Herbivore enamel carbon and oxygen isotopes demonstrate both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals exploited similar habitats in the Zagros Mountains (original) (raw)
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The Middle Paleolithic site of Amud Cave, Israel, was occupied by Neanderthals at two different time periods, evidenced by two chronologically and stratigraphically distinct depositional sub-units (B4 and B2/B1) during MIS 4 and MIS 3, respectively. The composition of both hunted large fauna and naturally-deposited micromammalian taxa is stable at the site over time, despite a ∼10 ky gap between the two occupation phases. However, while gazelle is the most ubiquitous hunted species throughout the occupation, isotopic analysis showed that there is a marked change in Neanderthal hunting ranges between the early (B4) and late (B2/B1) phases. Hunting ranges were reconstructed by comparing oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotopes from gazelle tooth enamel with modern isotope data from the Amud Cave region. This region is characterized by extensive topographic, lithological, and pedological heterogeneity. During the early occupation phase negative oxygen isotope values, low radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and low Sr concentrations reveal restricted gazelle hunting in the high elevations west of Amud Cave. In the late occupation phase, hunting ranges became more diverse, but concentrate at low elevations closer to the site. Climatic proxies indicate that conditions were drier in the early occupation phase, which may have pushed gazelle populations into higher, more productive foraging areas. This study showed that Neanderthals adjusted their hunting territories considerably in relation to varying environmental conditions over the course of occupation in Amud Cave. It highlights the utility of multiple isotope analysis in enhancing the resolution of behavioral interpretations based on faunal remains and in reconstructing past hunting behaviors of Paleolithic hominins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.008
Journal of Human Evolution, 2021
Neanderthals are known primarily from their habitation of Western Eurasia, but they also populated large expanses of Northern Asia for thousands of years. Owing to a sparse archaeological record, relatively little is known about these eastern Neanderthal populations. Unlike in their western range, there are limited zooarchaeological and paleobotanical studies that inform us about the nature of their subsistence. Here, we perform a combined analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes on bone collagen and microbotanical remains in dental calculus to reconstruct the diet of eastern Neanderthals at Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia, Russia. Stable isotopes identify one individual as possessing a high trophic level due to the hunting of large-and medium-sized ungulates, while the analysis of dental calculus also indicates the presence of plants in the diet of this individual and others from the site. These findings indicate eastern Neanderthals may have had broadly similar subsistence patterns to those elsewhere in their range.
The Middle Paleolithic site of Amud Cave, Israel, was occupied by Neanderthals at two different time periods, evidenced by two chronologically and stratigraphically distinct depositional sub-units (B4 and B2/B1) during MIS 4 and MIS 3, respectively. The composition of both hunted large fauna and naturally- deposited micromammalian taxa is stable at the site over time, despite a ~10 ky gap between the two occupation phases. However, while gazelle is the most ubiquitous hunted species throughout the occupation, isotopic analysis showed that there is a marked change in Neanderthal hunting ranges be- tween the early (B4) and late (B2/B1) phases. Hunting ranges were reconstructed by comparing oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotopes from gazelle tooth enamel with modern isotope data from the Amud Cave region. This region is characterized by extensive topographic, lithological, and pedological het- erogeneity. During the early occupation phase negative oxygen isotope values, low radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and low Sr concentrations reveal restricted gazelle hunting in the high elevations west of Amud Cave. In the late occupation phase, hunting ranges became more diverse, but concentrate at low ele- vations closer to the site. Climatic proxies indicate that conditions were drier in the early occupation phase, which may have pushed gazelle populations into higher, more productive foraging areas. This study showed that Neanderthals adjusted their hunting territories considerably in relation to varying environmental conditions over the course of occupation in Amud Cave. It highlights the utility of mul- tiple isotope analysis in enhancing the resolution of behavioral interpretations based on faunal remains and in reconstructing past hunting behaviors of Paleolithic hominins.
The Middle Paleolithic site of Amud Cave, Israel, was occupied by Neanderthals at two different time periods, evidenced by two chronologically and stratigraphically distinct depositional sub-units (B4 and B2/B1) during MIS 4 and MIS 3, respectively. The composition of both hunted large fauna and naturallydeposited micromammalian taxa is stable at the site over time, despite a~10 ky gap between the two occupation phases. However, while gazelle is the most ubiquitous hunted species throughout the occupation, isotopic analysis showed that there is a marked change in Neanderthal hunting ranges between the early (B4) and late (B2/B1) phases. Hunting ranges were reconstructed by comparing oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotopes from gazelle tooth enamel with modern isotope data from the Amud Cave region. This region is characterized by extensive topographic, lithological, and pedological heterogeneity. During the early occupation phase negative oxygen isotope values, low radiogenic 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios, and low Sr concentrations reveal restricted gazelle hunting in the high elevations west of Amud Cave. In the late occupation phase, hunting ranges became more diverse, but concentrate at low elevations closer to the site. Climatic proxies indicate that conditions were drier in the early occupation phase, which may have pushed gazelle populations into higher, more productive foraging areas. This study showed that Neanderthals adjusted their hunting territories considerably in relation to varying environmental conditions over the course of occupation in Amud Cave. It highlights the utility of multiple isotope analysis in enhancing the resolution of behavioral interpretations based on faunal remains and in reconstructing past hunting behaviors of Paleolithic hominins.
Nature ecology & evolution, 2018
Despite its largely hyper-arid and inhospitable climate today, the Arabian Peninsula is emerging as an important area for investigating Pleistocene hominin dispersals. Recently, a member of our own species was found in northern Arabia dating to ca. 90 ka, while stone tools and fossil finds have hinted at an earlier, middle Pleistocene, hominin presence. However, there remain few direct insights into Pleistocene environments, and associated hominin adaptations, that accompanied the movement of populations into this region. Here, we apply stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis to fossil mammal tooth enamel (n = 21) from the middle Pleistocene locality of Ti's al Ghadah in Saudi Arabia associated with newly discovered stone tools and probable cutmarks. The results demonstrate productive grasslands in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula ca. 300-500 ka, as well as aridity levels similar to those found in open savannah settings in eastern Africa today. The association between thi...
What do stable isotopes tell us about hominid dietary and ecological niches in the pliocene?
International …, 2003
By now a reasonable set of carbon and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel has been accumulated for South African Plio-Pleistocene hominids and associated fauna. Almost all individuals measured, independent of species and importantly, environment, show significant C 4 dietary inputs with some individuals showing very substantial C 4 inputs. This implies interactions with grassy environments for a period of well over a million years, a period that saw environments in southern Africa shift from closed woodlands to more open, grassy landscapes. Carbon isotope analysis alone is unable to permit the important distinction between direct consumption of grasses, or indirect consumption via grass-eating animals, such as small vertebrates and invertebrates. Other chemical tools provide ambiguous results. For instance, hominid strontium/calcium distributions at Swartkrans have been interpreted as supporting omnivory, but other explanations are equally plausible. Relatively low oxygen isotope values for all hominids in comparison to associated fauna show similarities with suids, monkeys and carnivores, but the causes of these similarities are as yet poorly understood. On present evidence hominid interaction with grassland foods is secure although their exact nature remains elusive.
Strontium isotope evidence for landscape use by early hominins
Nature, 2011
Ranging and residence patterns among early hominins have been indirectly inferred from morphology 1,2 , stone-tool sourcing 3 , referential models 4,5 and phylogenetic models 6-8 . However, the highly uncertain nature of such reconstructions limits our understanding of early hominin ecology, biology, social structure and evolution. We investigated landscape use in Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus from the Sterkfontein and Swartkrans cave sites in South Africa using strontium isotope analysis, a method that can help to identify the geological substrate on which an animal lived during tooth mineralization. Here we show that a higher proportion of small hominins than large hominins had non-local strontium isotope compositions. Given the relatively high levels of sexual dimorphism in early hominins, the smaller teeth are likely to represent female individuals, thus indicating that females were more likely than males to disperse from their natal groups. This is similar to the dispersal pattern found in chimpanzees 9 , bonobos 10 and many human groups 11 , but dissimilar from that of most gorillas and other primates 12 . The small proportion of demonstrably non-local large hominin individuals could indicate that male australopiths had relatively small home ranges, or that they preferred dolomitic landscapes.
nature ecology & evolution, 2024
The spread of Homo sapiens into new habitats across Eurasia ~45,000 years ago and the concurrent disappearance of Neanderthals represents a critical evolutionary turnover in our species’ history. ‘Transitional’ technocomplexes, such as the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician (LRJ), characterize the European record during this period but their makers and evolutionary significance have long remained unclear. New evidence from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany, now provides a secure connection of the LRJ to H. sapiens remains dated to ~45,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest forays of our species to central Europe. Using many stable isotope records of climate produced from 16 serially sampled equid teeth spanning ~12,500 years of LRJ and Upper Palaeolithic human occupation at Ranis, we review the ability of early humans to adapt to different climate and habitat conditions. Results show that cold climates prevailed across LRJ occupations, with a temperature decrease culminating in a pronounced cold excursion at ~45,000–43,000 cal bp. Directly dated H. sapiens remains confirm that humans used the site even during this very cold phase. Together with recent evidence from the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, this demonstrates that humans operated in severe cold conditions during many distinct early dispersals into Europe and suggests pronounced adaptability.
2020
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 southwestern 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 southwestern 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 southwestern Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from northwestern 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. Our closest relative, Neanderthals, separated from the modern human lineage around 800,000-1,200,000 years ago 1 and became extinct around 40 kya 2. During that time, Neanderthals were distributed across Europe and Asia (ibid) and experienced several glacial and interglacial periods. Besides of the questions concerning their coexistence with Homo sapiens and replacement, there are still many other basic questions which are not fully answered such as Neanderthals' expansions and their adaptation capabilities in different environments. Despite Neanderthals being extensively studied across Europe 3-10 and in the Levant 11-13 , very little is known about its paleoecology on the Iranian Plateau. Knowing Neanderthals paleoecology promotes deciphering the drivers of Neanderthal range expansion, their extinction and identifying the Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens contact zone and understanding our own species past ecology. The Iranian Plateau, the southern east-most expansion of the Neanderthals, is located in southwestern Asia and has been recognized as an important dispersal corridor for Pleistocene hominin species and played a prominent role in their evolution 14-16. Over the past decades, Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000-40,000 years BCE) occupations have been discovered in a number of different Palaeolithic sites in the Iranian Plateau 15-19 , 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. Recently, Species Distribution Models (SDMs) have found many applications in paleoecology and paleobiogeography 20,21. Rapid advances in species distribution modelling 22,23 and availability of environmental data characterizing past climatic conditions 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 evolution 20,25. These models were recently applied in studying paleoecology of hominin species and increased our knowledge of their paleodistributions 26-29. For example, Benito et al. 28 reconstructed open 1