SapienCE

Centre for Early Sapiens behaviour

01/10/2017 to 31/10/2027

Homo sapiens was anatomically modern by 200 ka (thousand years ago) in Africa, but there is no
evidence indicating that behaviour was modern at the time. Current archaeological evidence, although
limited, highlights 100–50 ka as being a watershed for human cognitive, technological and social
development in Africa. Significantly more research is
needed to understand where, when and why early
humans started to think and behave like we do today.
South Africa, in particular the southern Cape, is
exceptionally well placed for answering these bigpicture
questions because the archaeological record of
this region preserves the pathways to the early
behavioural origins of H. sapiens.