Two ASU scientists' and a team of anthropologists' findings in Africa might nudge the evolutionary timeline back a number of years.
The open-air site study took place at Serengeti National Park in Tanzania last March.
ASU anthropology graduate student Jessica Thompson, who took part in the research, said the findings include strong evidence that middle Stone Age Africans exhibited a level of modern cultural behavior much higher than previously thought.
The artifacts, though their age is not yet known, contradict the previously held belief that man reached this level of "behavioral modernity" 35,000 years ago, she said.
"This is an extremely exciting find," she said. "The artifacts that were found at the site could change the way people look at early man."
Artifacts unearthed include bone artifacts, mammal bones, fish bones, ochre pencils and two ostrich shell beads alongside a collection of middle Stone Age tools.
"Nothing like this has been found before, ever," Thompson said. "We've seen eggshell beads in regards to the late Stone Age, but this discovery pushes preconceived beliefs back a noticeable number of years.
"We're seeing a level of creativity that no one thought was there before," she said.
Anthropology professor Curtis Marean spent time as a member of the research team and said in a previously released statement from ASU that the find might be the first of many groundbreaking discoveries at the Tanzanian site.
"I'm fairly sure that these items are very old, and if that is so, this could be a very important site," he said. "We hope further digging at the site will yield more information. Ultimately, it is going to take wider excavation to resolve the questions."
He added that the positive implications of the discovery would be far-reaching within the anthropological community.
"Some of the artifacts, in particular the ostrich eggshell beads, are rare or unprecedented in the middle Stone Age," he said. "The beads are a tantalizing find, and once we get some definitive dating, it could have a major impact on the issue of the evolution of symbolic thinking."
Thompson said her and Marean's participation in the high-profile project should garner recognition toward ASU as a research institution.
"ASU is just now coming into its own as a respected research university," she said. "This is just one more step in the right direction."
Reach the reporter at jason.samuels@asu.edu.
