The Real Eve Page #3

became locked in ice.

As the game spread north,

our hunter-gatherers...

were forced to become fishermen

and beachcombers.

This is our new Eve,

our new family.

Direct descendants of the daughters

of the original genetic Eve...

now living on the coast,

surviving on the harvest of the sea.

Our entire survival has always

been at mercy of the climate.

When times were good

we could spread out.

A bigger range meant more food.

But the ice age froze the world

and the deserts closed in...

forcing our groups into smaller

territories on the coast.

Their beachcombing diet consisted

of fish, scallops, oysters and clams.

But the Red Sea became

much saltier...

making fishing and

beachcombing more difficult.

Until recently, there was little

evidence our ancestors occupied...

the coastal areas of east Africa

or exploited marine resources.

This is Sifi Bearhay,

a geologist.

In 1 999, he was part

of an international expedition...

Iooking for evidence of modern

human occupation in Eritrea.

In the Gulf of Zula, they stumbled

on a remarkable discovery...

of stone tools imbedded in an

ancient fossilized coral reef.

The reef was dated

125,000 years old.

This is the world's first

recorded oyster bar.

6,5 kilometers long and 15 meters

above the current sea levels.

It's the oldest evidence of

beachcombing in the world.

Buried in it are human tools,

along with fossilized oyster...

clam and scallop shells.

It's a clear evidence that our

ancestors were exploiting the sea.

This is the unit where we have

an inter-stratified layer...

of big oyster and

mollusk shells at the base.

They're pretty quite horizontal.

And this was a platform where

modern man used to be walking...

and dumping their stone tools and

some of the shells they were eating.

This is a hand ax,

with a sharp end...

and some of the shells that have

been shed from this layer.

They've been using this for

breaking the shells and eating them.

And when they were finished with it,

they would dump the hand ax...

and also the shells

and walk to the next site.

But the most important thing is not

this, because you cannot date it.

It's what you find "in situ" which

makes it very, very important.

If you see this one,

is an obsidian tool.

They have been used to smash some

of these oyster bedded that you see.

You don't see both completely

enclosed, they have been smashed...

and the goodies have been eaten.

And these are some of those

very important stone tools...

that have been discovered.

This is the first place where

beachcombing for marine resources...

have been documented worldwide.

And very well.

These shell remains

are also a vital clue...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes