Early Human Presence in West African Rainforests Traced Back 150,000 Years

For a long time, scientists believed that the earliest reliable evidence of human habitation in African rainforests dated back approximately 18,000 years, while the earliest global record of humans in rainforests was from around 70,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. However, a recent study published in Nature challenges this view, revealing that humans were already living beneath the dense canopy of West Africa's rainforests at least 150,000 years ago.

This groundbreaking discovery stems from new sediment analysis at the Bété site in Côte d'Ivoire. First uncovered in the early 1980s, the site yielded stone tools suited for processing fibrous plants and other tropical rainforest resources. In 2020, a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Germany relocated the site and employed two sediment dating methods to determine the age of the artifacts. Pollen, plant remains, and chemical residues from plant wax coatings found in the sediment closely match those of modern West African humid rainforests, further corroborating the findings.

Researchers speculate that these early rainforest inhabitants may have been the ancestors of later Stone Age populations in Côte d'Ivoire's rainforests and the coastal mangrove dwellers further north. This discovery not only reshapes our understanding of human history in African rainforests but also reinforces the idea that Homo sapiens evolved through interbreeding among populations across different African regions and habitats around 300,000 years ago. Even 150,000 years ago, interactions and genetic exchanges among these groups played a crucial role in shaping human evolution and may have contributed to the success of our species.

This study provides vital insights into the history of human habitation in West African rainforests, offering a deeper understanding of human origins and evolutionary history.