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Pleistocene footprints show intensive use of lake margin habitats by Homo erectus groups
- Source :
- Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Reconstructing hominin paleoecology is critical for understanding our ancestors’ diets, social organizations and interactions with other animals. Most paleoecological models lack fine-scale resolution due to fossil hominin scarcity and the time-averaged accumulation of faunal assemblages. Here we present data from 481 fossil tracks from northwestern Kenya, including 97 hominin footprints attributed to Homo erectus. These tracks are found in multiple sedimentary layers spanning approximately 20 thousand years. Taphonomic experiments show that each of these trackways represents minutes to no more than a few days in the lives of the individuals moving across these paleolandscapes. The geology and associated vertebrate fauna place these tracks in a deltaic setting, near a lakeshore bordered by open grasslands. Hominin footprints are disproportionately abundant in this lake margin environment, relative to hominin skeletal fossil frequency in the same deposits. Accounting for preservation bias, this abundance of hominin footprints indicates repeated use of lakeshore habitats by Homo erectus. Clusters of very large prints moving in the same direction further suggest these hominins traversed this lakeshore in multi-male groups. Such reliance on near water environments and possibly aquatic-linked foods, may have influenced hominin foraging behavior and migratory routes across and out of Africa.
- Subjects :
- Geologic Sediments
010506 paleontology
Taphonomy
Pleistocene
Hominidae
Fauna
Foraging
01 natural sciences
Article
Animals
Body Size
Humans
0601 history and archaeology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
060101 anthropology
Multidisciplinary
biology
Fossils
Ecology
06 humanities and the arts
biology.organism_classification
Kenya
Archaeology
Habitat
Paleoecology
Homo erectus
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6b8754605fcc35d4ea9aa7118cb4399d
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26374