Human fossils from southern, eastern, and northern Africa show that anatomically modern or near-modern people were present by 100,000 years ago, when only the Neanderthals occupied Europe and different, equally non-modern people lived in eastern Asia. However, the artifacts found with early modern or near modern African fossils imply non-modern, Neanderthal-like behavior. Artifactual markers of fully modern behavior appeared in Africa between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago, and it was only then that modern Africans were able to expand to Eurasia, where they swamped or replaced the Neanderthals and other non-modern humans. Archaeological food debris from the western and southern coasts of South Africa suggest that an enhanced ability to hunt and gather accompanied the artifactual advance after 50,000 years ago.
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