It's believed that our species, Homo sapines, has wandered African lands for at least a quarter of a million years. But maybe this was the place where evolutionary leap took palce. This is what a courteous team of 15 scienists are investigating. And it appears that the rich pickings of this coastline may have been the key to modern man.

-So this is 13B.

-This is the cynical point cave 13B.

-What was it about this cave, this location 13B?

-This is a very special place on the south coast, becuase here you have a vegatation region, that's unique, and of course the marine shellfish, as we all now know, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and together they form a package of protein and carbenhydrate. It's a key part of the modern human nutrition. And they had it here, so we began as a coastal species.

-Paint the picture for me. How many people would have lived in this cave?

-Anywhere between 10 to 20 people could have been living in this cave at the time. Usually when people expand their diet to marine foods, the group size goes up as does the population size.

-Because the facility is going up.

-Exactly. And also they can reduce their mobility, so they stop moving about the landscape line, because the food is right here. And if you think about that, you have a larger group, which means that your interpersonal relationships are more challenging and that was adequate selection on things like coordination, langague and your ability to get along with other people, which is the hard mark of the human activation.

 

 

To be allowed to step into the pinnacle-point cave and see Professor Marina's work has been an honor. In years to come, this site might just become a visitor attraction to rival the pyramids and Stohehenge.