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Drummond-Clarke RC, Kivell TL, Sarringhaus L, Stewart FA, Piel AK. Sex differences in positional behavior of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) living in the dry and open habitat of Issa Valley, Tanzania. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e25007. [PMID: 39056239 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.25007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Many early fossil hominins are associated with savanna-mosaic paleohabitats, and high sexual dimorphism that may reflect differences in positional behavior between sexes. However, reconstructions of hominin behavior and the selective pressures they faced in an open habitat are limited by a lack of studies of extant apes living in contemporary, analogous habitats. Here, we describe adult chimpanzee positional behavior in the savanna-mosaic habitat of the Issa Valley, Tanzania, to test whether Issa chimpanzees show larger sex-differences in positional behavior than their forest-dwelling counterparts. MATERIALS AND METHODS We quantified and compared adult locomotor and postural behavior across sexes (6 females, 7 males) in the riparian forest (closed) and miombo woodland (open) vegetation types at Issa Valley (13,743 focal observations). We then compared our results to published data of chimpanzee communities living in more forested habitats. RESULTS Issa females and males both spent less time arboreally in open vegetation and showed similar locomotor and postural behavior on the same substrates, notably using a high level of suspensory locomotion when arboreal. Females were, however, more arboreal than males during locomotor behavior, as well as compared with females from other communities. Issa males behaved similarly to males from other communities. CONCLUSION Results suggest that open habitats do not elicit less arboreal behaviors in either sex, and may even select for suspensory locomotion to effectively navigate an open canopy. An open habitat may, however, increase sex differences in positional behavior by driving female arboreality. We suggest this is because of higher energetic demands and predator pressures associated with open vegetation, which are likely exaggerated for reproducing females. These results have implications for the interpretation of how sexual dimorphism may influence reconstructions of hominin positional behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tracy L Kivell
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | | | - Fiona A Stewart
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Alex K Piel
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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2
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Fillion EN, Harrison T. Hominin turnover at Laetoli is associated with vegetation change: Multiproxy evidence from the large herbivore community. J Hum Evol 2024; 191:103546. [PMID: 38795630 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/28/2024]
Abstract
Vegetation change in eastern Africa during the Pliocene would have had an important impact on hominin adaptation and ecology, and it may have been a key driver of hominin macroevolution, including the extinction of Australopithecus and the emergence of Paranthropus and Homo. The Pliocene paleoanthropological site of Laetoli in Tanzania provides an opportunity to investigate the relationship between vegetation change and hominin turnover because it encompasses the time period when grass cover was spreading across eastern Africa and because hominin species turnover occurred locally at Laetoli, with Paranthropus aethiopicus in the Upper Ndolanya Beds (UNB) replacing Australopithecus afarensis in the Upper Laetolil Beds (ULB). However, it remains unresolved how the vegetation of the UNB and the ULB differed from each other. To examine differences between the two stratigraphic units, multiple proxies-hypsodonty, mesowear, and stable carbon isotopes of tooth enamel (δ13Cenamel)-are used to infer the diets of large herbivores and compare the dietary guild structure of the large herbivore communities. All three proxies indicate an increase in the abrasiveness and C4-content in the diets of the large herbivores in the UNB relative to those in the ULB. After inferring the diets of species based on all three proxies, the large herbivore community of the UNB had a greater proportion of grazers and a smaller proportion of mixed feeders than in the ULB but maintained a similar proportion of browsers and frugivores. The ULB community has few modern-day analogs, whereas the UNB community is most closely analogous to those in modern African grasslands. Thus, hominin turnover at Laetoli is associated with an increase in grass cover within a woodland-grassland mosaic and is part of a broader transformation of the herbivore community structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth N Fillion
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
| | - Terry Harrison
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Pl., New York, NY, 10003, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, 10024, USA
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3
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Finestone EM, Plummer TW, Vincent TH, Blumenthal SA, Ditchfield PW, Bishop LC, Oliver JS, Herries AIR, Palfery CV, Lane TP, McGuire E, Reeves JS, Rodés A, Whitfield E, Braun DR, Bartilol SK, Rotich NK, Parkinson JA, Lemorini C, Caricola I, Kinyanjui RN, Potts R. New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2024; 190:103498. [PMID: 38581918 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
The Homa Peninsula, in southwestern Kenya, continues to yield insights into Oldowan hominin landscape behaviors. The Late Pliocene locality of Nyayanga (∼3-2.6 Ma) preserves some of the oldest Oldowan tools. At the Early Pleistocene locality of Kanjera South (∼2 Ma) toolmakers procured a diversity of raw materials from over 10 km away and strategically reduced them in a grassland-dominated ecosystem. Here, we report findings from Sare-Abururu, a younger (∼1.7 Ma) Oldowan locality approximately 12 km southeast of Kanjera South and 18 km east of Nyayanga. Sare-Abururu has yielded 1754 artifacts in relatively undisturbed low-energy silts and sands. Stable isotopic analysis of pedogenic carbonates suggests that hominin activities were carried out in a grassland-dominated setting with similar vegetation structure as documented at Kanjera South. The composition of a nearby paleo-conglomerate indicates that high-quality stone raw materials were locally abundant. Toolmakers at Sare-Abururu produced angular fragments from quartz pebbles, representing a considerable contrast to the strategies used to reduce high quality raw materials at Kanjera South. Although lithic reduction at Sare-Abururu was technologically simple, toolmakers proficiently produced cutting edges, made few mistakes and exhibited a mastery of platform management, demonstrating that expedient technical strategies do not necessarily indicate a lack of skill or suitable raw materials. Lithic procurement and reduction patterns on the Homa Peninsula appear to reflect variation in local resource contexts rather than large-scale evolutionary changes in mobility, energy budget, or toolmaker cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma M Finestone
- Department of Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Dr, Cleveland, OH, 44113, United States; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.
| | - Thomas W Plummer
- Department of Anthropology, Queens College, 314 Powdermaker Hall 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Flushing, Flushing, NY, 11367, United States; The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States
| | - Thomas H Vincent
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - Scott A Blumenthal
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States; Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2020 - 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Peter W Ditchfield
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 S Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
| | - Laura C Bishop
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - James S Oliver
- Anthropology Section, Illinois State Museum, 502 S Spring St, Springfield, IL, 62706, United States
| | - Andy I R Herries
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia; Paleo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, 42 Bunting Rd, Cottesloe, Johannesburg, 2092, South Africa
| | - Christopher Vere Palfery
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia
| | - Timothy P Lane
- Geography and Environmental Science Research Group, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth McGuire
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States
| | - Jonathan S Reeves
- Technological Origins Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, United States
| | - Angel Rodés
- Departamento de Xeografía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Praza da Universidade,1, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Rankine Ave, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Whitfield
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - David R Braun
- Technological Origins Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, United States
| | - Simion K Bartilol
- Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nelson Kiprono Rotich
- Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya; Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Dorodna 16, 03-195, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jennifer A Parkinson
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park Way, San Diego, CA, 92110, United States
| | - Cristina Lemorini
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Isabella Caricola
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy; Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University, 199 Aba Hushi Avenue, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Rahab N Kinyanjui
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Richard Potts
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya
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4
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Kappelman J, Todd LC, Davis CA, Cerling TE, Feseha M, Getahun A, Johnsen R, Kay M, Kocurek GA, Nachman BA, Negash A, Negash T, O'Brien K, Pante M, Ren M, Smith EI, Tabor NJ, Tewabe D, Wang H, Yang D, Yirga S, Crowell JW, Fanuka MF, Habtie T, Hirniak JN, Klehm C, Loewen ND, Melaku S, Melton SM, Myers TS, Millonig S, Plummer MC, Riordan KJ, Rosenau NA, Skinner A, Thompson AK, Trombetta LM, Witzel A, Assefa E, Bodansky M, Desta AA, Campisano CJ, Dalmas D, Elliott C, Endalamaw M, Ford NJ, Foster F, Getachew T, Haney YL, Ingram BH, Jackson J, Marean CW, Mattox S, de la Cruz Medina K, Mulubrhan G, Porter K, Roberts A, Santillan P, Sollenberger A, Sponholtz J, Valdes J, Wyman L, Yadeta M, Yanny S. Adaptive foraging behaviours in the Horn of Africa during Toba supereruption. Nature 2024; 628:365-372. [PMID: 38509364 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07208-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Although modern humans left Africa multiple times over 100,000 years ago, those broadly ancestral to non-Africans dispersed less than 100,000 years ago1. Most models hold that these events occurred through green corridors created during humid periods because arid intervals constrained population movements2. Here we report an archaeological site-Shinfa-Metema 1, in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia, with Youngest Toba Tuff cryptotephra dated to around 74,000 years ago-that provides early and rare evidence of intensive riverine-based foraging aided by the likely adoption of the bow and arrow. The diet included a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic animals. Stable oxygen isotopes from fossil mammal teeth and ostrich eggshell show that the site was occupied during a period of high seasonal aridity. The unusual abundance of fish suggests that capture occurred in the ever smaller and shallower waterholes of a seasonal river during a long dry season, revealing flexible adaptations to challenging climatic conditions during the Middle Stone Age. Adaptive foraging along dry-season waterholes would have transformed seasonal rivers into 'blue highway' corridors, potentially facilitating an out-of-Africa dispersal and suggesting that the event was not restricted to times of humid climates. The behavioural flexibility required to survive seasonally arid conditions in general, and the apparent short-term effects of the Toba supereruption in particular were probably key to the most recent dispersal and subsequent worldwide expansion of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Kappelman
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
| | - Lawrence C Todd
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | | | - Thure E Cerling
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Mulugeta Feseha
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Abebe Getahun
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Racheal Johnsen
- Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Marvin Kay
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Gary A Kocurek
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Brett A Nachman
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Agazi Negash
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Tewabe Negash
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Kaedan O'Brien
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Michael Pante
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Minghua Ren
- Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Eugene I Smith
- Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Neil J Tabor
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Dereje Tewabe
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Bahir Dar Fisheries and Other Aquatic Life Research Centre, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
| | - Hong Wang
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Deming Yang
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Solomon Yirga
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Jordan W Crowell
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Matthew F Fanuka
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Teshager Habtie
- Department of History and Heritage Management, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
| | - Jayde N Hirniak
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Carla Klehm
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | | | | | - Sierra M Melton
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Timothy S Myers
- Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Sarah Millonig
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Megan C Plummer
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Keenan J Riordan
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Nicholas A Rosenau
- Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Anne Skinner
- Chemistry Department, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA
| | - Abraham K Thompson
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Lindsey M Trombetta
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Adrienne Witzel
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Ephrem Assefa
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Maria Bodansky
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Ayenachew A Desta
- Department of Geology, School of Earth Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
| | - Christopher J Campisano
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Daniel Dalmas
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Connor Elliott
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Metasebia Endalamaw
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Ethiopian Heritage Authority, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Nicholas J Ford
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Frederick Foster
- Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Tomas Getachew
- Ethiopian Heritage Authority, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Évolution Paléoécosystèmes Paléoprimatologie, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Yibai Li Haney
- Chemistry Department, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA
| | - Brittney H Ingram
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Jonayah Jackson
- Chemistry Department, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA
| | - Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Sissi Mattox
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Karla de la Cruz Medina
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Gebretsadkan Mulubrhan
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Keri Porter
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Alexis Roberts
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Perla Santillan
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Alaric Sollenberger
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Julia Sponholtz
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Jessica Valdes
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Lani Wyman
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Meklit Yadeta
- Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Program, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Sierra Yanny
- National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
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Smith TM, Arora M, Austin C, Nunes Ávila J, Duval M, Lim TT, Piper PJ, Vaiglova P, de Vos J, Williams IS, Zhao JX, Green DR. Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation. eLife 2024; 12:RP90217. [PMID: 38457350 PMCID: PMC10942278 DOI: 10.7554/elife.90217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Studies of climate variation commonly rely on chemical and isotopic changes recorded in sequentially produced growth layers, such as in corals, shells, and tree rings, as well as in accretionary deposits-ice and sediment cores, and speleothems. Oxygen isotopic compositions (δ18O) of tooth enamel are a direct method of reconstructing environmental variation experienced by an individual animal. Here, we utilize long-forming orangutan dentitions (Pongo spp.) to probe recent and ancient rainfall trends on a weekly basis over ~3-11 years per individual. We first demonstrate the lack of any consistent isotopic enrichment effect during exclusive nursing, supporting the use of primate first molar teeth as environmental proxies. Comparisons of δ18O values (n=2016) in twelve molars from six modern Bornean and Sumatran orangutans reveal a high degree of overlap, with more consistent annual and bimodal rainfall patterns in the Sumatran individuals. Comparisons with fossil orangutan δ18O values (n=955 measurements from six molars) reveal similarities between modern and late Pleistocene fossil Sumatran individuals, but differences between modern and late Pleistocene/early Holocene Bornean orangutans. These suggest drier and more open environments with reduced monsoon intensity during this earlier period in northern Borneo, consistent with other Niah Caves studies and long-term speleothem δ18O records in the broader region. This approach can be extended to test hypotheses about the paleoenvironments that early humans encountered in southeast Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya M Smith
- Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
| | - Manish Arora
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew YorkUnited States
| | - Christine Austin
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew YorkUnited States
| | - Janaína Nunes Ávila
- Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- School of the Environment, The University of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
| | - Mathieu Duval
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)BurgosSpain
- Palaeoscience Labs, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | - Tze Tshen Lim
- Department of Geology, Universiti MalayaKuala LumpurMalaysia
| | - Philip J Piper
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National UniversityCanberraAustralia
| | - Petra Vaiglova
- Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National UniversityCanberraAustralia
| | - John de Vos
- Department of Geology, Naturalis Biodiversity CenterLeidenNetherlands
| | - Ian S Williams
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National UniversityCanberraAustralia
| | - Jian-xin Zhao
- Radiogenic Isotope Facility, School of the Environment, The University of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
| | - Daniel R Green
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversitySouthportAustralia
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityCambridgeUnited States
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6
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Boës X, Van Bocxlaer B, Prat S, Feibel C, Lewis J, Arrighi V, Taylor N, Harmand S. Aridity, availability of drinking water and freshwater foods, and hominin and archeological sites during the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene in the western region of the Turkana Basin (Kenya): A review. J Hum Evol 2024; 186:103466. [PMID: 38134581 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Although the Turkana Basin is one of the driest regions of the East African Rift, its Plio-Pleistocene sediments are rich in freshwater vertebrates and invertebrates, providing evidence that freshwater resources were available to hominins in this region during the Plio-Pleistocene (4.2-0.7 Ma). Here we provide an overview of the hydroconnectivity of the Turkana Basin. We then review the period during which freshwater river and lake systems expanded into the western region of the Turkana Basin, where hominin and archeological sites have been discovered in sediments dating back to the Late Pliocene-Pleistocene. Freshwater conditions are reconstructed from river and lake sediments and the flora and micro- and macofauna they contain. Data synthesis suggests that drinking water and freshwater foods prevailed in the western region of the Turkana Basin at 4.20-3.98 Ma, 3.70-3.10 Ma, 2.53-2.22 Ma, then between 2.10 and 1.30 Ma and intermittently from 1.27 to 0.75 Ma. Milestones in hominin evolution occurred in this context, such as the first occurrence of Australopithecus anamensis (4.20-4.10 Ma) and Kenyanthropus platyops (3.50 Ma and 3.30-3.20 Ma), the presence of Paranthropus aethiopicus (2.53-2.45 Ma), early Homo (2.33 Ma), Paranthropus boisei (2.25 Ma and 1.77-1.72 Ma) and Homo ergaster/Homo erectus (1.75 Ma, 1.47-1.42 Ma and 1.10-0.90 Ma). Developments in hominin behavior also occurred during this timeframe, including the first known stone tools (3.30 Ma), the oldest Oldowan sites (2.34 Ma and 2.25 Ma) in the Turkana Basin, the earliest known evidence for the emergence of bifacial shaping in eastern Africa (1.80 Ma), and the first known Acheulean site (1.76 Ma). Our synthesis suggests that, diachronic variation in hydroconnectivity played a role on the amount of drinking water and freshwater foods available in the western region of the Turkana Basin, despite regional aridity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Boës
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP), 140 Avenue Du Maréchal Leclerc, 33323 Bordeaux-Bègles, France; CNRS/MNHN/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, UMR 7194, Musée de L'Homme, Palais Chaillot, 17 Place Du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris Cedex 16, France; Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
| | | | - Sandrine Prat
- CNRS/MNHN/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, UMR 7194, Musée de L'Homme, Palais Chaillot, 17 Place Du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris Cedex 16, France
| | - Craig Feibel
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
| | - Jason Lewis
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Chronicle Heritage, 319 E Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
| | - Vincent Arrighi
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP), 13 Rue Du Négoce, 31650 Orens de Gameville, France
| | - Nicholas Taylor
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Turkana University College, Lodwar Rd., Lodwar, Kenya
| | - Sonia Harmand
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Laboratoire TRACES-UMR 5608, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de La Recherche, 5 Allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France; Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (IFRA), UMIFRE, USR 3336, CNRS, Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa, Nairobi, Kenya
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7
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Lauer DA, Lawing AM, Short RA, Manthi FK, Müller J, Head JJ, McGuire JL. Disruption of trait-environment relationships in African megafauna occurred in the middle Pleistocene. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4016. [PMID: 37463920 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39480-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Mammalian megafauna have been critical to the functioning of Earth's biosphere for millions of years. However, since the Plio-Pleistocene, their biodiversity has declined concurrently with dramatic environmental change and hominin evolution. While these biodiversity declines are well-documented, their implications for the ecological function of megafaunal communities remain uncertain. Here, we adapt ecometric methods to evaluate whether the functional link between communities of herbivorous, eastern African megafauna and their environments (i.e., functional trait-environment relationships) was disrupted as biodiversity losses occurred over the past 7.4 Ma. Herbivore taxonomic and functional diversity began to decline during the Pliocene as open grassland habitats emerged, persisted, and expanded. In the mid-Pleistocene, grassland expansion intensified, and climates became more variable and arid. It was then that phylogenetic diversity declined, and the trait-environment relationships of herbivore communities shifted significantly. Our results divulge the varying implications of different losses in megafaunal biodiversity. Only the losses that occurred since the mid-Pleistocene were coincident with a disturbance to community ecological function. Prior diversity losses, conversely, occurred as the megafaunal species and trait pool narrowed towards those adapted to grassland environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A Lauer
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
| | - A Michelle Lawing
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Rachel A Short
- Department of Natural Resource Management, South Dakota State University, Rapid City, SD, 57703, USA
| | - Fredrick K Manthi
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Johannes Müller
- Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jason J Head
- Department of Zoology and University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Jenny L McGuire
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
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8
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Bibi F, Cantalapiedra JL. Plio-Pleistocene African megaherbivore losses associated with community biomass restructuring. Science 2023; 380:1076-1080. [PMID: 37289876 DOI: 10.1126/science.add8366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Fossil abundance data can reveal ecological dynamics underpinning taxonomic declines. Using fossil dental metrics, we reconstructed body mass and mass-abundance distributions in Late Miocene to recent African large mammal communities. Despite collection biases, fossil and extant mass-abundance distributions are highly similar, with unimodal distributions likely reflecting savanna environments. Above 45 kilograms, abundance decreases exponentially with mass, with slopes close to -0.75, as predicted by metabolic scaling. Furthermore, communities before ~4 million years ago had considerably more large-sized individuals, with a greater proportion of total biomass allocated in larger size categories, than did later communities. Over time, individuals and biomass were redistributed into smaller size categories, reflecting a gradual loss of large-sized individuals from the fossil record paralleling the long-term decline of Plio-Pleistocene large mammal diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faysal Bibi
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- GloCEE-Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
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9
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Villaseñor A, Uno KT, Kinyanjui RN, Behrensmeyer AK, Bobe R, Advokaat EL, Bamford M, Carvalho SC, Hammond AS, Palcu DV, Sier MJ, Ward CV, Braun DR. Pliocene hominins from East Turkana were associated with mesic environments in a semiarid basin. J Hum Evol 2023; 180:103385. [PMID: 37229946 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
During the middle Pliocene (∼3.8-3.2 Ma), both Australopithecus afarensis and Kenyanthropus platyops are known from the Turkana Basin, but between 3.60 and 3.44 Ma, most hominin fossils are found on the west side of Lake Turkana. Here, we describe a new hominin locality (ET03-166/168, Area 129) from the east side of the lake, in the Lokochot Member of the Koobi Fora Formation (3.60-3.44 Ma). To reconstruct the paleoecology of the locality and its surroundings, we combine information from sedimentology, the relative abundance of associated mammalian fauna, phytoliths, and stable isotopes from plant wax biomarkers, pedogenic carbonates, and fossil tooth enamel. The combined evidence provides a detailed view of the local paleoenvironment occupied by these Pliocene hominins, where a biodiverse community of primates, including hominins, and other mammals inhabited humid, grassy woodlands in a fluvial floodplain setting. Between <3.596 and 3.44 Ma, increases in woody vegetation were, at times, associated with increases in arid-adapted grasses. This suggests that Pliocene vegetation included woody species that were resilient to periods of prolonged aridity, resembling vegetation structure in the Turkana Basin today, where arid-adapted woody plants are a significant component of the ecosystem. Pedogenic carbonates indicate more woody vegetation than other vegetation proxies, possibly due to differences in temporospatial scale and ecological biases in preservation that should be accounted for in future studies. These new hominin fossils and associated multiproxy paleoenvironmental indicators from a single locale through time suggest that early hominin species occupied a wide range of habitats, possibly including wetlands within semiarid landscapes. Local-scale paleoecological evidence from East Turkana supports regional evidence that middle Pliocene eastern Africa may have experienced large-scale, climate-driven periods of aridity. This information extends our understanding of hominin environments beyond the limits of simple wooded, grassy, or mosaic environmental descriptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Villaseñor
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Arkansas, 330 Old Main, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA.
| | - Kevin T Uno
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Division of Biology and Paleo Environment, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA
| | - Rahab N Kinyanjui
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, 40658-00100, Kenya; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 121, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 121, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - René Bobe
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN, UK; Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique
| | - Eldert L Advokaat
- Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8A, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Marion Bamford
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa
| | - Susana C Carvalho
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN, UK; Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
| | - Ashley S Hammond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York, NY, 10024, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology at AMNH, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Dan V Palcu
- Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo, Brazil; Paleomagnetic Laboratory 'Fort Hoofddijk', Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 17, 3584 CD, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Mark J Sier
- Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3AN, Oxford, UK; Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8A, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Carol V Ward
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
| | - David R Braun
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Anthropology Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
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10
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Munday C, Savage N, Jones RG, Washington R. Valley formation aridifies East Africa and elevates Congo Basin rainfall. Nature 2023; 615:276-279. [PMID: 36859546 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05662-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
East African aridification during the past 8 million years is frequently invoked as a driver of large-scale shifts in vegetation1 and the evolution of new animal lineages, including hominins2-4. However, evidence for increasing aridity is debated5 and, crucially, the mechanisms leading to dry conditions are unclear6. Here, numerical model experiments show that valleys punctuating the 6,000-km-long East African Rift System (EARS) are central to the development of dry conditions in East Africa. These valleys, including the Turkana Basin in Kenya, cause East Africa to dry by channelling water vapour towards Central Africa, a process that simultaneously enhances rainfall in the Congo Basin rainforest. Without the valleys, the uplift of the rift system leads to a wetter climate in East Africa and a drier climate in the Congo Basin. Results from climate model experiments demonstrate that the detailed tectonic development of Africa has shaped the rainfall distribution, with profound implications for the evolution of African plant and animal lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Callum Munday
- Climate Research Lab, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | | | | | - Richard Washington
- Climate Research Lab, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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11
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Drummond-Clarke RC, Kivell TL, Sarringhaus L, Stewart FA, Humle T, Piel AK. Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadd9752. [PMID: 36516260 PMCID: PMC9750136 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add9752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Bipedalism, a defining feature of the human lineage, is thought to have evolved as forests retreated in the late Miocene-Pliocene. Chimpanzees living in analogous habitats to early hominins offer a unique opportunity to investigate the ecological drivers of bipedalism that cannot be addressed via the fossil record alone. We investigated positional behavior and terrestriality in a savanna-mosaic community of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Issa Valley, Tanzania as the first test in a living ape of the hypothesis that wooded, savanna habitats were a catalyst for terrestrial bipedalism. Contrary to widely accepted hypotheses of increased terrestriality selecting for habitual bipedalism, results indicate that trees remained an essential component of the hominin adaptive niche, with bipedalism evolving in an arboreal context, likely driven by foraging strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tracy L. Kivell
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
- Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Lauren Sarringhaus
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Fiona A. Stewart
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Tatyana Humle
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Alex K. Piel
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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12
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Lüdecke T, Leichliter JN, Aldeias V, Bamford MK, Biro D, Braun DR, Capelli C, Cybulski JD, Duprey NN, Ferreira da Silva MJ, Foreman AD, Habermann JM, Haug GH, Martínez FI, Mathe J, Mulch A, Sigman DM, Vonhof H, Bobe R, Carvalho S, Martínez-García A. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen stable isotopes in modern tooth enamel: A case study from Gorongosa National Park, central Mozambique. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.958032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The analyses of the stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and oxygen (δ18O) in animal tissues are powerful tools for reconstructing the feeding behavior of individual animals and characterizing trophic interactions in food webs. Of these biomaterials, tooth enamel is the hardest, most mineralized vertebrate tissue and therefore least likely to be affected by chemical alteration (i.e., its isotopic composition can be preserved over millions of years), making it an important and widely available archive for biologists and paleontologists. Here, we present the first combined measurements of δ13C, δ15N, and δ18O in enamel from the teeth of modern fauna (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores) from the well-studied ecosystem of Gorongosa National Park (GNP) in central Mozambique. We use two novel methods to produce high-precision stable isotope enamel data: (i) the “oxidation-denitrification method,” which permits the measurement of mineral-bound organic nitrogen in tooth enamel (δ15Nenamel), which until now, has not been possible due to enamel’s low organic content, and (ii) the “cold trap method,” which greatly reduces the sample size required for traditional measurements of inorganic δ13Cenamel and δ18Oenamel (from ≥0.5 to ≤0.1 mg), permitting analysis of small or valuable teeth and high-resolution serial sampling of enamel. The stable isotope results for GNP fauna reveal important ecological information about the trophic level, dietary niche, and resource consumption. δ15Nenamel values clearly differentiate trophic level (i.e., carnivore δ15Nenamel values are 4.0‰ higher, on average, than herbivores), δ13Cenamel values distinguish C3 and/or C4 biomass consumption, and δ18Oenamel values reflect local meteoric water (δ18Owater) in the park. Analysis of combined carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen stable isotope data permits geochemical separation of grazers, browsers, omnivores, and carnivores according to their isotopic niche, while mixed-feeding herbivores cannot be clearly distinguished from other dietary groups. These results confirm that combined C, N, and O isotope analyses of a single aliquot of tooth enamel can be used to reconstruct diet and trophic niches. Given its resistance to chemical alteration, the analysis of these three isotopes in tooth enamel has a high potential to open new avenues of research in (paleo)ecology and paleontology.
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13
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Herzog NM, Pruetz JD, Hawkes K. Investigating foundations for hominin fire exploitation: Savanna-dwelling chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in fire-altered landscapes. J Hum Evol 2022; 167:103193. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2021] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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14
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Rathmann J, Korpela KM, Stojakowits P. Pleistocene Hypothesis - Moving Savanna Perceptual Preference Hypothesis Beyond Savanna. Front Psychol 2022; 13:901799. [PMID: 35707668 PMCID: PMC9191227 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We provide an extension of the Savanna perceptual preference hypothesis ("Savanna Hypothesis"), supposing that interaction with landscapes offering survival advantage for human groups during evolution might have gradually evolved to permanent landscape preferences. This additional support is based on the palaeoenvironmental analysis of the spread of modern humans into Europe in the late Pleistocene and their living environments there. Our hypothesis is that the preference for park-like landscapes after African savannas experienced a kind of "refreshment" in the Pleistocene. Thus, preferences for certain types of natural settings and scenes may have a more continuous evolutionary history than previously thought. The extended Savanna Hypothesis termed "Pleistocene Hypothesis" might stimulate further work on this important topic linking human evolution and human environmental preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kalevi M. Korpela
- Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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15
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Lameira AR, Alexandre A, Gamba M, Nowak MG, Vicente R, Wich S. Orangutan information broadcast via consonant-like and vowel-like calls breaches mathematical models of linguistic evolution. Biol Lett 2021; 17:20210302. [PMID: 34582737 PMCID: PMC8478518 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The origin of language is one of the most significant evolutionary milestones of life on Earth, but one of the most persevering scientific unknowns. Two decades ago, game theorists and mathematicians predicted that the first words and grammar emerged as a response to transmission errors and information loss in language's precursor system, however, empirical proof is lacking. Here, we assessed information loss in proto-consonants and proto-vowels in human pre-linguistic ancestors as proxied by orangutan consonant-like and vowel-like calls that compose syllable-like combinations. We played back and re-recorded calls at increasing distances across a structurally complex habitat (i.e. adverse to sound transmission). Consonant-like and vowel-like calls degraded acoustically over distance, but no information loss was detected regarding three distinct classes of information (viz. individual ID, context and population ID). Our results refute prevailing mathematical predictions and herald a turning point in language evolution theory and heuristics. Namely, explaining how the vocal–verbal continuum was crossed in the hominid family will benefit from future mathematical and computational models that, in order to enjoy empirical validity and superior explanatory power, will be informed by great ape behaviour and repertoire.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adriano R Lameira
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.,School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | | | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Matthew G Nowak
- Sumatran Orangutan Research Programme, PanEco-YEL, North Sumatra, Indonesia.,Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA
| | - Raquel Vicente
- Independent researcher, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Serge Wich
- School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.,Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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16
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Faith JT, Du A, Behrensmeyer AK, Davies B, Patterson DB, Rowan J, Wood B. Rethinking the ecological drivers of hominin evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:797-807. [PMID: 34059368 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
A central goal of paleoanthropology is understanding the role of ecological change in hominin evolution. Over the past several decades researchers have expanded the hominin fossil record and assembled detailed late Cenozoic paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoecological archives. However, effective use of these data is precluded by the limitations of pattern-matching strategies for inferring causal relationships between ecological and evolutionary change. We examine several obstacles that have hindered progress, and highlight recent research that is addressing them by (i) confronting an incomplete fossil record, (ii) contending with datasets spanning varied spatiotemporal scales, and (iii) using theoretical frameworks to build stronger inferences. Expanding on this work promises to transform challenges into opportunities and set the stage for a new phase of paleoanthropological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA; Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
| | - Andrew Du
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Benjamin Davies
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - David B Patterson
- Department of Biology, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, GA 30597, USA
| | - John Rowan
- Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222, USA
| | - Bernard Wood
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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17
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Janzen A, Richter KK, Mwebi O, Brown S, Onduso V, Gatwiri F, Ndiema E, Katongo M, Goldstein ST, Douka K, Boivin N. Distinguishing African bovids using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): New peptide markers and insights into Iron Age economies in Zambia. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0251061. [PMID: 34003857 PMCID: PMC8130928 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Assessing past foodways, subsistence strategies, and environments depends on the accurate identification of animals in the archaeological record. The high rates of fragmentation and often poor preservation of animal bones at many archaeological sites across sub-Saharan Africa have rendered archaeofaunal specimens unidentifiable beyond broad categories, such as “large mammal” or “medium bovid”. Identification of archaeofaunal specimens through Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), or peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen, offers an avenue for identification of morphologically ambiguous or unidentifiable bone fragments from such assemblages. However, application of ZooMS analysis has been hindered by a lack of complete reference peptide markers for African taxa, particularly bovids. Here we present the complete set of confirmed ZooMS peptide markers for members of all African bovid tribes. We also identify two novel peptide markers that can be used to further distinguish between bovid groups. We demonstrate that nearly all African bovid subfamilies are distinguishable using ZooMS methods, and some differences exist between tribes or sub-tribes, as is the case for Bovina (cattle) vs. Bubalina (African buffalo) within the subfamily Bovinae. We use ZooMS analysis to identify specimens from extremely fragmented faunal assemblages from six Late Holocene archaeological sites in Zambia. ZooMS-based identifications reveal greater taxonomic richness than analyses based solely on morphology, and these new identifications illuminate Iron Age subsistence economies c. 2200–500 cal BP. While the Iron Age in Zambia is associated with the transition from hunting and foraging to the development of farming and herding, our results demonstrate the continued reliance on wild bovids among Iron Age communities in central and southwestern Zambia Iron Age and herding focused primarily on cattle. We also outline further potential applications of ZooMS in African archaeology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anneke Janzen
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Kristine Korzow Richter
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Ogeto Mwebi
- Department of Zoology, Osteology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Samantha Brown
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Veronicah Onduso
- Department of Zoology, Osteology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Filia Gatwiri
- Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Maggie Katongo
- Department of Archaeology, Livingstone Museum, Livingstone, Zambia
| | - Steven T. Goldstein
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America
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18
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Quinn RL, Lepre CJ. Contracting eastern African C 4 grasslands during the extinction of Paranthropus boisei. Sci Rep 2021; 11:7164. [PMID: 33785831 PMCID: PMC8009881 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86642-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The extinction of the Paranthropus boisei estimated to just before 1 Ma occurred when C4 grasslands dominated landscapes of the Eastern African Rift System (EARS). P. boisei has been characterized as an herbivorous C4 specialist, and paradoxically, its demise coincided with habitats favorable to its dietary ecology. Here we report new pedogenic carbonate stable carbon (δ13CPC) and oxygen (δ18OPC) values (nodules = 53, analyses = 95) from an under-sampled interval (1.4-0.7 Ma) in the Turkana Basin (Kenya), one of the most fossiliferous locales of P. boisei. We combined our new results with published δ13CPC values from the EARS dated to 3-0 Ma, conducted time-series analysis of woody cover (ƒWC), and compared the EARS ƒWC trends to regional and global paleo-environmental and -climatic datasets. Our results demonstrate that the long-term rise of C4 grasslands was punctuated by a transient but significant increase in C3 vegetation and warmer temperatures, coincident with the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1.3-0.7 Ma) and implicating a short-term rise in pCO2. The contraction of C4 grasslands escalated dietary competition amongst the abundant C4-feeders, likely influencing P. boisei's demise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhonda L Quinn
- Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice, Seton Hall University, 400 South Orange Ave, South Orange, NJ, 07079, USA.
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
| | - Christopher J Lepre
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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19
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Dumouchel L, Bobe R, Wynn JG, Barr WA. The environments of Australopithecus anamensis at Allia Bay, Kenya: A multiproxy analysis of early Pliocene Bovidae. J Hum Evol 2021; 151:102928. [PMID: 33453510 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Revised: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Australopithecus anamensis, among the earliest fully bipedal hominin species, lived in eastern Africa around 4 Ma. Much of what is currently known about the paleoecology of A. anamensis comes from the type locality, Kanapoi, Kenya. Here, we extend knowledge of the range of environments occupied by A. anamensis by presenting the first multiproxy paleoecological analysis focusing on Bovidae excavated from another important locality where A. anamensis was recovered, locality 261-1 (ca. 3.97 Ma) at Allia Bay, East Turkana, Kenya. Paleoenvironments are reconstructed using astragalar ecomorphology, mesowear, hypsodonty index, and oxygen and carbon isotopes from dental enamel. We compare our results to those obtained from Kanapoi. Our results show that the bovid community composition is similar between the two fossil assemblages. Allia Bay and Kanapoi bovid astragalar ecomorphology spans the spectrum of modern morphologies indicative of grassland, woodland, and even forest-adapted forms. Dietary reconstructions based on stable isotopes, mesowear, and hypsodonty reveal that these bovids' diet encompassed the full C3 to C4 dietary spectrum and overlap in the two data sets. Our results allow us to confidently extend our reconstructions of the paleoenvironments of A. anamensis at Kanapoi to Allia Bay, where this pivotal hominin species is associated with heterogeneous settings including habitats with varying degrees of tree cover, including grasslands, bushlands, and woodlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurence Dumouchel
- Department of Anthropology, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount Street, Wichita, KS 67260, USA.
| | - René Bobe
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Rd, Park Town, Oxford, OX2 6PN, UK; Paleo-Primate Project Gorongosa, Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), Universidade Do Algarve, Campus de Penha, Faro, 8005-139, Portugal
| | - Jonathan G Wynn
- Division of Earth Sciences, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
| | - W Andrew Barr
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 800 22(nd)Street Northwest, Suite 6000, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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20
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Best AW. Why does strength training improve endurance performance? Am J Hum Biol 2020; 33:e23526. [PMID: 33089638 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The specificity of training principle holds that adaptations to exercise training closely match capacity to the specific demands of the stimulus. Improvements in endurance sport performance gained through strength training are a notable exception to this principle. While the proximate mechanisms for how strength training produces muscular adaptations beneficial to endurance sports are increasingly well understood, the ultimate causes of this phenomenon remain unexplored. METHODS Using a holistic approach tying together exercise physiology and evolution, I argue that we can reconcile the apparent "endurance training specificity paradox." RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Competing selective pressures, inherited mammalian biology, and millennia of living in energy-scarce environments constrained our evolution as endurance athletes, but also imparted high muscular plasticity which can be exploited to improve endurance performance beyond what was useful in our evolutionary past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Best
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
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21
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Stewart M, Clark-Wilson R, Breeze PS, Janulis K, Candy I, Armitage SJ, Ryves DB, Louys J, Duval M, Price GJ, Cuthbertson P, Bernal MA, Drake NA, Alsharekh AM, Zahrani B, Al-Omari A, Roberts P, Groucutt HS, Petraglia MD. Human footprints provide snapshot of last interglacial ecology in the Arabian interior. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/38/eaba8940. [PMID: 32948582 PMCID: PMC7500939 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba8940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The nature of human dispersals out of Africa has remained elusive because of the poor resolution of paleoecological data in direct association with remains of the earliest non-African people. Here, we report hominin and non-hominin mammalian tracks from an ancient lake deposit in the Arabian Peninsula, dated within the last interglacial. The findings, it is argued, likely represent the oldest securely dated evidence for Homo sapiens in Arabia. The paleoecological evidence indicates a well-watered semi-arid grassland setting during human movements into the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia. We conclude that visitation to the lake was transient, likely serving as a place to drink and to forage, and that late Pleistocene human and mammalian migrations and landscape use patterns in Arabia were inexorably linked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathew Stewart
- Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Richard Clark-Wilson
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
| | - Paul S Breeze
- Department of Geography, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Klint Janulis
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
| | - Ian Candy
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Simon J Armitage
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapiensCE), University of Bergen, Post Box 7805, 5020 Bergen, Norway
| | - David B Ryves
- Geography and Environment, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics LE11 3TU, UK
| | - Julien Louys
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
| | - Mathieu Duval
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos09002, Spain
| | - Gilbert J Price
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Patrick Cuthbertson
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Marco A Bernal
- Fundación Instituto de Investigación de Prehistoria y Evolución Humama. PALEOMÁGINA, Centro de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Sierra Mágina Calle Nueva s/n; 23537 Bedmar (Jaén), Spain
| | - Nick A Drake
- Department of Geography, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Abdullah M Alsharekh
- Department of Archaeology, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Badr Zahrani
- Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abdulaziz Al-Omari
- Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Huw S Groucutt
- Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany.
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
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22
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Revisiting the pedogenic carbonate isotopes and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Kanapoi. J Hum Evol 2020; 140:102549. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Revised: 09/15/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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23
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Quantifying water requirements of African ungulates through a combination of functional traits. ECOL MONOGR 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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24
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Faurby S, Silvestro D, Werdelin L, Antonelli A. Brain expansion in early hominins predicts carnivore extinctions in East Africa. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:537-544. [PMID: 31943670 PMCID: PMC7079157 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2019] [Revised: 07/09/2019] [Accepted: 11/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
While the anthropogenic impact on ecosystems today is evident, it remains unclear if the detrimental effect of hominins on co-occurring biodiversity is a recent phenomenon or has also been the pattern for earlier hominin species. We test this using the East African carnivore fossil record. We analyse the diversity of carnivores over the last four million years and investigate whether any decline is related to an increase in hominin cognitive capacity, vegetation changes or climatic changes. We find that extinction rates in large carnivores correlate with increased hominin brain size and with vegetation changes, but not with precipitation or temperature changes. While temporal analyses cannot distinguish between the effects of vegetation changes and hominins, we show through spatial analyses of contemporary carnivores in Africa that only hominin causation is plausible. Our results suggest that substantial anthropogenic influence on biodiversity started millions of years earlier than currently assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Søren Faurby
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden.,Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden.,Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden.,Department of Computational Biology, Biophore, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Lars Werdelin
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE, 10405, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden.,Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, SE, 40530, Göteborg, Sweden.,Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, U.K
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25
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Mercader J, Clarke S, Bundala M, Favreau J, Inwood J, Itambu M, Larter F, Lee P, Lewiski-McQuaid G, Mollel N, Mwambwiga A, Patalano R, Soto M, Tucker L, Walde D. Soil and plant phytoliths from the Acacia-Commiphora mosaics at Oldupai Gorge (Tanzania). PeerJ 2019; 7:e8211. [PMID: 31844589 PMCID: PMC6911344 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2019] [Accepted: 11/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
This article studies soil and plant phytoliths from the Eastern Serengeti Plains, specifically the Acacia-Commiphora mosaics from Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania, as present-day analogue for the environment that was contemporaneous with the emergence of the genus Homo. We investigate whether phytolith assemblages from recent soil surfaces reflect plant community structure and composition with fidelity. The materials included 35 topsoil samples and 29 plant species (20 genera, 15 families). Phytoliths were extracted from both soil and botanical samples. Quantification aimed at discovering relationships amongst the soil and plant phytoliths relative distributions through Chi-square independence tests, establishing the statistical significance of the relationship between categorical variables within the two populations. Soil assemblages form a spectrum, or cohort of co-ocurring phytolith classes, that will allow identifying environments similar to those in the Acacia-Commiphora ecozone in the fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julio Mercader
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Siobhán Clarke
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Mariam Bundala
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Julien Favreau
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Jamie Inwood
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Makarius Itambu
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Fergus Larter
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Patrick Lee
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Neduvoto Mollel
- Tropical Pesticides Research Institute, National Herbarium of Tanzania, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Aloyce Mwambwiga
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Arusha National Natural History Museum, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Robert Patalano
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - María Soto
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Laura Tucker
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
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26
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Swedell L, Plummer T. Social evolution in Plio-Pleistocene hominins: Insights from hamadryas baboons and paleoecology. J Hum Evol 2019; 137:102667. [PMID: 31629289 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Reconstructions of hominin evolution have long benefited from comparisons with nonhuman primates, especially baboons and chimpanzees. The hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) is arguably one of the best such models, as it exhibits both the male kin bonding and the cross-sex pair bonding thought to have been important in hominin evolution. Here we link processes of behavioral evolution in hamadryas baboons with those in a Plio-Pleistocene hominin, provisionally identified as Homo erectus (sensu lato) - a pivotal species in that its larger body and brain size and wider ranging patterns increased female costs of reproduction, increasing the importance of sociality. The combination of these higher costs of reproduction and shifts in diet and food acquisition have previously been argued to have been alleviated either via strengthening of male-female bonds (involving male provisioning and the evolution of monogamy) or via the assistance of older, post-reproductive females (leading to post-reproductive longevity in females, i.e., the grandmother hypothesis). We suggest that both arrangements could have been present in Plio-Pleistocene hominins if they lived in multilevel societies. Here we expand on our earlier scenario with two sets of recent data in support of it, (1) archaeological data from the 2 million year old Oldowan site of Kanjera South, Kenya and other sites that are suggestive of tool dependent foraging on nutrient dense resources (animal carcasses and plant underground storage organs), cooperation, and food sharing; and (2) a pattern of genetic variation in hamadryas baboons that suggests the operation of kin selection among both males and females at multiple levels of society. Taken together, these two sets of data strengthen our model and support the idea of a complex society linked by male-male, male-female, and female-female bonds at multiple levels of social organization in Plio-Pleistocene hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Swedell
- Dept of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA; Anthropology Program, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Biology and Psychology Programs, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Dept of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Thomas Plummer
- Dept of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA; Anthropology Program, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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27
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Abstract
Present-day African ecosystems serve as referential models for conceptualizing the environmental context of early hominin evolution, but the degree to which modern ecosystems are representative of those in the past is unclear. A growing body of evidence from eastern Africa's rich and well-dated late Cenozoic fossil record documents communities of large-bodied mammalian herbivores with ecological structures differing dramatically from those of the present day, implying that modern communities may not be suitable analogs for the ancient ecosystems of hominin evolution. To determine when and why the ecological structure of eastern Africa's herbivore faunas came to resemble those of the present, here we analyze functional trait changes in a comprehensive dataset of 305 modern and fossil herbivore communities spanning the last ∼7 Myr. We show that nearly all communities prior to ∼700 ka were functionally non-analog, largely due to a greater richness of non-ruminants and megaherbivores (species >1,000 kg). The emergence of functionally modern communities precedes that of taxonomically modern communities by 100,000s of years, and can be attributed to the combined influence of Plio-Pleistocene C4 grassland expansion and pulses of aridity after ∼1 Ma. Given the disproportionate ecological impacts of large-bodied herbivores on factors such as vegetation structure, hydrology, and fire regimes, it follows that the vast majority of early hominin evolution transpired in the context of ecosystems that functioned unlike any today. Identifying how past ecosystems differed compositionally and functionally from those today is key to conceptualizing ancient African environments and testing ecological hypotheses of hominin evolution.
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28
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Best A, Lieberman DE, Kamilar JM. Diversity and evolution of human eccrine sweat gland density. J Therm Biol 2019; 84:331-338. [PMID: 31466771 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The human eccrine sweat gland is central to the evolution of the human genus, permitting an enormous thermoregulatory sweating capacity that was essential to the human niche of high physical activity in open, hot, semi-arid environments. Despite a century of research inventorying the structure and function of eccrine glands and the physiological responses of human heat acclimation, we do not have a clear understanding of how intraspecific differences in eccrine density affect thermoregulation. Similarly, existing data does not comprehensively catalogue modern human diversity in this trait, nor do we understand the relative influences of evolutionary forces and phenotypic plasticity in shaping this diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Best
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States.
| | - Daniel E Lieberman
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, United States
| | - Jason M Kamilar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States; Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States
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29
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Veldhuis MP, Kihwele ES, Cromsigt JPGM, Ogutu JO, Hopcraft JGC, Owen-Smith N, Olff H. Large herbivore assemblages in a changing climate: incorporating water dependence and thermoregulation. Ecol Lett 2019; 22:1536-1546. [PMID: 31332945 PMCID: PMC6851681 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2019] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The coexistence of different species of large herbivores (ungulates) in grasslands and savannas has fascinated ecologists for decades. However, changes in climate, land‐use and trophic structure of ecosystems increasingly jeopardise the persistence of such diverse assemblages. Body size has been used successfully to explain ungulate niche differentiation with regard to food requirements and predation sensitivity. But this single trait axis insufficiently captures interspecific differences in water requirements and thermoregulatory capacity and thus sensitivity to climate change. Here, we develop a two‐dimensional trait space of body size and minimum dung moisture content that characterises the combined food and water requirements of large herbivores. From this, we predict that increased spatial homogeneity in water availability in drylands reduces the number of ungulate species that will coexist. But we also predict that extreme droughts will cause the larger, water‐dependent grazers as wildebeest, zebra and buffalo–dominant species in savanna ecosystems – to be replaced by smaller, less water‐dependent species. Subsequently, we explore how other constraints such as predation risk and thermoregulation are connected to this two‐dimensional framework. Our novel framework integrates multiple simultaneous stressors for herbivores and yields an extensive set of testable hypotheses about the expected changes in large herbivore community composition following climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- M P Veldhuis
- University of Groningen, Nijenborg 7, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.,Princeton University, 106A Guyot Ln, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.,Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333CC, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - E S Kihwele
- University of Groningen, Nijenborg 7, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.,Tanzania National Parks, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - J P G M Cromsigt
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, 901 83, Sweden.,Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Port Elizabeth, 6031, South Africa.,Environmental Sciences group, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, PO Box 80115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - J O Ogutu
- University of Hohenheim, Institute of Crop Science, Biostatistics Unit, Fruwirthstrasse 23, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
| | | | - N Owen-Smith
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits, 2050, South Africa
| | - H Olff
- University of Groningen, Nijenborg 7, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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30
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Patterson DB, Braun DR, Allen K, Barr WA, Behrensmeyer AK, Biernat M, Lehmann SB, Maddox T, Manthi FK, Merritt SR, Morris SE, O'Brien K, Reeves JS, Wood BA, Bobe R. Comparative isotopic evidence from East Turkana supports a dietary shift within the genus Homo. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1048-1056. [PMID: 31209290 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0916-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that a shift in diet is one of the key adaptations that distinguishes the genus Homo from earlier hominins, but recent stable isotopic analyses of fossils attributed to Homo in the Turkana Basin show an increase in the consumption of C4 resources circa 1.65 million years ago, significantly after the earliest evidence for Homo in the eastern African fossil record. These data are consistent with ingesting more C4 plants, more animal tissues of C4 herbivores, or both, but it is also possible that this change reflects factors unrelated to changes in the palaeobiology of the genus Homo. Here we use new and published carbon and oxygen isotopic data (n = 999) taken from large-bodied fossil mammals, and pedogenic carbonates in fossil soils, from East Turkana in northern Kenya to investigate the context of this change in the isotope signal within Homo. By targeting taxa and temporal intervals unrepresented or undersampled in previous analyses, we were able to conduct the first comprehensive analysis of the ecological context of hominin diet at East Turkana during a period crucial for detecting any dietary and related behavioural differences between early Homo (H. habilis and/or H. rudolfensis) and Homo erectus. Our analyses suggest that the genus Homo underwent a dietary shift (as indicated by δ13Cena and δ18Oena values) that is (1) unrelated to changes in the East Turkana vegetation community and (2) unlike patterns found in other East Turkana large mammals, including Paranthropus and Theropithecus. These data suggest that within the Turkana Basin a dietary shift occurred well after we see the first evidence of early Homo in the region.
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Affiliation(s)
- David B Patterson
- Department of Biology, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, GA, USA. .,Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
| | - David R Braun
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Kayla Allen
- Department of Biology, Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, GA, USA
| | - W Andrew Barr
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Maryse Biernat
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Sophie B Lehmann
- Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Tom Maddox
- Center for Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Fredrick K Manthi
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Stephen R Merritt
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Sarah E Morris
- Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
| | - Kaedan O'Brien
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Jonathan S Reeves
- Hominid Paleobiology Doctoral Program, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Bernard A Wood
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - René Bobe
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique.,Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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31
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Bernor RL, Cirilli O, Jukar AM, Potts R, Buskianidze M, Rook L. Evolution of Early Equus in Italy, Georgia, the Indian Subcontinent, East Africa, and the Origins of African Zebras. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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32
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Faith JT, Rowan J, Du A, Koch PL. Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: No evidence for ancient hominin impacts. Science 2019; 362:938-941. [PMID: 30467167 DOI: 10.1126/science.aau2728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
It has long been proposed that pre-modern hominin impacts drove extinctions and shaped the evolutionary history of Africa's exceptionally diverse large mammal communities, but this hypothesis has yet to be rigorously tested. We analyzed eastern African herbivore communities spanning the past 7 million years-encompassing the entirety of hominin evolutionary history-to test the hypothesis that top-down impacts of tool-bearing, meat-eating hominins contributed to the demise of megaherbivores prior to the emergence of Homo sapiens We document a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivores beginning ~4.6 million years ago, long before the appearance of hominin species capable of exerting top-down control of large mammal communities and predating evidence for hominin interactions with megaherbivore prey. Expansion of C4 grasslands can account for the loss of megaherbivore diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. .,Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - John Rowan
- Institute of Human Origins and School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85282, USA.,Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Andrew Du
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Paul L Koch
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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33
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Žliobaitė I. Concept drift over geological times: predictive modeling baselines for analyzing the mammalian fossil record. Data Min Knowl Discov 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10618-018-0606-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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34
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Roberts P, Stewart M, Alagaili AN, Breeze P, Candy I, Drake N, Groucutt HS, Scerri EML, Lee-Thorp J, Louys J, Zalmout IS, Al-Mufarreh YSA, Zech J, Alsharekh AM, Al Omari A, Boivin N, Petraglia M. Fossil herbivore stable isotopes reveal middle Pleistocene hominin palaeoenvironment in 'Green Arabia'. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1871-1878. [PMID: 30374171 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0698-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2018] [Accepted: 09/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Despite its largely hyper-arid and inhospitable climate today, the Arabian Peninsula is emerging as an important area for investigating Pleistocene hominin dispersals. Recently, a member of our own species was found in northern Arabia dating to ca. 90 ka, while stone tools and fossil finds have hinted at an earlier, middle Pleistocene, hominin presence. However, there remain few direct insights into Pleistocene environments, and associated hominin adaptations, that accompanied the movement of populations into this region. Here, we apply stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis to fossil mammal tooth enamel (n = 21) from the middle Pleistocene locality of Ti's al Ghadah in Saudi Arabia associated with newly discovered stone tools and probable cutmarks. The results demonstrate productive grasslands in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula ca. 300-500 ka, as well as aridity levels similar to those found in open savannah settings in eastern Africa today. The association between this palaeoenvironmental information and the earliest traces for hominin activity in this part of the world lead us to argue that middle Pleistocene hominin dispersals into the interior of the Arabian Peninsula required no major novel adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Mathew Stewart
- Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Abdulaziz N Alagaili
- KSU Mammals Research Chair, Zoology Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Paul Breeze
- Department of Geography, King's College, London, UK
| | - Ian Candy
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK
| | - Nick Drake
- Department of Geography, King's College, London, UK
| | - Huw S Groucutt
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Eleanor M L Scerri
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Julia Lee-Thorp
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Julien Louys
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith Sciences - Centres and Institutes, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia
| | - Iyad S Zalmout
- Department of Paleontology, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Jana Zech
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | | | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. .,Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA.
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35
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Roach NT, Du A, Hatala KG, Ostrofsky KR, Reeves JS, Braun DR, Harris JW, Behrensmeyer AK, Richmond BG. Pleistocene animal communities of a 1.5 million-year-old lake margin grassland and their relationship to Homo erectus paleoecology. J Hum Evol 2018; 122:70-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2016] [Revised: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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36
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Du A, Alemseged Z. Diversity analysis of Plio-Pleistocene large mammal communities in the Omo-Turkana Basin, eastern Africa. J Hum Evol 2018; 124:25-39. [PMID: 30153945 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Knowing how the diversity of large mammal communities changes across space and time provides an important ecological framework for studying hominin evolution. However, diversity studies that apply methods currently used by neoecologists are rare in paleoanthropology and are also challenging due to diversity's unusual statistical properties. Here, we apply up-to-date analytical methods for understanding how species- and genus-level large mammalian diversity in the Omo-Turkana Basin changed through time and across space at multiple spatiotemporal scales (within each formation:102-3 km2 and 104-5 years; and within the basin as a whole: 103 km2 and 105 years). We found that, on average, Koobi Fora's large mammal community was more diverse than Nachukui's, which in turn was more diverse than Shungura's. Diversity was stable through time within each of these formations (alpha diversity), as was diversity in the basin as a whole (gamma diversity). Compositional dissimilarity between these three formations (beta diversity) was relatively low through time, with a 0.6 average proportion of shared species, suggesting dispersal acted to homogenize the region. Though alpha and gamma diversity were fairly stable through time, we do observe several notable peaks: during the KBS Member in Koobi Fora (30% increase), the Lokalalei Member in Nachukui (120% increase), and at 1.7 Ma in the entire basin (100% increase). We conclude by (1) demonstrating that habitat heterogeneity was an important factor influencing alpha diversity within each of the three formations, and (2) hypothesizing that diversity stability may have been driven by equilibrial dynamics in which overall diversity was constrained by resource availability, implying biotic interactions were an important factor in structuring the communities that included hominins as members. Our findings demonstrate the need to quantify how large mammal diversity changes across time and space in order to further our understanding of hominin ecology and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Du
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, 1027 E 57th St, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
| | - Zeresenay Alemseged
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, 1027 E 57th St, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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37
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Caley T, Extier T, Collins JA, Schefuß E, Dupont L, Malaizé B, Rossignol L, Souron A, McClymont EL, Jimenez-Espejo FJ, García-Comas C, Eynaud F, Martinez P, Roche DM, Jorry SJ, Charlier K, Wary M, Gourves PY, Billy I, Giraudeau J. A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa. Nature 2018; 560:76-79. [PMID: 29988081 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The past two million years of eastern African climate variability is currently poorly constrained, despite interest in understanding its assumed role in early human evolution1-4. Rare palaeoclimate records from northeastern Africa suggest progressively drier conditions2,5 or a stable hydroclimate6. By contrast, records from Lake Malawi in tropical southeastern Africa reveal a trend of a progressively wetter climate over the past 1.3 million years7,8. The climatic forcings that controlled these past hydrological changes are also a matter of debate. Some studies suggest a dominant local insolation forcing on hydrological changes9-11, whereas others infer a potential influence of sea surface temperature changes in the Indian Ocean8,12,13. Here we show that the hydroclimate in southeastern Africa (20-25° S) is controlled by interplay between low-latitude insolation forcing (precession and eccentricity) and changes in ice volume at high latitudes. Our results are based on a multiple-proxy reconstruction of hydrological changes in the Limpopo River catchment, combined with a reconstruction of sea surface temperature in the southwestern Indian Ocean for the past 2.14 million years. We find a long-term aridification in the Limpopo catchment between around 1 and 0.6 million years ago, opposite to the hydroclimatic evolution suggested by records from Lake Malawi. Our results, together with evidence of wetting at Lake Malawi, imply that the rainbelt contracted toward the Equator in response to increased ice volume at high latitudes. By reducing the extent of woodland or wetlands in terrestrial ecosystems, the observed changes in the hydroclimate of southeastern Africa-both in terms of its long-term state and marked precessional variability-could have had a role in the evolution of early hominins, particularly in the extinction of Paranthropus robustus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibaut Caley
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
| | - Thomas Extier
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France.,Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - James A Collins
- GFZ - German Research Center for Geosciences, Section 5.1 Geomorphology, Organic Surface Geochemistry Laboratory, Potsdam, Germany.,Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Enno Schefuß
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Lydie Dupont
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Bruno Malaizé
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Linda Rossignol
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Antoine Souron
- PACEA, UMR 5199, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | | | | | - Carmen García-Comas
- Research and Development Center for Global Change, (JAMSTEC), Yokohama, Japan.,Ecology Group, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | - Didier M Roche
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.,Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Science, Cluster Earth and Climate, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Stephan J Jorry
- Unité Géosciences Marines, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Plouzané, France
| | - Karine Charlier
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Mélanie Wary
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | | | - Isabelle Billy
- EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
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38
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Stable isotope ecology of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Kenya. Oecologia 2018; 187:1095-1105. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4185-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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39
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The palaeoecological context of the Oldowan–Acheulean in southern Africa. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1080-1086. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0560-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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40
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Abstract
The role of climate change in the origin and diversification of early hominins is hotly debated. Most accounts of early hominin evolution link observed fluctuations in species diversity to directional shifts in climate or periods of intense climatic instability. None of these hypotheses, however, have tested whether observed diversity patterns are distorted by variation in the quality of the hominin fossil record. Here, we present a detailed examination of early hominin diversity dynamics, including both taxic and phylogenetically corrected diversity estimates. Unlike past studies, we compare these estimates to sampling metrics for rock availability (hominin-, primate-, and mammal-bearing formations) and collection effort, to assess the geological and anthropogenic controls on the sampling of the early hominin fossil record. Taxic diversity, primate-bearing formations, and collection effort show strong positive correlations, demonstrating that observed patterns of early hominin taxic diversity can be explained by temporal heterogeneity in fossil sampling rather than genuine evolutionary processes. Peak taxic diversity at 1.9 million years ago (Ma) is a sampling artifact, reflecting merely maximal rock availability and collection effort. In contrast, phylogenetic diversity estimates imply peak diversity at 2.4 Ma and show little relation to sampling metrics. We find that apparent relationships between early hominin diversity and indicators of climatic instability are, in fact, driven largely by variation in suitable rock exposure and collection effort. Our results suggest that significant improvements in the quality of the fossil record are required before the role of climate in hominin evolution can be reliably determined.
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41
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Best A, Kamilar JM. The evolution of eccrine sweat glands in human and nonhuman primates. J Hum Evol 2018; 117:33-43. [PMID: 29544622 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2017] [Revised: 12/13/2017] [Accepted: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Sweating is an unusual thermoregulatory strategy for most mammals, yet is critical for humans. This trait is commonly hypothesized to result from human ancestors moving from a forest to a warmer and drier open environment. As soft tissue traits do not typically fossilize, this idea has been difficult to test. Therefore, we used a comparative approach to examine 15 eccrine gland traits from 35 primate species. For each trait we measured phylogenetic signal, tested three evolutionary models to explain trait variation, and used phylogenetic models to examine how traits varied in response to climate variables. Phylogenetic signal in traits varied substantially, with the two traits exhibiting the highest values being gland distribution on the body and percent eccrine vs. apocrine glands on the body. Variation in most traits was best explained by an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model suggesting the importance of natural selection. Two traits were strongly predicted by climate. First, species with high eccrine gland glycogen content were associated with habitats exhibiting warm temperatures and low rainfall. Second, species with increased capillarization were associated with high temperature. Glycogen is a primary energy substrate powering sweat production and sodium reabsorption in the eccrine gland, and increased capillarization permits greater oxygen, glucose and electrolyte delivery. Thus, our results are evidence of natural selection for increased sweating capacity in primate species with body surface eccrine glands living in hot and dry climates. We suggest that selection for increased glycogen content and capillarization may have been part of initial increases in hominin thermoregulatory sweating capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Best
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
| | - Jason M Kamilar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
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