Historical event

Beginning of Shellfish Consumption

Date: about 165,000 years ago

The earliest evidence of shellfish collection and consumption by early humans, discovered in Pinnacle Point Cave on the southern coast of South Africa. Archaeological excavations revealed a bowl's worth of edible shellfish remains, pushing back previous estimates of marine resource exploitation by 40,000 years. This discovery represents humanity's earliest known seafood meal and demonstrates sophisticated coastal foraging behaviors by early Homo sapiens.

Tags: early humans, homo sapiens, shellfish consumption, pinnacle point, south africa, coastal foraging, marine resources, shell middens, early seafood, coastal adaptation, archaeological evidence, prehistoric diet, human migration, out of africa, middle stone age

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