Dataset Information

Man the fat hunter: the demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant.

ABSTRACT: The worldwide association of H. erectus with elephants is well documented and so is the preference of humans for fat as a source of energy. We show that rather than a matter of preference, H. erectus in the Levant was dependent on both elephants and fat for his survival. The disappearance of elephants from the Levant some 400 kyr ago coincides with the appearance of a new and innovative local cultural complex--the Levantine Acheulo-Yabrudian and, as is evident from teeth recently found in the Acheulo-Yabrudian 400-200 kyr site of Qesem Cave, the replacement of H. erectus by a new hominin. We employ a bio-energetic model to present a hypothesis that the disappearance of the elephants, which created a need to hunt an increased number of smaller and faster animals while maintaining an adequate fat content in the diet, was the evolutionary drive behind the emergence of the lighter, more agile, and cognitively capable hominins. Qesem Cave thus provides a rare opportunity to study the mechanisms that underlie the emergence of our post-erectus ancestors, the fat hunters.

SUBMITTER: Ben-Dor M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3235142 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Man the fat hunter: the demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant.

Ben-Dor Miki M Gopher Avi A Hershkovitz Israel I Barkai Ran R

PloS one 20111209 12

The worldwide association of H. erectus with elephants is well documented and so is the preference of humans for fat as a source of energy. We show that rather than a matter of preference, H. erectus in the Levant was dependent on both elephants and fat for his survival. The disappearance of elephants from the Levant some 400 kyr ago coincides with the appearance of a new and innovative local cultural complex--the Levantine Acheulo-Yabrudian and, as is evident from teeth recently found in the Ac ...[more]

PMID: 22174868

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Project description:Background:Regional diversity in the morphology of the H. erectus postcranium is not broadly documented, in part, because of the paucity of Asian sites preserving postcranial fossils. Yet, such an understanding of the initial hominin taxon to spread throughout multiple regions of the world is fundamental to documenting the adaptive responses to selective forces operating during this period of human evolution. Methods:The current study reports the first humeral rigidity and strength properties of East Asian H. erectus and places its diaphyseal robusticity into broader regional and temporal contexts. We estimate true cross-sectional properties of Zhoukoudian Humerus II and quantify new diaphyseal properties of Humerus III using high resolution computed tomography. Comparative data for African H. erectus and Eurasian Late Pleistocene H. sapiens were assembled, and new data were generated from two modern Chinese populations. Results:Differences between East Asian and African H. erectus were inconsistently expressed in humeral cortical thickness. In contrast, East Asian H. erectus appears to exhibit greater humeral robusticity compared to African H. erectus when standardizing diaphyseal properties by the product of estimated body mass and humeral length. East Asian H. erectus humeri typically differed less in standardized properties from those of side-matched Late Pleistocene hominins (e.g., Neanderthals and more recent Upper Paleolithic modern humans) than did African H. erectus, and often fell in the lower range of Late Pleistocene humeral rigidity or strength properties. Discussion:Quantitative comparisons indicate that regional variability in humeral midshaft robusticity may characterize H. erectus to a greater extent than presently recognized. This may suggest a temporal difference within H. erectus, or possibly different ecogeographical trends and/or upper limb loading patterns across the taxon. Both discovery and analysis of more adult H. erectus humeri are critical to further evaluating and potentially distinguishing between these possibilities.

Project description:Excavations at the Longtan Cave, Hexian, Anhui Province of Eastern China, have yielded several hominin fossils including crania, mandibular fragments, and teeth currently dated to 412 ± 25 ka. While previous studies have focused on the cranial remains, there are no detailed analyses of the dental evidence. In this study, we provide metric and morphological descriptions and comparisons of ten teeth recovered from Hexian, including microcomputed tomography analyses. Our results indicate that the Hexian teeth are metrically and morphologically primitive and overlap with H. ergaster and East Asian Early and mid-Middle Pleistocene hominins in their large dimensions and occlusal complexities. However, the Hexian teeth differ from H. ergaster in features such as conspicuous vertical grooves on the labial/buccal surfaces of the central incisor and the upper premolar, the crown outline shapes of upper and lower molars and the numbers, shapes, and divergences of the roots. Despite their close geological ages, the Hexian teeth are also more primitive than Zhoukoudian specimens, and resemble Sangiran Early Pleistocene teeth. In addition, no typical Neanderthal features have been identified in the Hexian sample. Our study highlights the metrical and morphological primitive status of the Hexian sample in comparison to contemporaneous or even earlier populations of Asia. Based on this finding, we suggest that the primitive-derived gradients of the Asian hominins cannot be satisfactorily fitted along a chronological sequence, suggesting complex evolutionary scenarios with the coexistence and/or survival of different lineages in Eurasia. Hexian could represent the persistence in time of a H. erectus group that would have retained primitive features that were lost in other Asian populations such as Zhoukoudian or Panxian Dadong. Our study expands the metrical and morphological variations known for the East Asian hominins before the mid-Middle Pleistocene and warns about the possibility that the Asian hominin variability may have been taxonomically oversimplified.

Dataset Information

Man the fat hunter: the demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant.

Publications

Man the fat hunter: the demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant.

Similar Datasets

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