Earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors

December 19, 2008

A research team led by Professor Michael Chazan, director of the University of Toronto's Archaeology Centre, has discovered the earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

Stone tools found at the bottom level of the cave — believed to be 2 million years old — show that human ancestors were in the cave earlier than ever thought before. Geological evidence indicates that these tools were left in the cave and not washed into the site from the outside world.

Archaeological investigations of the Wonderwerk cave — a South African National Heritage site due to its role in discovering the human and environmental history of the area — began in the 1940s and research continues to this day.

Source: University of Toronto


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 3.6 /5 (5 votes)


December 19, 2008 all stories

Comments: 0

3.6 /5 (5 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • A 200,000-year-old cut of meat
    created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Experts watch health of bat colonies in wake of white-nose syndrome
    created Sep 18, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Early human hunters had fewer meat-sharing rituals
    created Aug 13, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Cut marks on bone suggest burial rituals of Early Britons
    created Aug 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • When did humans return after last Ice Age?
    created Jul 27, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • What is transpulmonary pressure?
    created Nov 24, 2009
  • Is there a gay gene?
    created Nov 23, 2009
  • Super quick question about Starling forces?
    created Nov 22, 2009
  • Questions about diffusion
    created Nov 22, 2009
  • More from Physics Forums - Biology

Other News

Ancient Greek Temple

Houses of the rising sun: Research sheds new light on Ancient Greeks

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created 9 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3

New research at the University of Leicester has identified scores of Sicilian temples built to face the rising Sun, shedding light on the practices of the Ancient Greeks.


Explained: The Discrete Fourier Transform

Explained: The Discrete Fourier Transform

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created 13 hours ago | popularity 4.2 / 5 (17) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1811, Joseph Fourier, the 43-year-old prefect of the French district of Isčre, entered a competition in heat research sponsored by the French Academy of Sciences. The paper he submitted ...


Study: Race, class and gender shape religion's effect on American voters

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created 5 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- How Americans vote is strongly linked to their religious identities, but it is not an independent influence that transcends race, socio-economic class and gender, reports a new Cornell study.


Biology, training and profit sharing make best traders

Biology, training and profit sharing make best traders

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created 13 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cambridge researchers have identified a group of traders consistently able to outperform the market, even during the credit crisis.


UQ archaeology digs into the life behind Pompeii

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created 4 hours ago | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Brisbane may be 2000 years and half-a-world away from Pompeii, but it hasn’t stopped a UQ archaeologist from digging up some hidden treasures.