Manuport

A manuport is a natural object that has been deliberately taken from its original environment and relocated without further modification. Typically moved by human hand, some manuports are the result of other hominins. Common manuports include stones, seashells and fossils, which has led archaeologists and anthropologists to conclude they must have been chosen for their beauty. This recognition of an object’s aesthetic character suggests that certain manuports represent some of the earliest examples of art. The earliest attestation of the word manuport is from English in 1966. The term is derived from the Latin words manus, meaning ‘hand’, and portare, meaning ‘carry’. Makapansgat pebble The Makapansgat cobble was first discovered in the 1920s during excavations at an archaeological site in the Makapan Valley, South Africa. Although noted for its striking resemblance to a human face and its likely association with australopithecines, the cobble drew little attention at the time. (Only several years prior had the first description of Australopithecus been published and, as such, the cobble received no further study). As the field of evolutionary biology developed through the twentieth century, aided by the discovery of further hominin species, it led to a renewed interest in the Makapansgat cobble. Sedimentary analysis of the cave where the Makapansgat cobble was discovered, including the unearthing of a nearby Australopithecus africanus skeleton, dates the manuport to between 2,000,000-3,000,000 BP. Jasperite, the principal mineral found in the cobble, is not found elsewhere in the cave, and the nearest deposit of jasperite is reportedly 32km away. Robert G. Bednarik argues that the cobble must have, sometime around 2.95 million years ago, been picked up and “carried for a considerable distance” by an early hominin. The Makapansgat cobble is the oldest known manuport and is possibly the earliest example of symbolic thinking.