London, Oct 9: A University of Oregon researcher has said that early humans probably followed the coast in their quest for better food and habitation.

Professor Jon Erlandson has said that learning to live off the sea played a key role in the expansion of early humans around the globe.

“After leaving Africa, human groups probably followed coastal routes to the Americas and South-East Asia. The story of human evolution and human migrations has been dominated by terrestrial perspectives. I grew up on the coast and I always thought this didn't make much sense. Coastlines are exceptionally rich in resources,” BBC quoted Prof. Erlandson as saying.

He says the maritime capabilities of ancient humans have been greatly underestimated, for research has revealed that early people in California pursued a sophisticated seafaring lifestyle 10,000 years ago.

He says anthropologists have long regarded the exploitation of marine resources as a recent development in human history, and as peripheral to the development of civilization, the fact is that human expansion out of Africa occurred along the southern coastline of Asia.

This, in turn, led to the colonization of Australia 50,000 years ago, he said.

He said extensive excavations on San Miguel Island, off the coast of California, suggested human habitation at least 13,000 years ago.

“About 100,000 seals and sea lions of six different species live on the island. These slow-moving sea mammals would have been easy prey for the island's early human inhabitants. The big elephant seals weigh over 300lbs. It has always seemed to me that these were a resource that early humans would not want to miss,” he said.

He said the digs at Daisy Cave on San Miguel Island also yielded scores of bone "gorges", a form of fish-hook.

“The gorges were covered with bait to be swallowed whole by fish, which were then reeled in. These are between 8,600 and 9,600 years old and are associated with more than 30,000 fish bones. They are the oldest examples of such artifacts in the New World,” Prof Erlandson said.

“Actually proving such a migration took place is a very difficult thing to do because of sea level changes and coastal erosion,” he said.

He said their research also revealed the existence of knotted "cordage" - woven seagrass - that might have been used to make fishing nets.

“These delicate items were preserved by pickling under layers of ancient cormorant dung. The preservation is superb, so we interpreted the cordage as 'cut-offs' from the manufacture and maintenance of nets, fishing lines, and other maritime-related woven technologies,” Professor Erlandson added.

“At other sites, we found barbed points that were most likely used for hunting sea mammals - possibly sea otters. They also unearthed examples of 9,000-year-old basketry as well as 8,600-year-old shell bead jewelry. The findings from Daisy Cave could be consistent with the idea that some of America's first colonists followed a coastal migration route from Asia,” he said.

Prof. Erlandson now believes that early humans might have followed the kelp from Siberia to America as conquering the cold waters of the northern Pacific would have required advanced seafaring skills as well as an ability to successfully exploit marine resources.

“Kelp Forest would have hugged the coastline from Japan up through Siberia to Alaska and down along the Pacific coast of North America. This marine plant grows in rocky, nearshore habitats and cold water up to 20C. It creates rich ecosystems, providing habitats for seals, sea otters, hundreds of fish species and shellfish. These could have been important sources of food and other resources such as skins for early peoples,” he said.

“However, actually proving such a migration took place is a very difficult thing to do because of sea level changes and coastal erosion. I think the peopling of the New World was much more complex than has traditionally been viewed. I think it probably involved maritime and terrestrial migrations,” he added. (ANI)