."
The results showed a clear distinction in the region as the beads were largely identical between 50,000 to 33,000 years ago. This suggested that, des"pite the 3,000 km between the regions, they were connected. "The result is surprising, but the pattern is clear," says Wang, co-corresponding author of the study. "Throughout the 50,000 years we examined, this is the only time period that the bead characteristics are the same."
Sometime after the 33,000 year mark, the regional work disappears, which corresponds to changes in the global climates, resulting in increased rainfall in the larger areas of eastern and southern Africa. The results bring new insight into the variability of social strategies between the two regions.
"These tiny beads have the power to reveal big stories about our past," says Miller. "We encourage other researchers to build upon this database, and continue exploring evidence for cultural connection in new regions."

Edited from Nature Magazine, Max Planck Institute (20 December 2021)

Ethiopian monuments 1,000 years older than previously thought

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 23:09:14 +0100

Under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sakaro Sodo and other archeological sites in southern Ethiopia have the largest number and highest concentration of megalithic stele monuments in Africa. Rising as high as 6 metres, the ancient stone monoliths have now been dated to sometime during the first century CE - 1,000 years older than previously thought. French scientists in the 1990s had estimated a construction date of around 1100 CE.
The standing stones range widely in size, function, and arrangement in the landscape. A few have intricately wrought faces and other anthropomorphic designs carved into the stone. Many have fallen. Some are broken. Despite the large number of monuments in a small area, it remains one of the least studied archaeological sites in the world.
Researchers also determined where the ancient builders likely quarried the stones, and identified the earliest known sources of obsidian artefacts recovered from the stele sites - most from around 300 kilometres to the south in what is now northern Kenya.
The new construction dates of the monuments appear to coincide with the arrival of domesticated animals in the region.

Edited from Washington State University, ScienceDaily (9 December 2021)

World's oldest known jewellery found in Morocco

Sun, 05 Dec 2021 09:27:41 +0100

Archaeologists in Morocco have presented what they say was the oldest jewellery in the world - 33 perforated seashells. Assumed to have formed necklaces and bracelets, the shells were discovered in the Bizmoune cave near the southwestern coastal resort of Essaouira, and dated to between 142,000 and 150,000 years old, extending the dates for the first appearance of this behaviour into the late Middle Pleistocene.
Ornaments such as beads are among the earliest signs of symbolic behaviour among human ancestors, and their appearance signals important developments in both cognition and social relations.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the culture ministry, researcher Abdeljalil Bouzouggar said similar ornaments had been found across the Middle East and Africa, from between 35,000 and 135,000 years ago: "These people searched for the same type of seashell despite the existence of many other types. This shows that they shared something. Maybe there was even a language. These objects travelled over huge distances."
The discovery came after archaeologists in Morocco in September identified clothesmaking tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years - the oldest ever found.
Bouzouggar also notes that Morocco was the home to some of the oldest Homo sapiens discovered to date; remains of five individuals who died some 315,000 years ago were discovered in 2017.

Edited from PalaeoAnthro.org, Science.org (10 November 2021), The New Arab (18 November 2021), Africa News (22 November 2021)

Modern Africans have some Neanderthal DNA

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:41:14 +0100

Africans have more Neanderthal ancestry than previously thought - though still less than most people outside of Africa. Neanderthals were our closest evolutionary relatives, inhabiting parts of Europe and Asia from possibly more than 800,000 years ago until around 40,000 years ago.
People who migrated out of Africa around 60,000 to 80,000 years ago interbred with Neanderthals, and some human groups carrying Neanderthal genes returned to Africa. Neanderthal gene variants inherited by modern Africans include those involved in bolstering the immune system and modifying sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation. On average Neanderthal DNA accounts for about 0.5 percent of individual Africans' genetic inheritance - far more than reported in earlier studies. Most present-day people outside Africa carry about three times that amount. More than 94 percent of Neanderthal DNA sequences detected in today's Africans have also been observed in non-Africans.
Other DNA evidence suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred in Europe and Asia at least 50,000 years ago, but Neanderthals didn't mate with ancient people in Africa. Low levels of human migration from Europe to Africa over roughly the past 20,000 years introduced Neanderthal DNA into African populations.
The new study also found comparable proportions of Neanderthal DNA in modern Europeans and East Asians - about 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Earlier studies estimated East Asians would have substantially more Neanderthal ancestry than Europeans. Africans share 7.2 percent of their Neanderthal ancestry with Europeans, 2 percent with East Asians. That makes Europe a more likely source of back-to-Africa migrations by humans carrying Neanderthal genes.
The report best fits a scenario in which human evolution after around 300,000 years ago featured hybridization between genetically different Homo populations and back-to-Africa migrations.
Researchers also detected a human migration out of Africa roughly 100,000 to 150,000 years ago that introduced human genes into Neanderthals. Some African DNA that appeared to have been inherited from Neanderthals actually came from those ancient humans.

Edited from ScienceNews (30 January 2020)

Ancient humans engineered stone tools at Olduvai Gorge

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:33:06 +0100

Early Stone Age people engineered stone tools in complex ways between 1.8 and 1.2 million years ago, based on evidence from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania - one of the world's most important sites for understanding human origins. New research shows Palaeolithic hominins selected raw materials for tools based on sharpness, durability, and efficiency, according to the length of time the tools would be used and the force applied - previously unseen complexity in the design and production of stone tools during this period.
Experimental methods more commonly used in modern engineering research reveal that Hominins preferentially selected quartzite - the sharpest but least durable stone type at Olduvai - for flake tools thought to have been used for expedient, short-lived cutting activities. Chert - highly durable and nearly as sharp as quartzite - was favoured for a variety of stone tool types due to its extended cutting performance, but was only available to hominins for a 200,000 year period. Some stone types such as including lavas and quartzite were always available.
Previous research has demonstrated that Early Stone Age populations in Kenya selected highly durable stone types for tools, but the new study is the first to find evidence of cutting-edge sharpness being considered. The team hopes researchers at other sites will apply similar tests and techniques to help understand the behaviour of Stone Age populations.

Edited from EurekAlert! (8 January 2020), Cosmos (9 January 2020)

Early modern humans cooked starchy food 170,000 years ago

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:25:50 +0100

Excavations at the Border Cave, about 400 kilometres north-northeast of Durban, South Africa, have revealed 55 small charred cylinders which researchers recognised as rhizomes. All appear to belong to the same species, identified as Hypoxis, commonly called the Yellow Star flower. Hypoxis rhizomes are an ideal staple plant food - nutritious and carbohydrate-rich. They are edible raw, but fibrous and tough unless cooked. They were mostly recovered from fireplaces and ash dumps, suggesting they were roasted in ashes.
The site has been repeatedly excavated since 1934. Amongst earlier discoveries were the burial of a baby with a Conus seashell at 74,000 years ago, a variety of bone tools, an ancient counting device, ostrich eggshell beads, resin, and poison that may once have been used on hunting weapons. One digging stick found at the cave has been dated to around 40,000 years ago.
Unlike the more common deciduous species, Hypoxis angustifolia is evergreen, so has visibility year-round. The rhizomes grow in clumps, so many can be harvested at once. It thrives in a variety of modern habitats and is likely to have had wide distribution in the past. It occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, south Sudan, and some Indian Ocean islands. Its presence in Yemen may imply even wider distribution during previous humid conditions.
Border Cave is a heritage site with a small museum. Both are open to the public by appointment.

Edited from EurekAlert! (2 January 2020)

Children's graves reveal genetic diversity of ancient West Africa

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:59:06 +0100

Africa is the ancient homeland of our species, yet only a handful of sites bearing human fossils have successfully yielded ancient DNA, which is essential for grasping the genetic make-up of prehistoric Africans. DNA rapidly degrades in tropical conditions and burials were rare prior to the Iron Age, which started around 1500 BCE in Africa.
That's where the Shum Laka rock shelter comes in. The site, which lies in the Grassfields region of western Cameroon and bears clear signs of use by human foragers from as long as 30,000 years ago, is unique, says archaeologist Mary Prendergast from Saint Louis University, Spain.
Eighteen people, mostly children, were buried there during two periods - 8000 and 3000 years ago respectively. Both communities were hunter-gatherers, and by the later time period they were using pottery and relying heavily on fruit picked from nearby forest trees.
Linguists have also long thought that the Grassfields region could be the birthplace of the Bantu language group. Bantu languages spread across sub-Saharan Africa from about 4000 years ago and are today spoken by more than a third of Africans.
Mark Lipson, from Harvard Medical School, and colleagues extracted then analysed ancient DNA from the DNA-rich inner ears of four children buried at Shum Laka - two from each period - to see whether they were the ancestors of modern-day Bantu speakers. But that turned out not to be the case. None of the children - who were all related to each other - were related to present-day Bantu speakers. Instead, they were part of a population that has almost been completely replaced. About two-thirds of the Shum Laka ancestry is from a previously unknown line that is distantly related to present-day West Africans. The other third is from a lineage related to present-day central African hunter-gatherers.
Lipson and his colleagues also used the ancient genomes of the four children, along with genomes from modern-day Africans, to cast their focus much further back in time. An adolescent male from the rock shelter carried a rare genetic variant of his Y chromosome that is today found almost exclusively in western Cameroon, close to Shum Laka.
A previous study proposed southern Africa as the homeland of the oldest human lineage, but the rare Y chromosome suggests that a lineage contributing to central African hunter-gatherers is just as ancient, cleaving off from other African branches some 250,000-200,000 years ago.
At the time of the split, four lineages emerged. Three are ancestral to present-day central African hunter-gatherers, southern African hunter-gatherers, and all other modern humans. The fourth, a previously unknown ghost population, contributed a small amount of ancestry to both western and eastern Africans. Another split occurred around 80,000-60,000 years ago, leading to genetic lines that are present in the majority of present-day eastern and western African and all non-Africans.
"We're just scratching the surface of what the human landscape would have looked like before the spread of food production," says Prendergast.

Edited from Cosmos Magazine (23 January 2020)

Prehistoric farmers helped African wolves have a population boom

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 19:26:22 +0100

Humans were not the only species that experienced a population boom after the development of farming - so did the recently described African wolf (Canis aureus lupaster). According to a recent study, the predators benefited from the influx of goats, sheep and other livestock introduced during the expansion in North Africa.
For a long time, the African wolf was mistaken for the golden jackal (Canis aureus) and as such, knowledge of its biology and ecology is relatively scant. However, new research analyzing its DNA is attempting to explain how its population fluctuated over time.
Scientists collected samples of DNA from individual wolves in Tunisia and Algeria, using genetic markers and patterns within the DNA to determine the species' demographic history. "The DNA molecule accumulates differences that occur in populations over time, and the amount of accumulated differences is related to several factors intrinsic to the species, for instance the generation length, but also to the size of the population," co-author Raquel Godinho, a principal researcher at the University of Porto in Portugal, said. "This means that past demographic changes have left a signature in the DNA of every species, and we can use this property to infer about population demography."
The researchers identified two periods of possible population expansion. The first occurred roughly 50,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene, when several African mammals flourished as a result of favorable climate changes. The second coincided with the advent of farming approximately 5,000 years ago.
The researchers argue the development of Neolithic technology, the start of farming and, in particular, the rise in domesticated animals created an opportunity for the opportunistic African wolf. "The availability of human-related resources, especially livestock, that emerged during the Neolithic revolution may have boosted population sizes of opportunistic wild species, supporting a favorable coexistence of humans and wild species in this period," said Godinho.
"The findings are surprising compared with what we normally see for wild species, which tend to be threatened by agricultural activities," Frank Hailer, an evolutionary biologist at Cardiff University in the U.K. who was not involved in the study, said. "It is interesting to note that in the case of the African wolf, availability of livestock may have led to population increases in a wild predator", he added. "Going forward, increased sampling of individuals and perhaps more large-scale genomic methods could be used to confirm these results and to perhaps pick up on additional fine-scaled events," Heiler concluded.

Edited from Newsweek (22 January 2020)

Ostrich eggshell beads tracks cultural shifts in ancient Africa

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 20:25:20 +0100

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History's Department of Archaeology present an expanded analysis of African ostrich eggshell beads, testing the hypothesis that larger beads signal the arrival of herders.
Ostrich eggshell beads are some of the oldest ornaments made by humankind, and they can be found dating back at least 50,000 years in Africa. Previous research in southern Africa has shown that the beads increase in size about 2,000 years ago, when herding populations first enter the region. In the current study, researchers Jennifer Miller of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Elizabeth Sawchuk of Stony Brook University tested the idea that the size of beads made from ostrich eggshells can be used to track cultural shifts in ancient Africa.
To conduct their study, the researchers recorded the diameters of 1,200 ostrich eggshell beads unearthed from 30 sites in Africa dating to the last 10,000 years. Many of these bead measurements were taken from decades-old unstudied collections, and so are being reported here for the first time. This new data increases the published bead diameter measurements from less than 100 to over 1,000, and reveals new trends that oppose longstanding beliefs.
Miller and Sawchuk confirmed that larger beads appeared in southern Africa some 2,000 years ago, when people began to herd sheep and goats, but did not replace existing bead styles. The larger bead size may have been introduced by the people who brought domesticated animals to the region, they explained. In eastern Africa, however, bead styles did not change at the time herding was introduced, although beads made by foragers in eastern Africa were similarly sized to the larger beads made by herders in southern Africa.
The data reveals a more nuanced interpretation that provides greater insight into the history of economic change and cultural contact. The researchers conclude that peoples from southern and eastern Africa may have had contact with each other as herding spread, but the experience did not extinguish local traditions. "These beads are symbols that were made by hunter-gatherers from both regions for more than 40,000 years," says lead author Jennifer Miller, "so changes - or lack thereof - in these symbols tells us how these communities responded to cultural contact and economic change."
The researchers hope that this work inspires a renewed interest into ostrich eggshell beads, and recommend that future studies present individual bead diameters rather than a single average of many. Future research should also investigate questions related to manufacture, chemical identification, and the effects of taphonomic processes and wear on bead diameter.

Edited from Max Planck Institute, Plos One, ScienceDaily (27 November 2019)

Ancient high-altitude human dwelling in Ethiopia

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:07:31 +0100

For decades, paleoanthropologists working in east Africa have concentrated on lower-altitude locations. Archaeologists have assumed that towering mountains and plateaus were among the last places to be populated by ancient humans, but artefacts including stone tools, clay fragments, burnt animal bones, and a glass bead found more than 3,400 metres above sea level in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains indicate that people lived there as early as 47,000 years ago - the earliest evidence of prehistoric high-altitude human occupation.
To reach the site of Fincha Habera - one of more than 300 elevated rock shelters investigated - researchers and pack horses had to trek more than 400 kilometres. They quickly found signs of ancient human occupation, including the remnants of hearths dated to between 47,000 and 31,000 years ago.
The new findings are not the first proof that our ancestors ventured to high altitudes earlier than previously thought. Scientists recently reported discovering the jawbone of a Denisovan - an extinct hominin species - in a cave in China about 3,300 metres above sea level. That specimen was dated to around 160,000 years ago. Stone tools have also been found high on the Tibetan Plateau along with relics dating between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago.
The Fincha Habera finds provide robust evidence of humans actually living at high altitudes. Although the settlement was probably not permanent, evidence suggests that prehistoric people spent considerable time there during the Last Glacial Maximum; the site was a refuge when much of the Bale Mountains were covered with ice. Melting glaciers would have offered an ample supply of water. An abundance of burnt bones - mostly of giant mole-rats - suggest the inhabitants were roasting rodents for food. They also seem to have exploited nearby obsidian outcrops for materials to make tools.
The researchers plan to return. They would like to find the bones of the humans who lived there - bones with extractable DNA. Such a find could help us learn more about high altitude adaptations inherited by mountain-dwelling peoples of the present.

Edited from Smithsonian Magazine (9 August 2019)

Prehistoric humans invented stone tools multiple times

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:56:15 +0100

Researchers have found a collection of 327 stones shaped more than 2.58 million years ago - the first evidence of ancient hominids sharpening stones to create specific tools.
The collection of 'Oldowan' tools - created by chipping off bits of stone - were found in the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia. The oldest previous example of an Oldowan tool was found in Gona in Ethiopia and believed to be 2.56 million years old.
The tools were found near the oldest fossil attributed to the genus Homo, which is at an excavation site known as Bokol Dora 1. Researchers trying to find if there was a connection between the origins of our genus and the creation of systematic stone tool manufacture saw sharp-edged stone tools protruding from eroding sediments on a steep slope, which has since yielded hundreds of chipped stones.
Hammering or 'percussive' stone tools described as 'Lomekwian' tools were made 3.3 million years ago in what is now Kenya. Like monkeys and chimpanzees, these early hominids were using tools to hammer and bash food items like nuts and shellfish. Something changed by 2.6 million years ago and our ancestors became more skilled at striking the edge of stones to make tools. The Bokol Dora 1 artefacts capture this shift, which coincided with a change in our ancestor's teeth. As they began to process food using stone tools, we start to see a reduction in the size of their teeth.
David Braun, an archaeologist with George Washington University and the lead author on the paper says: "Given that primate species throughout the world routinely use stone hammers to forage for new resources, it seems very possible that throughout Africa many different human ancestors found new ways of using stone artefacts to extract resources from their environment. If our hypothesis is correct then we would expect to find some type of continuity in artefact form after 2.6 million years ago, but not prior to this time period. We need to find more sites."

Edited from The Independent (3 June 2019)

People from Africa may have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar 4000 years ago

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:32:55 +0100

Ancient people from sub-Saharan Africa may have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into current-day Spain 1300 years earlier than we thought. A genetic analysis of human samples is the first evidence of such a migration in prehistoric times.
"We are finding that the Strait of Gibraltar was not a barrier for human contact, migration or gene flow between Africa and Spain," says Gloria Maria Gonzalez Fortes at the University of Ferrara in Italy.
Previous research suggested that African genes flowed to Spain and Portugal during the Islamic occupation of Spain, which started in the 8th century and lasted about 800 years. "We found that it may be from a time much earlier than that," says Gonzalez Fortes.
She and her team analysed the DNA from 17 ancient people found on the Iberian Peninsula, from the south of Spain to the north of Portugal, carbon dated to 3000 to 4500 years old. They compared their mitochondrial DNA to archaeological samples from South Africa. They found similarities between the samples from Iberia and Africa, with more African genetic markers in the Spanish samples. This fits with the archaeological record, which shows similarities in tools and pottery decoration made by North African people and those who populated Andalusia in southern Spain.
"4000 years ago, people were already building ships and sailing, so why wouldn't they cross the Strait of Gibraltar? You can see the coast of Africa from the coast of Spain. The sea there is very dangerous, so people were sceptical about this, but it's likely this was the path they took," says Gonzalez Fortes. She says their data show that this migration happened at least 4000 years ago, but it may have happened even earlier.

Edited from New Scientist (23 January 2019)

Scientists identify oldest Homo sapiens drawing

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 18:25:25 +0100

The oldest known abstract drawing by a Homo sapiens has been found in South Africa's Blombos Cave, on the face of a flake of rock dated to 73,000 years BP. It is a crosshatch of nine lines, traced with a piece of ocher. The work is at least 30,000 years older than the earliest previously known abstract and figurative drawings executed by Homo sapiens using the same technique. The drawing was a surprising find by archaeologist Doctor Luca Pollarolo, an honorary research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Blombos Cave has been excavated by Professor Christopher Henshilwood and Doctor Karen van Niekerk since 1991. It contains material dating from between 100,000 to 70,000 years ago - the Middle Stone Age - as well as younger, Later Stone Age material dating from beteen 2000 and as recently as 300 years ago.
Under the guidance of Professor Francesco d'Errico at the University of Bordeaux, the team examined and photographed the piece under a microscope to establish whether the lines were part of the stone or applied to it, and also examined the piece by using spectroscopy and an electron microscope. Experimenting with various techniques, they found the drawings were made with an ocher crayon or pencil, with a tip of between 1 and 3 millimeters. The abrupt termination of the lines at the edge of the flake suggested that the pattern originally extended over a larger surface, and may have been more complex.
Professor Henshilwood: "Before this discovery, Palaeolithic archaeologists have for a long time been convinced that unambiguous symbols first appeared when Homo sapiens entered Europe, about 40,000 years ago, and later replaced local Neanderthals. Recent archaeological discoveries in Africa, Europe and Asia, in which members of our team have often participated, support a much earlier emergence for the production and use of symbols."
The archaeological layer in which the Blombos drawing was found also yielded other shell beads covered with ocher, and pieces of ocher engraved with abstract patterns, some of which closely resemble the one on the stone flake.

Edited from Popular Archaeology (12 September 2018)

Footprints of prehistoric children tell a story

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:02:36 +0100

Perceptions of childhood vary greatly with geography, culture and time. Fossil footprints present a record of childhood very different from that of life in Western society.
Footprints preserved in the Sand Sea of Namibia from about 1,500 years ago were made by a small group of children - some as young as three years - walking across a drying mud surface after a flock of sheep or goats, in the company of slightly older children and perhaps young adolescents. Trusted to care for animals from an early age, the children's tracks also reveal playful hops, skips, and jumps.
Children possibly as young as one or two years left footprints at a site in Southern Ethiopia. They probably belonged to the extinct species Homo heidelbergensis (600,000 to 200,000 years ago), and occur next to adult prints and an abundance of animal tracks congregated around a small, muddy pool. Stone tools and the butchered remains of a hippo were also found. These were all soon covered by an ash flow from a nearby volcano dated to 700,000 years ago.
A wealth of ethnographic evidence from modern, culturally distinct human societies shows babies and children are often expected to contribute to activities that support the mother, and the wider family group, according to their abilities. In many societies, small boys tend to help with herding, while young girls are preferred as babysitters. Interestingly, adult tools - like axes, knives, machetes, even firearms - are often freely available to children as part of learning. There may be little time or space to simply be a child, in the sense that we would recognise.
The roughly 7,000-year-old Monte Hermoso Human Footprint Site in Argentina contains predominantly the small tracks of children and women, preserved in coastal sediments. It has been suggested that the children may have played an important role in gathering seafood or coastal resources. Similarly, most of the 15,000-year-old tracks in the carved and painted Tuc d'Audoubert Cave in France are those of children, who may have been present when the figures were drawn.

Edited from PhysORG (13 February 2018)