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Hussain ST, Baumann C. The human side of biodiversity: coevolution of the human niche, palaeo-synanthropy and ecosystem complexity in the deep human past. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230021. [PMID: 38583478 PMCID: PMC10999276 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0021] [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] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Today's biodiversity crisis fundamentally threatens the habitability of the planet, thus ranking among the primary human challenges of our time. Much emphasis is currently placed on the loss of biodiversity in the Anthropocene, yet these debates often portray biodiversity as a purely natural phenomenon without much consideration of its human dimensions and frequently lack long-term vistas. This paper offers a deep-time perspective on the key role of the evolving human niche in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity dynamics. We summarize research on past hunter-gatherer ecosystem contributions and argue that human-environment feedback systems with important biodiversity consequences are probably a recurrent feature of the Late Pleistocene, perhaps with even deeper roots. We update current understandings of the human niche in this light and suggest that the formation of palaeo-synanthropic niches in other animals proffers a powerful model system to investigate recursive interactions of foragers and ecosystems. Archaeology holds important knowledge here and shows that ecosystem contributions vary greatly in relation to different human lifeways, some of which are lost today. We therefore recommend paying more attention to the intricate relationship between biodiversity and cultural diversity, contending that promotion of the former depends on fostering the latter. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shumon T. Hussain
- MESH – Center for Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities & Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Weyertal 59, 50937 Cologne, Germany
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark
- BIOCHANGE – Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Chris Baumann
- Biogeology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PL 64 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2), 00014 Helsinki, Finland
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2
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Friant S. Human behaviors driving disease emergence. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22015. [PMID: 38130075 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22015] [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] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Interactions between humans, animals, and the environment facilitate zoonotic spillover-the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans. Narratives that cast modern humans as exogenous and disruptive forces that encroach upon "natural" disease systems limit our understanding of human drivers of disease. This review leverages theory from evolutionary anthropology that situates humans as functional components of disease ecologies, to argue that human adaptive strategies to resource acquisition shape predictable patterns of high-risk human-animal interactions, (2) humans construct ecological processes that facilitate spillover, and (3) contemporary patterns of epidemiological risk are emergent properties of interactions between human foraging ecology and niche construction. In turn, disease ecology serves as an important vehicle to link what some cast as opposing bodies of theory in human ecology. Disease control measures should consider human drivers of disease as rational, adaptive, and dynamic and capitalize on our capacity to influence ecological processes to mitigate risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sagan Friant
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
- Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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3
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Baumann C, Hussain ST, Roblíčková M, Riede F, Mannino MA, Bocherens H. Evidence for hunter-gatherer impacts on raven diet and ecology in the Gravettian of Southern Moravia. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1302-1314. [PMID: 37349568 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02107-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
The earlier Gravettian of Southern Moravia-the Pavlovian-is notable for the many raven bones (Corvus corax) documented in its faunal assemblages. On the basis of the rich zooarchaeological and settlement data from the Pavlovian, previous work suggested that common ravens were attracted by human domestic activities and subsequently captured by Pavlovian people, presumably for feathers and perhaps food. Here, we report independent δ15N, δ13C and δ34S stable isotope data obtained from 12 adult ravens from the Pavlovian key sites of Předmostí I, Pavlov I and Dolní Věstonice I to test this idea. We show that Pavlovian ravens regularly fed on larger herbivores and especially mammoths, aligning in feeding preferences with contemporaneous Gravettian foragers. We argue that opportunistic-generalist ravens were encouraged by human settlement and carcass provisioning. Our data may thus provide surprisingly early evidence for incipient synanthropism among Palaeolithic ravens. We suggest that anthropogenic manipulation of carrion supply dynamics furnished unique contexts for the emergence of human-oriented animal behaviours, in turn promoting novel human foraging opportunities-dynamics which are therefore important for understanding early hunter-gatherer ecosystem impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Baumann
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Biogeology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Shumon T Hussain
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- BIOCHANGE - Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- Center for Environmental Humanities (CEH), School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
| | | | - Felix Riede
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- BIOCHANGE - Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Marcello A Mannino
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Hervé Bocherens
- Biogeology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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4
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Cadenasso ML, Rademacher AM, Pickett STA. Systems in Flames: Dynamic Coproduction of Social-Ecological Processes. Bioscience 2022; 72:731-744. [PMID: 35923188 PMCID: PMC9343232 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biac047] [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] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecologists who study human-dominated places have adopted a social-ecological systems framework to recognize the coproduced links between ecological and social processes. However, many social scientists are wary of the way ecologists use the systems concept to represent such links. This wariness is sometimes due to a misunderstanding of the contemporary use of the systems concept in ecology. We aim to overcome this misunderstanding by discussing the contemporary systems concept using refinements from biophysical ecology. These refinements allow the systems concept to be used as a bridge rather than a barrier to social-ecological interaction. We then use recent examples of extraordinary fire to illustrate the usefulness and flexibility of the concept for understanding the dynamism of fire as a social-ecological interaction. The systems idea is a useful interdisciplinary abstraction that can be contextualized to account for societally important problems and dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary L Cadenasso
- University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States
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5
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Iovita R, Braun DR, Douglass MJ, Holdaway SJ, Lin SC, Olszewski DI, Rezek Z. Operationalizing niche construction theory with stone tools. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:28-39. [PMID: 33475216 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 05/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
One of the greatest difficulties with evolutionary approaches in the study of stone tools (lithics) has been finding a mechanism for tying culture and biology in a way that preserves human agency and operates at scales that are visible in the archaeological record. The concept of niche construction, whereby organisms actively construct their environments and change the conditions for selection, could provide a solution to this problem. In this review, we evaluate the utility of niche construction theory (NCT) for stone tool archaeology. We apply NCT to lithics both as part of the "extended phenotype" and as residuals or precipitates of other niche-constructing activities, suggesting ways in which archaeologists can employ niche construction feedbacks to generate testable hypotheses about stone tool use. Finally, we conclude that, as far as its applicability to lithic archaeology, NCT compares favorably to other prominent evolutionary approaches, such as human behavioral ecology and dual-inheritance theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Radu Iovita
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - David R Braun
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Matthew J Douglass
- College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.,Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Simon J Holdaway
- School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Sam C Lin
- Centre for Archaeological Science and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Deborah I Olszewski
- Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Zeljko Rezek
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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6
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Stiner MC. The challenges of documenting coevolution and niche construction: The example of domestic spaces. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:63-70. [PMID: 33382521 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2019] [Revised: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
This essay delves into some of the challenges of studying the coevolution of humans and domestic spaces. These constructed arenas center on food preparation, and as part of the heritable niche they can shift the opportunities for, and constraints on, social interaction and cooperation in evolutionary time. Domestic spaces are widely evidenced in the archeological record, but investigators have made little progress in demonstrating causal links between proposed feedback spirals and constructed spaces of any sort. Bridging fine-scale and large-scale processes in coevolutionary systems is a complex problem that must engage higher levels of generative evolutionary theory. Archaeology nonetheless stands to offer a great deal to larger research programs by documenting and analyzing the pathways of change based on site formation processes along with evidence from subsistence refuse and technology. Choice models remain valuable tools for investigating aspects of the fine-scale feedback processes involved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary C Stiner
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
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7
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Group Cooperation, Carrying-Capacity Stress, and Intergroup Conflict. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 24:760-776. [PMID: 32620334 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Revised: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Peaceful intergroup relations deteriorate when individuals engage in parochial cooperation and parochial competition. To understand when and why intergroup relations change from peaceful to violent, we present a theoretical framework mapping out the different interdependence structures between groups. According to this framework, cooperation can lead to group expansion and ultimately to carrying-capacity stress. In such cases of endogenously created carrying-capacity stress, intergroup relations are more likely to become negatively interdependent, and parochial competition can emerge as a response. We discuss the cognitive, neural, and hormonal building blocks of parochial cooperation, and conclude that conflict between groups can be the inadvertent consequence of human preparedness - biological and cultural - to solve cooperation problems within groups.
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8
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Contingency and Agency in the Mountain Landscapes of the Western Pyrenees: A Place-Based Approach to the Long Anthropocene. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12093882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Regional- and biome-scale paleoecological analyses and archaeological syntheses in the mountain landscapes of the western Pyrenees suggest that the Long Anthropocene began with agropastoral land use at the onset of the Neolithic. Historical and geographic analyses emphasize the marginality of the western Pyrenees and the role of enforced social norms exacted by intense solidarities of kin and neighbors in agropastoral production. Both are satisfying and simple narratives, yet neither offers a realistic framework for understanding complex processes or the contingency and behavioral variability of human agents in transforming a landscape. The Long Anthropocene in the western Pyrenees was a spatially and temporally heterogeneous and asynchronous process, and the evidence frequently departs from conventional narratives about human landscape degradation in this agropastoral situation. A complementary place-based strategy that draws on geoarchaeological, biophysical, and socio-ecological factors is used to examine human causality and environmental resilience and demonstrate their relationship with the sustainability of mountain landscapes of the western Pyrenees over medium to long time intervals.
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9
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Root‐Bernstein M, Ladle R. Ecology of a widespread large omnivore, Homo sapiens, and its impacts on ecosystem processes. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:10874-10894. [PMID: 31641442 PMCID: PMC6802023 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Discussions of defaunation and taxon substitution have concentrated on megafaunal herbivores and carnivores, but mainly overlooked the particular ecological importance of megafaunal omnivores. In particular, the Homo spp. have been almost completely ignored in this context, despite the extinction of all but one hominin species present since the Plio-Pleistocene. Large omnivores have a particular set of ecological functions reflecting their foraging flexibility and the varied disturbances they create, functions that may maintain ecosystem stability and resilience. Here, we put the ecology of Homo sapiens in the context of comparative interspecific ecological roles and impacts, focusing on the large omnivore guild, as well as comparative intraspecific variation, focusing on hunter-gatherers.We provide an overview of the functional traits of H. sapiens, which can be used to spontaneously provide the functions for currently ecologically extinct or endangered ecosystem processes. We consider the negative impacts of variations in H. sapiens phenotypic strategies, its possible status as an invasive species, and the potential to take advantage of its learning capacities to decouple negative and positive impacts.We provide examples of how practices related to foraging, transhumance, and hunting could contribute to rewilding-inspired programs either drawing on hunter-gatherer baselines of H. sapiens, or as proxies for extinct or threatened large omnivores. We propose that a greater focus on intraspecific ecological variation and interspecific comparative ecology of H. sapiens can provide new avenues for conservation and ecological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith Root‐Bernstein
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of BioscienceAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
- Institute of Ecology and BiodiversitySantiagoChile
- UMR Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement, Activités, Produits, TerritoiresINRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris‐SaclayThiverval‐GrignonFrance
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES)SantiagoChile
| | - Richard Ladle
- School of Science and HealthFederal University of AlagoasAlagoasBrazil
- School of Geography and the EnvironmentOxford UniversityOxfordUK
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10
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Capriles JM, Lombardo U, Maley B, Zuna C, Veit H, Kennett DJ. Persistent Early to Middle Holocene tropical foraging in southwestern Amazonia. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaav5449. [PMID: 31032413 PMCID: PMC6482008 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav5449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The Amazon witnessed the emergence of complex societies after 2500 years ago that altered tropical landscapes through intensive agriculture and managed aquatic systems. However, very little is known about the context and conditions that preceded these social and environmental transformations. Here, we demonstrate that forest islands in the Llanos de Moxos of southwestern Amazonia contain human burials and represent the earliest settlements in the region between 10,600 and 4000 years ago. These archaeological sites and their contents represent the earliest evidence of communities that experienced conditions conducive to engaging with food production such as environmental stability, resource disturbance, and increased territoriality in the Amazonian tropical lowlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile
| | | | - Blaine Maley
- Department of Anatomy, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Meridian, ID 83642, USA
| | - Carlos Zuna
- Carrera de Arqueología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
| | - Heinz Veit
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Douglas J Kennett
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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11
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Tucker B, Nelson DR. What does economic anthropology have to contribute to studies of risk and resilience? ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/sea2.12085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bram Tucker
- Department of Anthropology; University of Georgia; Athens GA 30602 USA
| | - Donald R. Nelson
- Department of Anthropology; University of Georgia; Athens GA 30602 USA
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12
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Armstrong CG, Shoemaker AC, McKechnie I, Ekblom A, Szabó P, Lane PJ, McAlvay AC, Boles OJ, Walshaw S, Petek N, Gibbons KS, Quintana Morales E, Anderson EN, Ibragimow A, Podruczny G, Vamosi JC, Marks-Block T, LeCompte JK, Awâsis S, Nabess C, Sinclair P, Crumley CL. Anthropological contributions to historical ecology: 50 questions, infinite prospects. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0171883. [PMID: 28235093 PMCID: PMC5325225 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2016] [Accepted: 01/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a consensus-driven process identifying 50 priority research questions for historical ecology obtained through crowdsourcing, literature reviews, and in-person workshopping. A deliberative approach was designed to maximize discussion and debate with defined outcomes. Two in-person workshops (in Sweden and Canada) over the course of two years and online discussions were peer facilitated to define specific key questions for historical ecology from anthropological and archaeological perspectives. The aim of this research is to showcase the variety of questions that reflect the broad scope for historical-ecological research trajectories across scientific disciplines. Historical ecology encompasses research concerned with decadal, centennial, and millennial human-environmental interactions, and the consequences that those relationships have in the formation of contemporary landscapes. Six interrelated themes arose from our consensus-building workshop model: (1) climate and environmental change and variability; (2) multi-scalar, multi-disciplinary; (3) biodiversity and community ecology; (4) resource and environmental management and governance; (5) methods and applications; and (6) communication and policy. The 50 questions represented by these themes highlight meaningful trends in historical ecology that distill the field down to three explicit findings. First, historical ecology is fundamentally an applied research program. Second, this program seeks to understand long-term human-environment interactions with a focus on avoiding, mitigating, and reversing adverse ecological effects. Third, historical ecology is part of convergent trends toward transdisciplinary research science, which erodes scientific boundaries between the cultural and natural.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anna C. Shoemaker
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Iain McKechnie
- Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Anneli Ekblom
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Péter Szabó
- Department of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Paul J. Lane
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Alex C. McAlvay
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Oliver J. Boles
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Walshaw
- Department of History, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Nik Petek
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Kevin S. Gibbons
- Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
| | | | - Eugene N. Anderson
- Department of Anthropology, University California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Aleksandra Ibragimow
- Polish-German Research Institute, Adams Mickiewicz University in Poznań, European University, Viadrina, Poland/Germany
| | - Grzegorz Podruczny
- Polish-German Research Institute, Adams Mickiewicz University in Poznań, European University, Viadrina, Poland/Germany
| | - Jana C. Vamosi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Tony Marks-Block
- Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
| | | | - Sākihitowin Awâsis
- Department of Geography, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- Atlohsa Native Family Healing Services, Canada, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Carly Nabess
- Department of Anthropology, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Paul Sinclair
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carole L. Crumley
- Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America
- Integrated History of Future of People on Earth (IHOPE) Initiative, Uppsala, Sweden
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13
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Sullivan AP, Bird DW, Perry GH. Human behaviour as a long-term ecological driver of non-human evolution. Nat Ecol Evol 2017; 1:65. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-016-0065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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14
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Abstract
Clovis groups in Late Pleistocene North America occasionally hunted several now extinct large mammals. But whether their hunting drove 37 genera of animals to extinction has been disputed, largely for want of kill sites. Overkill proponents argue that there is more archaeological evidence than we ought to expect, that humans had the wherewithal to decimate what may have been millions of animals, and that the appearance of humans and the disappearance of the fauna is too striking to be a mere coincidence. Yet, there is less to these claims than meets the eye. Moreover, extinctions took place amid sweeping climatic and environmental changes as the Pleistocene came to an end. It has long been difficult to link those changes to mammalian extinctions, but the advent of ancient DNA, coupled with high-resolution paleoecological, radiocarbon, and archeological records, should help disentangle the relative role of changing climates and people in mammalian extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J. Meltzer
- Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275
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