Horn of Africa Himyarite Kingdom. Under Ezana (fl. 320–360), the kingdom of Aksum became the first major empire to adopt Christianity, and was named by Mani as one of the four great powers of his time, along with Persia, Rome and China. Northern Somalia was an important link in the Horn, connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, all of which were valuable luxuries to the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans, Babylonians and Romans. The Romans consequently began to refer to the region as "Regio Aromatica". In
Horn of Africa Cinnamonifora due to the aromatic plants, or Regio Incognita owing to its unchartered territory. Shell middens 125,000 years old have been found in Eritrea, indicating the diet of early humans included seafood obtained by beachcombing. According to both genetic and fossil evidence, archaic Homo sapiens evolved into anatomically modern humans solely in the Horn of Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago and have dispersed from the Horn of Africa. The recognition of "Homo sapien idaltu" as a valid subspecies of the anatomically modern human lineage would justify the description of contemporary humans with the subspecies name "H. s. sapiens".