An environmental scenario for the earliest hominins in the Iberian Peninsula: Early Pleistocene palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate

Abstract

The Early Pleistocene deposits of the Iberian Peninsula provided some of the oldest hominin fossil sites of Western Europe. Evidence also shows that early Homo thrived in the Mediterranean peninsulas during the Early Pleistocene ‘interglacial’ phases. To assess the role of climatic conditions on early human environments, the present work features a quantitative palaeoclimatic analysis for a number of Early Pleistocene macroflora and pollen assemblages located at different geographical locations where hominin activity has been recorded. The results picture a cyclic climate with a possible latitudinal aridity gradient. Warm and humid (‘interglacial’) phases would have been wetter and slightly warmer than the modern climate. During cooler and drier (‘glacial’) phases, temperature and precipitation were comparatively milder and more similar to modern ones. The favourable conditions during the humid phases may have allowed for the earliest hominin communities arriving in Europe to rapidly thrive during ‘interglacial’ periods. The present climatic quantification suggests that hominins in Iberia may have survived these mild ‘glacial’ Early Pleistocene stages.