Investigating habitat heterogeneity of Late Pleistocene archaeological sites in eastern Africa from stable isotopes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Site-specific habitat reconstructions in the form of faunal enamel stable carbon and oxygen isotope data allow for a finer assessment of the context of Homo sapiens in eastern Africa. To date, these studies have focused on a small collection of sites within a constrained spatiotemporal scope. Here, I analyse a compilation of faunal stable isotopes from the Kibish Formation and Porc Epic Cave, Ethiopia, and Rusinga and Mfangano Islands, Karungu, Lukenya Hill, and Panga ya Saidi, Kenya. New data for primate and notably Homo sapiens at Porc Epic are presented. Faunal isotope data indicate that the Lake Victoria and northern Lake Turkana basins were dominated by open grasslands between ~ 105 ka and 50 ka. Sites near the Ethiopian Rift and closer to the coast were at least in part buffered from the environmental changes that occurred further inland. In the following period, ~ 49 ka – 20 ka, inland sites see more wooded conditions while Panga ya Saidi at the coast becomes drier. This compilation provides evidence for spatial and temporal trends in local habitats necessary for understanding the mechanisms through which human populations exchanged genes, ideas, and behaviours during the Late Pleistocene.