28 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New Research Uncovers Earliest Evidence of Humans in Rainforests, Pushing Timeline Back 150,000 Years

The rainforests, as important biomes on earth, were considered uninhabited until recent history. New findings now show that humans lived in the African rainforests at least 150,000 years ago.

Humans originated in Africa around 300 thousand years ago, but the ecological and environmental contexts of human evolution are still little understood. It is, therefore, not surprising that previous studies have hardly considered rainforests, as they were viewed as natural barriers to human settlement.

In a new study published in Nature, a research team questions this view. Their work shows that humans lived in groups in the rainforests of present-day Côte d’Ivoire around 150,000 years ago, significantly earlier than previously assumed. The researchers advocate for these regions and habitats to be included in the discussion of human evolution.

The story behind this discovery began in the 1980s when the site was first investigated by Professor Yodé Guédé from the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University (Côte d’Ivoire) as part of a joint Ivorian-Soviet research mission. The results of this initial study revealed a deeply stratified site with stone tools in the area of the current rainforest. However, the age of the tools and the local ecology could not yet be determined.

“Several recent climate models suggest that this area has been a refuge in the rainforest even during dry periods when the forests existed only in fragments,” explains Professor Eleanor Scerri, head of the Human Palaeosystems Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology and senior author of the study. “We realized that this site was the best place to find out how long humans have inhabited the rainforests.”

Stone tool. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn, MPI-GEA
Stone tool. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn, MPI-GEA

The research team therefore traveled to Côte d’Ivoire to re-examine the site. “With the support of Professor Guédé, we were able to rediscover the original site, which we could now explore with technology that was not available at the time,” says Dr. James Blinkhorn, a researcher at the University of Liverpool. The research project took place just in time, as the site has since been destroyed by mining activities.

“Before our study, the oldest confirmed evidence of human habitation in the African rainforests was dated to 18,000 years ago, and the oldest evidence of rainforest settlement at all came from Southeast Asia, with an age of about 70,000 years,” explains Dr. Eslem Ben Arous, a researcher at the National Centre for Human Evolution Research (CENIEH) and the main author of the study. “This shifts the oldest known evidence of human habitation in rainforests by more than double the previously known dating.”

The researchers used various new dating methods, including Optically Stimulated Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance, which led them to the result of approximately 150,000 years.

At the same time, sediment samples were separately analyzed for pollen, silicified plant remains, known as phytoliths, and isotopes of leaf wax. The analyses revealed that the region was heavily forested, with pollen and leaf waxes typical of West African rainforests. Small amounts of grass pollen also indicated that the site was not located in a narrow strip of forest but in a dense forest area.

“This particularly exciting discovery is just the first on a long list of previously unexplored Ivorian sites that could provide further evidence of human presence in the rainforests,” says Professor Guédé.

The original study trench. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn, MPI-GEA
The original study trench. Credit: Jimbob Blinkhorn, MPI-GEA

“When all the results are combined, they undoubtedly show that the ecological diversity of rainforests and human development are closely linked,” says Professor Scerri. “This is reflected in a complex history of population divisions, where different populations lived in different regions and habitats. We must now ask how this early human niche expansion affected the plants and animals that shared the same spaces with humans. In other words: How far back do human interventions in untouched natural habitats go?”

The research project was funded by the Max Planck Society and the Leakey Foundation.

Bournemouth University

Ben Arous, E., Blinkhorn, J.A., Elliott, S. et al. Humans in Africa’s wet tropical forests 150 thousand years ago. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08613-y

Related Articles

Research Helps İlluminate the History of the Scythians with 111 Ancient Genomes

27 March 2021

27 March 2021

Due to their interactions and conflicts with the major contemporaries of Eurasia, the Scythians enjoyed legendary status in history and...

Lidar Technology Reveals a 3,000-year-old Secret Mayan City with Full of Pyramids and Plazas

30 October 2024

30 October 2024

Tulane University researchers used laser-guided imaging to uncover vast unexplored Maya settlements in Campeche, Mexico, revealing more than 6,500 pre-Hispanic...

A relief of a man holding his Phallus was found in Sayburç, one of the Taş Tepeler

18 October 2021

18 October 2021

In Sayburç, one of the Taş Tepeler in Şanlıurfa, a five-figure scene consisting of humans, leopards, and a bull was...

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of giant rhino

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Paleontologists studying in China have found a new species of gigantic rhinoceros, the world’s biggest land animal. According to a...

A 7,500-year-old settlement has been discovered in Turkey’s Domuztepe Mound

11 September 2021

11 September 2021

During the most recent excavations at Domuztepe Mound in the Türkoğlu district of southern Turkey’s Kahramanmaraş province, a settlement and...

A Medieval ‘Vampire’ Grave Found in Croatia

1 February 2025

1 February 2025

Research at the Rašaška (or Račeša) site, located in the eastern part of Croatia, revealed a grave with an unusual...

Mystery ax discovered off the coast of Arendal of Norway

26 July 2021

26 July 2021

Researchers have discovered a find that could be a first for Norwegian archeology. A hollow ax, which researchers believe dates...

200,000-year-old ‘mammoth graveyard’ found in the southwest UK

19 December 2021

19 December 2021

Researchers have unearthed a mammoth “graveyard” filled with the bony remains of five individuals, including an infant, two juveniles, and...

The Discovery of nobleman Khuwy could rewrite Egypt history

25 October 2021

25 October 2021

The mummified corpse of an ancient Egyptian nobleman named Khuwy, discovered in 2019, showed the ancient Egyptians were carrying out...

8,000-year-old Female Figurine Discovered in Ulucak Höyük in Western Türkiye

15 August 2024

15 August 2024

One of the most prominent and oldest Neolithic sites found in what is now Turkey has yielded yet another interesting...

Remarkable Discovery: Roman-British Coins Hoard Unearthed Near Utrecht, Netherlands

29 January 2025

29 January 2025

In 2023, a unique collection of 404 silver and gold coins dating back to 46 A.D. has been discovered by...

A Roman copper-alloy tiny tortoise figurine found in Suffolk

3 December 2023

3 December 2023

In July last year, a small Roman copper alloy tortoise or turtle figurine was discovered by metal detectors near the...

Decapitated skeletons of Roman ‘criminals’ found on HS2 route

5 February 2022

5 February 2022

Archaeologists working with the HS2 project have discovered 425 bodies on the route of the new railway line – around...

Archaeologists revealed Urartian King Menua second temple in Van excavations

22 December 2022

22 December 2022

The second temple of King Menua as well as a chamber tomb were unearthed during the excavations carried out this...

Tanzania’s mysterious footprints were made by early humans, not bears

6 December 2021

6 December 2021

The prehistoric footprints discovered by archaeologists caused confusion because scientists looked at them again to determine whether they were left...