South African cave , primal to discoveries that shaped scientific understanding of early human behavior , have been designated as a World Heritage Site .
The three new additions to the Heritage list , finalized on July 26 , include Diepkloof Rock Shelter , Sibhudu Cave , and the Pinnacle Point Site Complex . The latter has been extensively explored and documented by Arizona State University prof Curtis Marean , who was subservient in the push button for UNESCO acknowledgement .
When Marean first start out his piece of work at Pinnacle Point in 1999 , the caves at the stand of a 164 - metrical unit - tall ( 50 metre ) drop-off located on the Indian Ocean sea-coast had not yet been excavate . Among the discoveries that Marean has documented are signs of howHomo sapienslived around 160,000 years ago , during an era known as the Quaternary , as humans were scatter throughout the African continent . Marean found evidence that these humans ateshellfish , modified and usedpigments , and usedfireto alter raw textile . The web site also contained the early signs of humans using advance projectileweapons , go steady back 71,000 years .
South Africa’s Pinnacle Point contains some of the earliest clues to ancient human behavior.© Curtis Marean/SACP4
“ Pinnacle Point has proven to be an incredible insight into the origin of our species — peculiarly our human relationship with the sea , ” said Ryan Williams , director of Arizona State University ’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change in apress discharge .
The three sites in South Africa ’s Western Cape and KwaZulu - Natal provinces were tell apart due to their donation “ to the intellect of the origin of behaviourally forward-looking humans , their cognitive abilities and cultures , and the climatic passage that they survived , ” UNESCO articulate on itswebsite . website are only add to the list if they are deemed to have “ outstanding value to humanity . ”
Pinnacle Point is also authoritative for the clew it check to how early world live on a shifting mood , including the move of massive ice sheet during the Quaternary Era , and the supereruption of Mt. Toba , a volcano site in modern - day Indonesia , 74,000 geezerhood ago .
“ This momentous social occasion marks a substantial milepost in our collective journey to bear on and fete the origins of modern human behavior and our share ethnical heritage , ” say Western Cape Provincial Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport Ricardo Mackenzie in astatement . “ The exceptional conservation of these sites , amidst the challenges of climate alteration and ascend sea level , stand as Testament to our ascendant ’ resilience , ingeniousness , and adaptation to environmental changes . ”
AfricaClimate changeice agesouth africa
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