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Pleistocene footprints show intensive use of lake margin habitats by Homo erectus groups

Roach, Neil T., Hatala, Kevin G., Ostrofsky, Kelly R., Villmoare, Brian, Reeves, Jonathan S., Du, Andrew, Braun, David R., Harris, John W. K., Behrensmeyer, Anna K., Richmond, Brian G.·2016·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/srep26374PMC PMC4873780
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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.

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  • Because of their sizes (the largest computed discharge compares to that of the present-day Yangtze), these rivers might have acted as barrier to migration and could have channelized terrestrial faunas and early humans towards the shallow marginal seas that separated the shelf from the emerging landmasses of Java.

    “Because of their sizes (the largest computed discharge compares to that of the present-day Yangtze), these rivers might have acted as barrier to migration and could have channelized terrestrial faunas and early humans38 towards the shallow marginal seas that separated the shelf from the emerging landmasses of Java, where marine conditions prevailed until Early Pleistocene (Fig. 3).”

    From Javanese homo erectus on the move in SE asia circa 1.8 ma (2022) · cites this paper as [38]

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Metadata

Authors
Roach, N. T., Hatala, K. G., Ostrofsky, K. R., Villmoare, B., Reeves, J. S., Du, A., Braun, D. R., Harris, J. W. K., Behrensmeyer, A. K., & Richmond, B. G.
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2016-05-20
Volume
6
Issue
1
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/srep26374
PMC
PMC4873780
Cited by
85
References
0
Language
en
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