The correlation of shellfish size, the time frames of the movement of the first humans out of Africa, and the archaeological remains of shellfish consumed by Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age people in North Africa and Europe argues for a coincidence in the growth of human populations with early man’s first movement out of Africa according to research conducted by Richard G. Klein from Stanford University and Teresa E. Steele from the University of California Davis.
Shellfish size was an important contributor to the expansion of humans throughout Northern Africa and Southern Europe between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago.
The authors note several dig sites in South Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East that indicate the size of shellfish had a dramatic impact on the availability of food and the movement of early men out of Africa.
Dating of the shellfish shells corresponds to the same time frames as known events in the early movement of man into the Middle East and Europe. The use of shell fish shells to create tools and ornamental jewelry also coincides in time with documented findings of early man’s first ventures into the rest of the world.
Ancient man may never have left Africa without larger shellfish.
