Abstract
The reconstruction of environmental and climatic changes in the Pleistocene is an essential contribution to our understanding of human evolutionary and behavioral adaptations. Well preserved fluvio-lacustrine sediments at Nihewan basin have yielded a rich record of Early Pleistocene Paleolithic sites and mammalian fossils which provide a unique opportunity for exploring hominin behavior and paleoecology in North China. Taxonomic studies of mammalian fossils have provided important clues to the general environmental setting and landscapes of Early Pleistocene humans in the fluvio-lacustrine basin of Nihewan, but little is known about their isotopic signatures. In this paper, mammal teeth species at the Madigou archaeological site (ca. 1.2 Ma) were selected for bulk and sequential enamel stable isotope (C, O) analysis. Results show a variety of ecological environments, including grassland and sparse forest landscapes, and distinct patterns across taxa. C3-C4 mixed vegetation predominated, but C4 vegetation was also relevant at times. Madigou early humans likely experienced cold/warm or dry/wet fluctuations in this northern China basin. We hypothesize that the environmental fluctuations and diversified landscapes may have driven flexibility in various aspects of early human technological behaviors, and allowed hominins to face the environmental challenges of northern latitudes after the initial expansion from Africa into East Asia at the onset of the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition.
Highlights
IntroductionUnderstanding the impact of paleoenvironmental variability on hominin behavioral adaptations is a key area of research in human evolution (deMenocal, 1995; Ambrose, 2001; Behrensmeyer, 2006), and is of crucial relevance for understanding the initial dispersal of humans from Africa into Eurasia (Gabunia et al, 2000; Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001; Van der Made, 2011) and homininStable Isotope Analysis of Madigou behavioral adaptations during the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition (MPT) at ∼ 1.25–0.7 Ma, which is marked by a progressive increase in the amplitude of climate oscillations (Ruddiman et al, 1986; Mudelsee and Schulz, 1997; Clark et al, 2006; Wang et al, 2017)
Stable Isotope Analysis of Madigou behavioral adaptations during the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition (MPT) at ∼ 1.25–0.7 Ma, which is marked by a progressive increase in the amplitude of climate oscillations (Ruddiman et al, 1986; Mudelsee and Schulz, 1997; Clark et al, 2006; Wang et al, 2017)
Mammal fossils unearthed in archaeological sites play an important role in assessing the impact of environmental instability in human behavioral adaptations
Summary
Understanding the impact of paleoenvironmental variability on hominin behavioral adaptations is a key area of research in human evolution (deMenocal, 1995; Ambrose, 2001; Behrensmeyer, 2006), and is of crucial relevance for understanding the initial dispersal of humans from Africa into Eurasia (Gabunia et al, 2000; Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001; Van der Made, 2011) and homininStable Isotope Analysis of Madigou behavioral adaptations during the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition (MPT) at ∼ 1.25–0.7 Ma, which is marked by a progressive increase in the amplitude of climate oscillations (Ruddiman et al, 1986; Mudelsee and Schulz, 1997; Clark et al, 2006; Wang et al, 2017). Recent archaeological studies (Pei et al, 2017, 2019; Yang et al, 2017, 2020, 2021) have discussed the links between climatic variability and human adaptations, suggesting that changes in lithic technological strategies occurred at the beginning of the MPT. Such changes would be evidenced by the flexibility in raw material procurement, diversification of flaking techniques, a refinement of retouching techniques, and an increase of tool types. The environmental context in which such new technological patterns emerged has not yet been properly ascertained
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