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.

MAKAPANSGAT PEBBLE

The Makapansgat pebble or Makapansgat cobble (ca. 3,000,000 BP) is a pebble with natural chipping and wear patterns that make it look like a crude rendition of a human face, in fact at least two possible faces. Some scholars argue that it is the oldest known manuport.

ERFOUD MANUPORT

The Erfoud manuport (300,000-200,000 BP) is a 70 mm long and 35 mm wide (at its widest point) fossilized fragment of a cuttlefish resembling naturalistic, life-size, non-erect human phallus.

The fossil was found in 1984 by Lutz Fiedler of Marburg University, Germany, at an archaeological site near the towns of Erfoud and Rissani in eastern Morocco. It was located among a dense cluster of Late Acheulian stone tools. No evidence of carving or shaping have been detected.

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