Early Homo sapiens may have lived in rainforests, new clues suggest — and it could overturn our understanding of human evolution

Nearly 70,000 years ago, modern humans created stunning rock art in an unexpected place: the tropical Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The finding, announced in January, made headlines for being the oldest known rock art in the world.

But the discovery's location also highlighted another surprising finding: that members of our species, Homo sapiens, were thriving in the tropics tens of thousands of years ago.

Researchers have long thought that early humans didn't live in tropical rainforests, as these places haven't yielded human fossils and are teeming with dangerous life, including venomous animals, poisonous plants and parasites that would deter early populations.

But that perspective has been changing over the past few de...