Modern humans evolved around 300,000 years ago, but only began inhabiting rainforests much later.
In fact, the earliest archaeological evidence of humans living in rainforest habitats is only about 70,000 years old.
Surprising new research suggests that the timeline extends more than 80,000 years further into the past.
The rainforest site in Côte d’Ivoire.© Jimbob Blinkhorn
This pushes back the oldest known evidence of humans in rainforests by more than double the previously known estimate.
The team determined the site to be 150,000 years old.
In other words, how far back does human alteration of pristine natural habitats go?
A prehistoric stone tool at the Côte d’Ivoire site. © Jimbob Blinkhorn, MPG
News from the future, delivered to your present.
