Gabon Forest Cave Reveals Clues About Prehistoric Central Africa
Two billion years ago, the eastern Gabonese region of Lastourville was covered by a vast ocean.
But that has long given way to dense forest and dolomite cliffs dotted with caves, within which scientists have unearthed traces of human life dating back to 25,000 years BC.
Off the beaten track even for archaeologists, the Youmbidi rock shelter, a cavern typical of those chosen by prehistoric humans to set up their homes, is the focus for French geoarchaeologist Richard Oslisly's team, AFP reported.
Among their finds: a stone tool which could have been used for cutting or making fibers dating to before 10,000 BC.
An arrowhead has also been unearthed, as has a collection of dolomite, quartz and jasper shards, cut up to 10,000 years ago by the cave's inhabitants.
"The vast majority of research in Africa has taken place in open landscapes such as the Sahara, Sahel or Egypt," said Oslisly, who has spent 45 years working in central Africa.
"They said to me 'there's nothing in the forest' (but) I took up the challenge of finding out what was happening there," he added.
"We realize there is a very close relationship between man and nature in these forests, where people have lived for a very long time," Oslisly said.
The Youmbidi cave -- where scientists have recorded 12,000 years of continuous human habitation -- is an enticing spot for the archeologists.
"We don't know at all how these people lived, what their way of life was, what their names were, what their languages were," said Geoffroy de Saulieu from France's IRD Research Institute for Development.
"Our research will help us to know a little more," he added.
After a month of digging and careful sorting of every stone, charcoal remnant, bone and other treasure buried below the cave, the team has elements to help decipher the past.
De Saulieu said it was like a jigsaw puzzle.
"You have to... gather the smallest clues, place them end to end to gradually reconstruct a whole universe that has disappeared and which is, nevertheless, at the origin of the way of life in central Africa today," said the expert, currently attached to the National Agency of National Parks of Gabon.
One of the oldest bits of pottery found in central Africa, which dated to more than 6,500 years ago, is among this year's finds.
Human-looking teeth that could allow DNA to be extracted in what would prove a significant leap in research have also excited archaeologists.
And, like all the artifacts, a bead likely made between 3,300 and 4,900 years ago from a snail shell also offers precious insight as a "very humble but beautiful witness" of the epoch in question.
Dispelling stereotypical images of prehistoric Man, it suggests people had "real customs, a real civilization and art of living," de Saulieu said.
The pottery "shows that these societies weren't immobile, they had launched themselves into technical innovations", he added.
The discoveries fan his fascination for the richness of "the social life which existed in the region's forests".
Glimpses into an ancient lost world can also be useful for tackling present-day challenges, the experts said.
During the Holocene period which dates back the past 12,000 years, "central Africa has experienced very significant changes in climate, hydrology and vegetation," said paleoclimatologist Yannick Garcin, also from the IRD and involved in the Youmbidi dig.
The hope is that the cave will unlock an understanding of "the resilience of human populations in the past and how they were able to adapt to climate changes that could have been drastic", he said.
Central Africa for that reason "deserves major development in terms of research", Oslisly argued.
Understanding what happened in prehistoric times can help scientists today react to modern-day issues, he added.
"Good studies on the relationship between Man and the environment in the past will allow us to react better to the environmental changes that are ahead of us," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Dangerous dreams: Inside Internet's ‘sleepmaxxing' craze
WASHINGTON: From mouth taping to rope-assisted neck swinging, a viral social media trend is promoting extreme bedtime routines that claim to deliver perfect sleep — despite scant medical evidence and potential safety risks. Influencers on platforms including TikTok and X are fueling a growing wellness obsession popularly known as 'sleepmaxxing,' a catch-all term for activities and products aimed at optimizing sleep quality. The explosive rise of the trend — generating tens of millions of posts — underscores social media's power to legitimize unproven health practices, particularly as tech platforms scale back content moderation. One so-called insomnia cure involves people hanging by their necks with ropes or belts and swinging their bodies in the air. 'Those who try it claim their sleep problems have significantly improved,' said one clip on X that racked up more than 11 million views. Experts have raised alarm about the trick, following a Chinese state broadcaster's report that attributed at least one fatality in China last year to a similar 'neck hanging' routine. Such sleepmaxxing techniques are 'ridiculous, potentially harmful, and evidence-free,' Timothy Caulfield, a misinformation expert from the University of Alberta in Canada, told AFP. 'It is a good example of how social media can normalize the absurd.' Another popular practice is taping of the mouth for sleep, promoted as a way to encourage nasal breathing. Influencers claim it offers broad benefits, from better sleep and improved oral health to reduced snoring. But a report from George Washington University found that most of these claims were not supported by medical research. Experts have also warned the practice could be dangerous, particularly for those suffering from sleep apnea, a condition that disrupts breathing during sleep. Other unfounded tricks touted by sleepmaxxing influencers include wearing blue- or red-tinted glasses, using weighted blankets, and eating two kiwis just before bed. 'Actively unhelpful, even damaging' 'My concern with the 'sleepmaxxing' trend — particularly as it's presented on platforms like TikTok — is that much of the advice being shared can be actively unhelpful, even damaging, for people struggling with real sleep issues,' Kathryn Pinkham, a Britain-based insomnia specialist, told AFP. 'While some of these tips might be harmless for people who generally sleep well, they can increase pressure and anxiety for those dealing with chronic insomnia or other persistent sleep problems.' While sound and sufficient sleep is considered a cornerstone of good health, experts warn that the trend may be contributing to orthosomnia, an obsessive preoccupation with achieving perfect sleep. 'The pressure to get perfect sleep is embedded in the sleepmaxxing culture,' said Eric Zhou of Harvard Medical School. 'While prioritizing restful sleep is commendable, setting perfection as your goal is problematic. Even good sleepers vary from night to night.' Pinkham added that poor sleep was often fueled by the 'anxiety to fix it,' a fact largely unacknowledged by sleepmaxxing influencers. 'The more we try to control sleep with hacks or rigid routines, the more vigilant and stressed we become — paradoxically making sleep harder,' Pinkham said. Melatonin as insomnia treatment Many sleepmaxxing posts focus on enhancing physical appearance rather than improving health, reflecting an overlap with 'looksmaxxing' — another online trend that encourages unproven and sometimes dangerous techniques to boost sexual appeal. Some sleepmaxxing influencers have sought to profit from the trend's growing popularity, promoting products such as mouth tapes, sleep-enhancing drink powders, and 'sleepmax gummies' containing melatonin. That may be in violation of legal norms in some countries like Britain, where melatonin is available only as a prescription drug. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended against using melatonin to treat insomnia in adults, citing inconsistent medical evidence regarding its effectiveness. Some medical experts also caution about the impact of the placebo effect on insomnia patients using sleep medication — when people report real improvement after taking a fake or nonexistent treatment because of their beliefs. 'Many of these tips come from non-experts and aren't grounded in clinical evidence,' said Pinkham. 'For people with genuine sleep issues, this kind of advice often adds pressure rather than relief.'
Arab News
2 days ago
- Arab News
Death of a delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks
KHARO CHAN, Sindh: Salt crusts crackle underfoot as Habibullah Khatti walks to his mother's grave to say a final goodbye before he abandons his parched island village on Pakistan's Indus delta. Seawater intrusion into the delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea in the south of the country, has triggered the collapse of farming and fishing communities. 'The saline water has surrounded us from all four sides,' Khatti told AFP from Abdullah Mirbahar village in the town of Kharo Chan, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from where the river empties into the sea. As fish stocks fell, the 54-year-old turned to tailoring until that too became impossible with only four of the 150 households remaining. 'In the evening, an eerie silence takes over the area,' he said, as stray dogs wandered through the deserted wooden and bamboo houses. Kharo Chan once comprised around 40 villages, but most have disappeared under rising seawater. The town's population fell from 26,000 in 1981 to 11,000 in 2023, according to census data. Khatti is preparing to move his family to nearby Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and one swelling with economic migrants, including from the Indus delta. The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which advocates for fishing communities, estimates that tens of thousands of people have been displaced from the delta's coastal districts. However, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced from the overall Indus delta region in the last two decades, according to a study published in March by the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former climate change minister. The downstream flow of water into the delta has decreased by 80 percent since the 1950s as a result of irrigation canals, hydropower dams and the impacts of climate change on glacial and snow melt, according to a 2018 study by the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water. That has led to devastating seawater intrusion. The salinity of the water has risen by around 70 percent since 1990, making it impossible to grow crops and severely affecting the shrimp and crab populations. 'The delta is both sinking and shrinking,' said Muhammad Ali Anjum, a local WWF conservationist. Beginning in Tibet, the Indus River flows through disputed Kashmir before traversing the entire length of Pakistan. The river and its tributaries irrigate about 80 percent of the country's farmland, supporting millions of livelihoods. The delta, formed by rich sediment deposited by the river as it meets the sea, was once ideal for farming, fishing, mangroves and wildlife. But more than 16 percent of fertile land has become unproductive due to encroaching seawater, a government water agency study in 2019 found. In the town of Keti Bandar, which spreads inland from the water's edge, a white layer of salt crystals covers the ground. Boats carry in drinkable water from miles away and villagers cart it home via donkeys. 'Who leaves their homeland willingly?' said Hajji Karam Jat, whose house was swallowed by the rising water level. He rebuilt farther inland, anticipating more families would join him. 'A person only leaves their motherland when they have no other choice,' he told AFP. British colonial rulers were the first to alter the course of the Indus River with canals and dams, followed more recently by dozens of hydropower projects. Earlier this year, several military-led canal projects on the Indus River were halted when farmers in the low-lying riverine areas of Sindh province protested. To combat the degradation of the Indus River Basin, the government and the United Nations launched the 'Living Indus Initiative' in 2021. One intervention focuses on restoring the delta by addressing soil salinity and protecting local agriculture and ecosystems. The Sindh government is currently running its own mangrove restoration project, aiming to revive forests that serve as a natural barrier against saltwater intrusion. Even as mangroves are restored in some parts of the coastline, land grabbing and residential development projects drive clearing in other areas. Neighboring India meanwhile poses a looming threat to the river and its delta, after revoking a 1960 water treaty with Pakistan which divides control over the Indus basin rivers. It has threatened to never reinstate the treaty and build dams upstream, squeezing the flow of water to Pakistan, which has called it 'an act of war.' Alongside their homes, the communities have lost a way of life tightly bound up in the delta, said climate activist Fatima Majeed, who works with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum. Women, in particular, who for generations have stitched nets and packed the day's catches, struggle to find work when they migrate to cities, said Majeed, whose grandfather relocated the family from Kharo Chan to the outskirts of Karachi. 'We haven't just lost our land, we've lost our culture.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Gabon Forest Cave Reveals Clues About Prehistoric Central Africa
In Gabon's sprawling forest, archaeologists dig for ancient clues that could unlock the secrets of how prehistoric humans lived and interacted in the changing landscape of central Africa. Two billion years ago, the eastern Gabonese region of Lastourville was covered by a vast ocean. But that has long given way to dense forest and dolomite cliffs dotted with caves, within which scientists have unearthed traces of human life dating back to 25,000 years BC. Off the beaten track even for archaeologists, the Youmbidi rock shelter, a cavern typical of those chosen by prehistoric humans to set up their homes, is the focus for French geoarchaeologist Richard Oslisly's team, AFP reported. Among their finds: a stone tool which could have been used for cutting or making fibers dating to before 10,000 BC. An arrowhead has also been unearthed, as has a collection of dolomite, quartz and jasper shards, cut up to 10,000 years ago by the cave's inhabitants. "The vast majority of research in Africa has taken place in open landscapes such as the Sahara, Sahel or Egypt," said Oslisly, who has spent 45 years working in central Africa. "They said to me 'there's nothing in the forest' (but) I took up the challenge of finding out what was happening there," he added. "We realize there is a very close relationship between man and nature in these forests, where people have lived for a very long time," Oslisly said. The Youmbidi cave -- where scientists have recorded 12,000 years of continuous human habitation -- is an enticing spot for the archeologists. "We don't know at all how these people lived, what their way of life was, what their names were, what their languages were," said Geoffroy de Saulieu from France's IRD Research Institute for Development. "Our research will help us to know a little more," he added. After a month of digging and careful sorting of every stone, charcoal remnant, bone and other treasure buried below the cave, the team has elements to help decipher the past. De Saulieu said it was like a jigsaw puzzle. "You have to... gather the smallest clues, place them end to end to gradually reconstruct a whole universe that has disappeared and which is, nevertheless, at the origin of the way of life in central Africa today," said the expert, currently attached to the National Agency of National Parks of Gabon. One of the oldest bits of pottery found in central Africa, which dated to more than 6,500 years ago, is among this year's finds. Human-looking teeth that could allow DNA to be extracted in what would prove a significant leap in research have also excited archaeologists. And, like all the artifacts, a bead likely made between 3,300 and 4,900 years ago from a snail shell also offers precious insight as a "very humble but beautiful witness" of the epoch in question. Dispelling stereotypical images of prehistoric Man, it suggests people had "real customs, a real civilization and art of living," de Saulieu said. The pottery "shows that these societies weren't immobile, they had launched themselves into technical innovations", he added. The discoveries fan his fascination for the richness of "the social life which existed in the region's forests". Glimpses into an ancient lost world can also be useful for tackling present-day challenges, the experts said. During the Holocene period which dates back the past 12,000 years, "central Africa has experienced very significant changes in climate, hydrology and vegetation," said paleoclimatologist Yannick Garcin, also from the IRD and involved in the Youmbidi dig. The hope is that the cave will unlock an understanding of "the resilience of human populations in the past and how they were able to adapt to climate changes that could have been drastic", he said. Central Africa for that reason "deserves major development in terms of research", Oslisly argued. Understanding what happened in prehistoric times can help scientists today react to modern-day issues, he added. "Good studies on the relationship between Man and the environment in the past will allow us to react better to the environmental changes that are ahead of us," he said.
