Abstract
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia. The Neanderthals’ paleoecology and distribution has been extensively studied in Europe where the species originated. However, very little is known about their paleoecology in south-western Asia. Here, we employed species distribution modelling and 45 Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000–40,000 years BCE) sites location associated with fossil and/or lithic artefacts made by the Neanderthals to examine the expansion of the Neanderthals on the Iranian Plateau in south-western Asia. We estimated the niche overlap between Neanderthals and wild goat, wild sheep and Persian gazelle by modelling their past distribution using 200, 143 and 110 occurrence records respectively. The results show that Neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area. This analysis revealed that the most suitable Neanderthals’ habitats in south-western Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from north-western and western and some isolated patches in the central parts of the Iranian Plateau. The annual precipitation and maximum temperature of the warmest month were the most important predictor of the species’ distribution. This finding shows that the southern edge of the Neanderthals distribution was limited by warm summer. Our results provide important information for future field investigations and excavations in the area.
Highlights
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia
Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000–40,000 years BCE) occupations have been discovered in a number of different Palaeolithic sites in the Iranian P lateau[15,16,17,18,19], but no study was performed to determine the species paleo-distribution and identify abiotic drivers of its distribution, both of which are necessary in understanding the Middle Palaeolithic species paleoecology
Results of estimating niche overlap between Neanderthals and the three prey types showed that the Neanderthals and wild goat had the highest niche overlap (Schoener’s D = 0.77) followed by wild sheep (Schoener’s D = 0.72) and Persian gazelle (Schoener’s D = 0.66)
Summary
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia. The results show that Neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area This analysis revealed that the most suitable Neanderthals’ habitats in south-western Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from north-western and western and some isolated patches in the central parts of the Iranian Plateau. Rapid advances in species distribution m odelling[22,23] and availability of environmental data characterizing past climatic c onditions[24] made it possible to reconstruct the past distribution of species[21] This gives paleoecologists and historical biogeographers an opportunity to study and test hypotheses regarding species dispersal and e volution[20,25]. They found that climate was the most important predictor of the species’ distribution at the continental scale, while topography shaped its distribution at the local scale
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