Shell Beads in Middle East Set New Timeline for Early Human Migration

When humans first began to migrate, they travelled in search of better resources. Eventually, they arrived in the Near East, what is known as the Middle East today. Now, scientists have learned that some of the earliest modern humans may have arrived in this area at the same time they journeyed to Europe, throwing up intriguing new possibilities for the routes taken by our ancient ancestors.

The way that archaeologists found out about this new timing for the migration route is a bit surprising. They discovered marine shell beads at a key archaeological site in Lebanon, called Ksar Akil. In all, they radiocarbon dated 20 of these shells from the top of the archaeological layers of the site. While Neanderthals also lived in the same region, they did not use shell beads.

So how old were the beads? They were between 41,000 to 35,000 years old. This has huge implications for the study of human migration. The Middle East has always been seen as a key region in the prehistory of humans. The region lies as a crossroad of three major continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. This means that, in theory, modern humans probably had to cross the Middle East first before spreading out to other areas.

Yet the new dates don't seem to match up with that idea. Instead, humans arrived in Europe and the Near East at roughly the same time which leads to the question: How did early humans travel in their expansion toward Europe?

"It is possible that instead of the Near East being the single point of origin for modern humans heading for Europe, they may also have used other routes too," said Katerina Douka, the study leader, in a news release. "A maritime route across Mediterranean has been proposed, although evidence is scarce. A wealth of archaeological data now pinpoints the plains of Central Asia as a particularly important but relatively unknown region which requires further investigation."

The findings reveal a little bit more about how humans might have first traveled from Africa. It overturns the reigning theory that our ancestors all first traveled through the Near East. Instead, it looks as if there were numerous migration routes that brought early humans to the various continents that they eventually populated. That said, more research will need to be conducted before any firm conclusions are drawn.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.