In @nature.com we show that humans lived in rainforests ~150,000 years ago – over double the previous oldest estimate. Their presence in West Africa’s rainforests demonstrates the spread of early humans and places ecological diversity at the heart of our species. www.nature.com/articles/s41... - ThreadSky

elliescerri.bsky.social • 9 hours ago

In @nature.com we show that humans lived in rainforests ~150,000 years ago – over double the previous oldest estimate. Their presence in West Africa’s rainforests demonstrates the spread of early humans and places ecological diversity at the heart of our species.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08613-y?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news

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tiredmegafauna.com•9 hours ago

Awesome, this will be my read in the bathtub today 😂🙏🏽 and congratulations!

geoffreymsmith.bsky.social•7 hours ago

Congratulations on a really interesting paper.

archaeoiain.bsky.social•6 hours ago

Congratulations. That seems to be a bit of a game-changer. Are there any pictures of the artefacts?

elliescerri.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Yes, in the S.I. extended data figures:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08613-y/figures/8

archaeoiain.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Are there any flakes?

archaeoiain.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Thank you. It is sad that the stranglehold held by Nature and Science on their graphic appearance (not always a good thing) prevents the publication of pictures of stone artefacts (after all they are fundamental documents).

schepers-cj.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Congrats, great work. 👍🏻

johnhawks.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Congratulations! This is great to see.

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

At the site of Bété in Côte d’Ivoire, twinned OSL and ESR dates confirmed the Middle Pleistocene Age. We re-adapted conventional ESR protocols to obtain meaningful ages, and the uncertainties associated with OSL and ESR ages are overlapping.

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Leaf wax isotopes, phytoliths and pollen all pointed to wet tropical forest, with keystone trees like Hunteria and Oil Palms. The presence of anthers proved the local signal, while an absence of grasses points to a deep, dense jungle, rather than a strip of gallery forest next to a grassland.

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

The stone tools at Bété contain typical Middle Stone Age (MSA) elements combined with heavy duty tools that are unique for this location and timeframe. These heavy duty tools may have been used to fell trees and/or dig up tubers, or may have been used for a variety of tasks.

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Our work validates models indicating this region of Côte d’Ivoire was a rainforest refuge, and demonstrates the importance of West Africa in the story of human evolution. Through this work, we can now ask new questions, e.g. does rainforest habitation goes back even further in time?

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

This work was made possible thanks to the joint Ivorian-Soviet team who first excavated the site in the 1980s-90s, led by the late Prof. Liubin, and our co-author Prof. Guédé. Despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic, we were able to return to the site for key samples.

rachelking.bsky.social•8 hours ago

This project is exciting for so many reasons but I’m fascinated by the backstory of this collaboration!

elliescerri.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Special thanks to Prof. Guédé & Dr N’Zi, the field team led by @jblinkhorn.bsky.social , @eslembenarous.bsky.social who led the geochronology, Sarah Elliott on phytoliths, Chris Kiahtipes on pollen, @robertpatalano.bsky.social & Patrick Roberts on leaf waxes, Khady Niang & Alex Blackwood on lithics.

lorenabecval.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Congratulations!!!

mdpetraglia.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Nice work Eslem, Ellie and team!

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