Potts R., Dommain R., Moerman J. W., Behrensmeyer A. K., Deino A. L., Riedl S., Beverly E. J., Brown E. T., Deocampo D., Kinyanjui R., Lupien R., Owen R. B., Rabideaux N., Russell J. M., Stockhecke M., DeMenocal P., Faith J. T., Garcin Yannick, Noren A., Scott J. J., Western D., Bright J., Clark J. B., Cohen A. S., Keller C. B., King J., Levin N. E., Shannon K. B., Muiruri V., Renaut R. W., Rucina S. M., Uno K. (2020). Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution. Science Advances, 6 (43), p. eabc8975 [14 p.]. ISSN 2375-2548.
Titre du document
Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution
Année de publication
2020
Auteurs
Potts R., Dommain R., Moerman J. W., Behrensmeyer A. K., Deino A. L., Riedl S., Beverly E. J., Brown E. T., Deocampo D., Kinyanjui R., Lupien R., Owen R. B., Rabideaux N., Russell J. M., Stockhecke M., DeMenocal P., Faith J. T., Garcin Yannick, Noren A., Scott J. J., Western D., Bright J., Clark J. B., Cohen A. S., Keller C. B., King J., Levin N. E., Shannon K. B., Muiruri V., Renaut R. W., Rucina S. M., Uno K.
Source
Science Advances, 2020,
6 (43), p. eabc8975 [14 p.] ISSN 2375-2548
Although climate change is considered to have been a large-scale driver of African human evolution, landscape-scale shifts in ecological resources that may have shaped novel hominin adaptations are rarely investigated. We use well-dated, high-resolution, drill-core datasets to understand ecological dynamics associated with a major adaptive transition in the archeological record similar to 24 km from the coring site. Outcrops preserve evidence of the replacement of Acheulean by Middle Stone Age (MSA) technological, cognitive, and social innovations between 500 and 300 thousand years (ka) ago, contemporaneous with large-scale taxonomic and adaptive turnover in mammal herbivores. Beginning similar to 400 ka ago, tectonic, hydrological, and ecological changes combined to disrupt a relatively stable resource base, prompting fluctuations of increasing magnitude in freshwater availability, grassland communities, and woody plant cover. Interaction of these factors offers a resource-oriented hypothesis for the evolutionary success of MSA adaptations, which likely contributed to the ecological flexibility typical of Homo sapiens foragers.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020]
;
Sciences du milieu [021]
;
Sociétés, développement culturel [112]
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010079892]
Identifiant IRD
PAR00021618
