Early humans wandered out of Africa armed with arrows and darts that made them challenging hunters and deadly competitors for any Neanderthals that stood in their way. Modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, but when modern human ways of thinking emerged still remains controversial. Some researchers have suggested that genetic changes linked with modern human behaviour occurred as recently as 40,000 years ago. But, some scientists argue with them saying modern human thought originated much earlier but that the evidence was largely lost to the rigours of time. Small blades made of stone found in a cave along a rocky stretch of South Africa’s coast give us evidence about the advanced stone-tool making skills in early modern humans. The blades were excavated from successive layers in soil deposits some 46 feet thick in a cave at Pinnacle Point, on the coast some 210 miles east of Cape Town.
