Scientists Find Earliest Evidence That Our Ancestors Lived in Rainforests 150,000 Years Ago
21st January 2026
A new study published in Nature provides the earliest evidence that our human ancestors lived in the tropical rainforests of Africa
The study involving University of Sheffield researchers dates humans living in rainforests back to 150,000 years ago, 80,000 years earlier than found in other rainforests sites around the world
Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance dating techniques were used to date sediments containing Middle Stone Age tools found at an archeological site in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa, to a time when tropical rainforests existed across the region
The study argues that tropical rainforests were not a barrier to the spread of modern humans and supports the theory that human evolution happened across a variety of regions and habitats.