Signs of Civilisation

Exciting news from Africa, where evidence is found that pushes the dawn of "Civilisation" back  another 20,000 years.

I note that the signs of "Civilisation" include poison. One would like to imagine the noble savages (or Nobel savages, given their chemistry) of the Antedeluvian period using such methods only to even up the odds on large, rampaging, dangerous animals. But, even in those prelapsarian times, I suspect they were also used to stack the odds completely when dealing with small, cunning, dangerous animals. Or "The Neighbours". As they used to sing,

"Where every prospect pleases,
And only Man is vile."

The hymn was written before Kipling pointed out that Woman could be pretty vile as well. But 40,000 years before either, we knew what Civilisation was all about. Getting the Other before they got you.