Jamie Hodgkins, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, recently had a paper published in Quaternary Science Reviews. Archaeology has shown that South Africa was critical to the evolution of our species (Homo sapiens) during the Pleistocene. The now-submerged continental shelf formed its own ecosystem, the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), where early humans lived and foraged. Using dietary isotopic analysis Hodgkins’ research showed that the prey animals hunted by carnivores and humans on southern Cape Coast of South Africa could support herbivore populations year-round providing an ecosystem ideal for human inhabitants.