Life was no picnic for our ancestors 1.8 million years ago

New York: Reconstructing an early East African landscape where human ancestors lived 1.8 million years ago, researchers have found that life was quite tough in the ancient times.

Our human ancestors, who looked like a cross between apes and modern humans, had access to food, water and shady shelter at a site in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. They even had lots of stone tools with sharp edges, said Gail Ashley, professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

But "it was tough living," she said. "It was a very stressful life because they were in continual competition with carnivores for their food," Ashley noted. Competing carnivores included lions, leopards and hyenas, according to Ashley.