Hominins, deserts, and the colonisation and settlement of continental Asia

Abstract

Deserts are now extensive across continental Asia south of 45° N from Arabia and SW Asia to the Thar Desert of India, and north-eastwards through Central Asia to North China. Despite the potential importance of arid regions to human evolutionary studies, Palaeolithic records from areas that are now desert are generally poor, and the best information tends to be derived from springs and palaeolakes, partly because these are obvious taphonomic traps for archaeological, faunal and other environmental material, and partly because water would have been the most critical resource for survival. This paper provides an overview of what can currently be stated about the Palaeolithic record from areas of Asia that are now deserts, particularly in relation to Middle Pleistocene hominin evolution, the expansion in MIS4-3 of Homo sapiens, and the extinction of its competitors. It is suggested that among the reasons why H. sapiens was ultimately more successful than Neanderthals in MIS 3-4 in colonising continental Asia are that they were physiologically better adapted to high summer temperatures, and were probably more skilled in creating a viable resource base in semi-arid and arid landscapes. Neanderthals in Central Asia may have faced additional problems in dealing with low winter temperatures, large areas of salt deserts and sand seas, and non-potable water supplies. Nevertheless, even H. sapiens does not appear to have developed the means to survive habitually in Asian deserts until the terminal Pleistocene, and in most cases, the Holocene.