Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene climate history in the Guadix-Baza Basin, and the environmental conditions of early Homo dispersal in Europe

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

卷:268

Article

Saarinen, Juha¹  Oksanen, Otto¹  Zliobaite, Indre¹  Fortelius, Mikael^1,2  DeMiguel, Daniel^3,4  Azanza, Beatriz⁵  Bocherens, Herve^6,7  Luzon, Carmen⁸  Solano-Garcia, Jose⁹  Yravedra, Jose¹⁰  Courtenay, Lloyd A.¹¹  Blain, Hugues-Alexandre^12,13  Sanchez-Bandera, Christian^12,13  Serrano-Ramos, Alexia⁸  Jose Rodriguez-Alba, Juan¹⁴  Viranta, Suvi¹  Barsky, Deborah^12,13  Tallavaara, Miikka¹  Oms, Oriol¹⁵  Agusti, Jordi^12,13,16  Ochando, Juan¹⁷  Carrion, Jose S.¹⁷  Manuel Jimenez-Arenas, Juan¹⁸ 

[1] Univ Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

[2] Univ Granada, Visiting Scholars Program, Granada, Spain

[3] Univ Zaragoza, ARAID, Dept Ciencias Tierra, Zaragoza, Spain

[4] Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Inst Catala Paleontol Miquel Crusafont, Barcelona, Spain

[5] Univ Zaragoza, Inst Univ Invest Ciencias Ambientales Aragon IUCA, Dept Ciencias Tierra, Zaragoza, Spain

[6] Univ Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany

[7] Senckenberg Ctr Human Evolut & Palaeoenvironm, Tubingen, Germany

[8] Univ Granada, Programa Doctorado Hist & Artes, Granada, Spain

[9] Univ Seville, Dept Prehist & Archaeol, Seville, Spain

[10] Univ Complutense Madrid, Dept Prehist Hist Antigua & Arqueol, Madrid, Spain

[11] Univ Salamanca, Higher Polytech Sch Avila, Dept Cartog & Terrain Engn, Hornos Caleros 50, Avila 05003, Spain

[12] Inst Catala Paleoecol Humana & Evolucio Social IP, Zona Educ 4,Campus Sescelades URV Edifici W3, Tarragona 43007, Spain

[13] Univ Rovira & Virgili, Dept Hist & Hist Art, Avinguda Catalunya 35, Tarragona 43002, Spain

[14] Univ Complutense Madrid, Fac Ciencias Geol, Dept Paleontol, Calle Jose Antonio Novais 2, Madrid 28040, Spain

[15] Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

[16] Institucio Catalana Recerca & Estudis Avancats, ICREA, Pg Lluis Co 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain

[17] Univ Murcia, Fac Biol, Dept Plant Biol, Murcia, Spain

[18] Univ Granada, Inst Univ La Paz & Conflictos, Dept Prehist & Arqueol, Granada, Spain

关键词: Pleistocene;    Palaeoclimatology;    Vegetation dynamics;    Hominin environments;    Large mammals;    Ecometrics;    Mesowear;    Europe;    Guadix-baza basin;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107132

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The Guadix-Baza Basin (GBB) in Andalucia, Spain, comprises palaeontological and archaeological sites dating from the Early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene, including some of the earliest sites with evidence for the presence of early humans (Homo sp.) in Europe. Thus, the history of climate and environments in this basin contributes significantly to our understanding of the conditions under which early humans spread into Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Here we present estimates of precipitation and primary productivity in the GBB from the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene based on dental ecometrics in fossil communities of large herbivorous mammals, and perform an ecometrics-based distribution modelling to analyse the environmental conditions of Early and Middle Pleistocene human sites in Europe. Our results show that Early Pleistocene humans generally occupied on average relatively diverse habitats with ecotones, such as woodlands and savannas, but avoided very open and harsh (cool or dry) environments. During the Middle Pleistocene in Europe, humans occupied a comparatively much broader range of environments than during the Early Pleistocene, but were on average more concentrated in environments where the dental ecometric of mammals indicate wooded palaeoenvironments. In the earliest human occupation sites of the GBB, Barranco Leon and Fuente Nueva 3, the mean annual precipitation and net primary production estimates indicate climatic conditions close to modern Mediterranean sclerophyllous woodland environments, but with slightly higher primary productivity, indicating some similarity with East African woodlands. On the other hand, the environments did not resemble African grassland savannas. The browse-dominated diets of ungulates from Barranco Leon and Fuente Nueva 3 further suggest palaeoenvironments where grasses were a minor component of the vegetation. In the slightly older site of Venta Micena that has no evidence for the presence of hominins, dental ecometric estimates indicate climate and environments similar to Mediterranean forest steppe environments existing in the surroundings of Baza today. Grasses were prevalent in the diet of some taxa, especially equids, in Venta Micena, but most of the species show browse-dominated diets even there. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

【 授权许可】

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