High-altitude environments are not exactly welcoming places to call home. It’s hard to breathe, there’s little shelter and being that much closer to the sun means more exposure to UV radiation. The inhospitable conditions are why high mountains and plateaus were some of the last places on Earth humans occupied.
Now researchers find prehistoric humans lived in a high-altitude rocky outcrop in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains 31,000 to 47,000 years ago. They say the discovery is the earliest evidence for humans taking up residence at high altitude.
