[ad_1]
Critical Review of Increasing Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Datasets Relating to Middle and Upper Pleistocene Pleistocene (300-12 thousand years ago) hominin dispersions within and beyond Africa, published today. in Nature Human Behavior demonstrates unique environmental parameters and adaptations for Homo sapiens compared to previous and coexisting hominids such as Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus . The ability of our species to occupy diverse and "extreme" environments around the world contrasts sharply with the ecological adaptations of other hominan taxa, and could explain how our species has become the last surviving hominin on the planet.
The paper, by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Michigan suggests that research on what it means to be human should spend attempts to discover the first material traces of "art," or technological "complexity" to understand what makes our species ecologically unique. Unlike our ancestors and contemporary parents, our species has not only colonized a diversity of challenging environments, including deserts, tropical rainforests, high altitude environments, and the Paleoarctic, but also specializing in its adaptation to some of these extremes. Ecology – Early and Middle Pleistocene Ecology Homo
Although all hominids that make up the genus Homo are often referred to as "humans" in academic and public circles, this group Evolutionary, which emerged in about 3 million years ago, Africa is very diverse. Some members of the genus Homo (ie Homo erectus ) arrived in Spain, Georgia, China, and Indonesia a million years ago. Yet existing information on fossil animals, ancient plants and chemical methods suggests that these groups have monitored and exploited environmental mosaics of forests and grbadlands. It has been argued that Homo erectus and the 'Hobbit', or Homo floresiensis used resource-poor tropical forest habitats in Southeast Asia there are 1 million years to 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, respectively. However, the authors have found no reliable evidence for this.
It has also been argued that our closest hominids, Homo Neanderthalensis – or Neanderthals – were specialized in the occupation of high latitude Eurasia between 250,000 and there. is 40,000 years old. The base of this includes a face shape potentially suited to cold temperatures and a hunting focus on large animals such as woolly mammoths. Nevertheless, an examination of the evidence led the authors to conclude again that Neanderthals primarily exploited a diversity of forest and grbadland habitats, and that they hunted a variety of animals, temperature from northern Eurasia to the Mediterranean. the Arctic
Unlike these other members of the genus Homo our species – Homo sapiens – it was extended to niches higher than its hominid predecessors and 80- 50,000 years ago, and at least 45,000 years ago, it rapidly colonized a variety of paleo-arctic and tropical rainforest environments in Asia, Melanesia, and the Americas. In addition, the authors argue that the continued accumulation of better-resolution and better-dated environmental datasets is badociated with crossing the deserts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the North. west of India, as well as at the high altitudes of Tibet and the Andes. will also help determine the extent to which our species have demonstrated new colonization abilities by entering these areas.
Finding the origins of this ecological "plasticity", or the ability to occupy a number of very different environments, is still difficult in Africa, particularly towards the evolutionist origins of Homo sapiens 300-200 000 years since. However, the authors argue that there are tantalizing allusions to new environmental contexts of human habitation and related technological changes across Africa right after this period. They hypothesize that the drivers of these changes will become more apparent with future work, particularly those that closely integrate archaeological evidence with highly resolved local paleoecological data. For example, the lead author of the paper, Dr. Patrick Roberts, suggests that "even though the focus on discovering new fossils or the genetic characterization of our species and its ancestors helped determine the timing and location of hominid specifications, silence about the various environmental contexts of biocultural selection.
The "generalist specialist" – a very sapiens niche
One of the main new claims of the authors is that evidence of human occupation of a huge diversity of environmental media across the majority of the Earth's continents by the Pleistocene allusions superior to a new ecological niche, that of the "generalist specialist". As Roberts states, "A traditional ecological dichotomy exists between" generalists ", who can use a variety of different resources and inhabit a variety of environmental conditions, and" specialists ", who have limited diets and close environmental tolerance. Homo sapiens provides evidence for "specialized" populations, such as mountain rainforest hunters or palaeoarctic mammoth hunters, existing in what is traditionally defined as a "generalist" species "
Dr. Brian Stewart, co-author of the study, says that cooperation between unrelated individuals within the Pleistocene Homo sapiens is important. "The sharing of non-parental food, l & # 39; Long-distance exchange and ritual relations would have allowed populations to adapt "reflexively" to fluctuations. local climate and environment, and to supplant and replace other species of hominids. "In sum, accumulate, draw on and transmit a large reservoir of cumulative cultural knowledge, in material form or in ideas, may have played a crucial role in creating and maintaining the generalist-specialist niche by our Pleistocene species.
Implications for our pursuit of ancient humanity
The authors are clear on the fact that this proposal remains hypothetical and could be refuted by evidence of the use of environments "Extremes" by other members of the genus Homo . However, testing the niche "generalist specialist" in our species encourages research in more extreme environments that have already been neglected as not promising for paleoanthropological and archaeological work, including the Gobi desert and the Amazon rainforest. The expansion of this research is particularly important in Africa, the cradle of Homo sapiens evolution where more detailed archaeological and environmental data dating back 300-200,000 years are becoming increasingly important. more crucial if we want to follow the ecological evolution. It is also clear that the increasing evidence of hominid crossbreeding and the complex anatomical and behavioral origin of our species in Africa underscore that archaeologists and paleoanthropologists should focus on the study of fossil environmental badociations. "While we are often excited by the discovery of new fossils or genomes, we may need to think more deeply about the behavioral implications of these discoveries, and pay more attention to what these new discoveries tell us about crossing ecological thresholds, "says Stewart. Studies focusing on how the genetics of different hominids could have led to ecological and physical benefits such as high altitude capabilities or UV tolerance remain very successful ways in this regard.
"Like other definitions of human origins However, an ecological perspective on the origins and nature of our species potentially illuminates the unique path of Homo sapiens as it quickly became dominant on Earth, various continents and environments, "Roberts concludes. Testing this hypothesis should open up new avenues for research and, if they are correct, new perspectives as to whether the "generalist specialist" will continue to be an adaptive success in the face of growing problems. sustainability and environmental conflicts.
Learn more:
A new badysis suggests that the increase in body size has not played a role in Homo's origins
More information:
Patrick Roberts et al., Definition of the "Generalist Specialist Niche" for Pleistocene Homo sapiens, Nature Human Behavior (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41562-018-0394-4
Source link
