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Hoffecker JF, Elias SA, Scott GR, O'Rourke DH, Hlusko LJ, Potapova O, Pitulko V, Pavlova E, Bourgeon L, Vachula RS. Beringia and the peopling of the Western Hemisphere. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222246. [PMID: 36629115 PMCID: PMC9832545 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Did Beringian environments represent an ecological barrier to humans until less than 15 000 years ago or was access to the Americas controlled by the spatial-temporal distribution of North American ice sheets? Beringian environments varied with respect to climate and biota, especially in the two major areas of exposed continental shelf. The East Siberian Arctic Shelf ('Great Arctic Plain' (GAP)) supported a dry steppe-tundra biome inhabited by a diverse large-mammal community, while the southern Bering-Chukchi Platform ('Bering Land Bridge' (BLB)) supported mesic tundra and probably a lower large-mammal biomass. A human population with west Eurasian roots occupied the GAP before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and may have accessed mid-latitude North America via an interior ice-free corridor. Re-opening of the corridor less than 14 000 years ago indicates that the primary ancestors of living First Peoples, who already had spread widely in the Americas at this time, probably dispersed from the NW Pacific coast. A genetic 'arctic signal' in non-arctic First Peoples suggests that their parent population inhabited the GAP during the LGM, before their split from the former. We infer a shift from GAP terrestrial to a subarctic maritime economy on the southern BLB coast before dispersal in the Americas from the NW Pacific coast.
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Affiliation(s)
- John F. Hoffecker
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA,Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 622 Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
| | - Scott A. Elias
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - G. Richard Scott
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Reno, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Dennis H. O'Rourke
- Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 622 Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
| | - Leslea J. Hlusko
- Human Evolution Research Center, University of California-Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA,Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
| | - Olga Potapova
- Pleistocene Park Foundation, Philadelphia, PA 19006, USA,Department of Mammoth Fauna Studies, Academy of Sciences of Sakha, Yakutsk, Russia,The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, Hot Springs, SD 57747, USA
| | - Vladimir Pitulko
- Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St Petersburg, Russia,Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, 3, Universitetskaya nab., St Petersburg 199034, Russian Federation
| | - Elena Pavlova
- Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, 38 Bering Street, 199397 St Petersburg, Russia
| | - Lauriane Bourgeon
- Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, 1930 Constant Ave., Lawrence, KS 66047, USA
| | - Richard S. Vachula
- Department of Geosciences, Auburn University, 2050 Beard Eaves Coliseum, Auburn, AL 36849-5305, USA
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Rare crested rat subfossils unveil Afro-Eurasian ecological corridors synchronous with early human dispersals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2105719118. [PMID: 34312232 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105719118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Biotic interactions between Africa and Eurasia across the Levant have invoked particular attention among scientists aiming to unravel early human dispersals. However, it remains unclear whether behavioral capacities enabled early modern humans to surpass the Saharo-Arabian deserts or if climatic changes triggered punctuated dispersals out of Africa. Here, we report an unusual subfossil assemblage discovered in a Judean Desert's cliff cave near the Dead Sea and dated to between ∼42,000 and at least 103,000 y ago. Paleogenomic and morphological comparisons indicate that the specimens belong to an extinct subspecies of the eastern African crested rat, Lophiomys imhausi maremortum subspecies nova, which diverged from the modern eastern African populations in the late Middle Pleistocene ∼226,000 to 165,000 y ago. The reported paleomitogenome is the oldest so far in the Levant, opening the door for future paleoDNA analyses in the region. Species distribution modeling points to the presence of continuous habitat corridors connecting eastern Africa with the Levant during the Last Interglacial ∼129,000 to 116,000 y ago, providing further evidence of the northern ingression of African biomes into Eurasia and reinforcing previous suggestions of the critical role of climate change in Late Pleistocene intercontinental biogeography. Furthermore, our study complements other paleoenvironmental proxies with local-instead of interregional-paleoenvironmental data, opening an unprecedented window into the Dead Sea rift paleolandscape.
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Abstract
Rushton and Jensen argued that cognitive ability differs between human populations. But why are such differences expectable? Their answer: as modern humans spread out of Africa and into northern Eurasia, they entered colder and more seasonal climates that selected for the ability to plan ahead, in order to store food, make clothes, and build shelters for winter. This cold winter theory is supported by research on Paleolithic humans and recent hunter-gatherers. Tools become more diverse and complex as effective temperature decreases, apparently because food has to be obtained during limited periods and over large areas. There is also more storage of food and fuel and greater use of untended traps and snares. Finally, shelters have to be sturdier, and clothing more cold-resistant. The resulting cognitive demands are met primarily by women because the lack of opportunities for food gathering pushes them into more cognitively demanding tasks, like garment making, needlework, weaving, leatherworking, pottery, and kiln operation. The northern tier of Paleolithic Eurasia thus produced the “Original Industrial Revolution”—an explosion of creativity that preadapted its inhabitants for later developments, i.e., farming, more complex technology and social organization, and an increasingly future-oriented culture. Over time, these humans would spread south, replacing earlier populations that could less easily exploit the possibilities of the new cultural environment. As this environment developed further, it selected for further increases in cognitive ability. Indeed, mean intelligence seems to have risen during recorded history at temperate latitudes in Europe and East Asia. There is thus no unified theory for the evolution of human intelligence. A key stage was adaptation to cold winters during the Paleolithic, but much happened later.
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Henn BM, Steele TE, Weaver TD. Clarifying distinct models of modern human origins in Africa. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2018; 53:148-156. [PMID: 30423527 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2018.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2018] [Revised: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Accumulating genomic, fossil and archaeological data from Africa have led to a renewed interest in models of modern human origins. However, such discussions are often discipline-specific, with limited integration of evidence across the different fields. Further, geneticists typically require explicit specification of parameters to test competing demographic models, but these have been poorly outlined for some scenarios. Here, we describe four possible models for the origins of Homo sapiens in Africa based on published literature from paleoanthropology and human genetics. We briefly outline expectations for data patterns under each model, with a special focus on genetic data. Additionally, we present schematics for each model, doing our best to qualitatively describe demographic histories for which genetic parameters can be specifically attached. Finally, it is our hope that this perspective provides context for discussions of human origins in other manuscripts presented in this special issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenna M Henn
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, United States; UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, United States.
| | - Teresa E Steele
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, United States
| | - Timothy D Weaver
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, United States
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