Extreme glacial cooling likely led to hominin depopulation of Europe in the Early Pleistocene

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Margari, Vasiliki; Hodell, David A.; Parfitt, Simon A.; Ashton, Nick M.; Grimalt, Joan O.; Kim, Hyuna; Yun, Kyung-Sook; Gibbard, Philip L.; Stringer, Chris B.; Timmermann, Axel; Tzedakis, Polychronis C.
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; University of Cambridge; University of London; University College London; Natural History Museum London; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); CSIC - Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo Pascual Vila (CID-CSIC); CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA); Institute for Basic Science - Korea (IBS); Pusan National University; Pusan National University; University of Cambridge
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-11058
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adf4445
• 发表日期: 2023-08-11
• 页码: 693-698
• 关键词: 1st human occupation; guadix-baza basin; millennial climate variability; sea-surface temperature; iberian peninsula; north-atlantic; homo-erectus; paleolithic sites; lithic industry; southern europe

摘要

The oldest known hominin remains in Europe [similar to 1.5 to similar to 1.1 million years ago (Ma)] have been recovered from Iberia, where paleoenvironmental reconstructions have indicated warm and wet interglacials and mild glacials, supporting the view that once established, hominin populations persisted continuously. We report analyses of marine and terrestrial proxies from a deep-sea core on the Portugese margin that show the presence of pronounced millennial-scale climate variability during a glacial period similar to 1.154 to similar to 1.123 Ma, culminating in a terminal stadial cooling comparable to the most extreme events of the last 400,000 years. Climate envelope-model simulations reveal a drastic decrease in early hominin habitat suitability around the Mediterranean during the terminal stadial. We suggest that these extreme conditions led to the depopulation of Europe, perhaps lasting for several successive glacial-interglacial cycles.