Our human species emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago but scientists don’t yet have a clear picture of what kind of natural environment we evolved in. Until recently, the dominant idea was that grasslands and savannahs were the ecological “cradle” of human beings. Environments like rainforest were considered to be barriers to human expansion, and inhabited only much later in human history.
This view is out of step with research in Asia, however. There, more and more evidence has been found of sophisticated behaviours and advanced cognition in ancient rainforest contexts.
Humans lived in a rainforest environment on Sumatra in Indonesia as far back as 70,000 years ago. They also coped well with the challenges of rainforests. At Niah Cave in Borneo, toxic plants obtained from nearby rainforest habitats were processed as far back as 45,000 years ago. This was soon after people were first documented in this region, around 46,000 years ago. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, there is evidence for direct reliance on rainforest resources from at least 36,000 years ago.
