Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa

The dispersal of Homo erectus out of Africa at some 1.9 million years ago is one of the most important, crucial, and yet controversial events in human evolution. Current opinions about this episode expose the contrast between those who see H. erectus as a highly social, cooperative species seeking o...

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Main Authors: Carotenuto, F., Tsikaridze, N., Rook, L., Lordkipanidze, D., Longo, Laura, Condemi, Silvana, Raia, P.
Other Authors: School of Art, Design and Media
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2016
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/82274
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41176
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-822742020-02-26T14:40:56Z Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa Carotenuto, F. Tsikaridze, N. Rook, L. Lordkipanidze, D. Longo, Laura Condemi, Silvana Raia, P. School of Art, Design and Media Homo erectus Dispersal The dispersal of Homo erectus out of Africa at some 1.9 million years ago is one of the most important, crucial, and yet controversial events in human evolution. Current opinions about this episode expose the contrast between those who see H. erectus as a highly social, cooperative species seeking out new ecological opportunities to exploit, and those preferring a passive, climate driven explanation for such an event. By using geostatistics techniques and probabilistic models, we characterised the ecological context of H. erectus dispersal, from its East African origin to the colonization of Eurasia, taking into account both the presence of other large mammals and the physical characteristics of the landscape as potential factors. Our model indicated that H. erectus followed almost passively the large herbivore fauna during its dispersal. In Africa, the dispersal was statistically associated with the presence of large freshwater bodies (Rift Valley Lakes). In Eurasia, the presence of H. erectus was associated with the occurrence of geological outcrops likely yielding unconsolidated flint. During the early phase of dispersal, our model indicated that H. erectus actively avoided areas densely populated by large carnivores. This pattern weakened as H. erectus dispersed over Europe, possibly because of the decreasing presence of carnivores there plus the later acquisition of Acheulean technology. During this later phase, H. erectus was associated with limestone and shaley marl, and seems to have been selecting for high-elevation sites. While our results do not directly contradict the idea that H. erectus may have been an active hunter, they clearly point to the fact that predator avoidance may have conditioned its long-distance diffusion as it moved outside Africa. The modelled dispersal route suggests that H. erectus remained preferentially associated with low/middle latitude (i.e., comparatively warm) sites throughout its colonization history. Accepted version 2016-08-25T09:10:11Z 2019-12-06T14:52:16Z 2016-08-25T09:10:11Z 2019-12-06T14:52:16Z 2016 Journal Article Carotenuto, F., Tsikaridze, N., Rook, L., Lordkipanidze, D., Longo, L., Condemi, S., et al. (2016). Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 95, 1-12. 0047-2484 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/82274 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41176 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.02.005 en Journal of Human Evolution © 2016 Elsevier. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Journal of Human Evolution, Elsevier. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.02.005]. 49 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Homo erectus
Dispersal
spellingShingle Homo erectus
Dispersal
Carotenuto, F.
Tsikaridze, N.
Rook, L.
Lordkipanidze, D.
Longo, Laura
Condemi, Silvana
Raia, P.
Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
description The dispersal of Homo erectus out of Africa at some 1.9 million years ago is one of the most important, crucial, and yet controversial events in human evolution. Current opinions about this episode expose the contrast between those who see H. erectus as a highly social, cooperative species seeking out new ecological opportunities to exploit, and those preferring a passive, climate driven explanation for such an event. By using geostatistics techniques and probabilistic models, we characterised the ecological context of H. erectus dispersal, from its East African origin to the colonization of Eurasia, taking into account both the presence of other large mammals and the physical characteristics of the landscape as potential factors. Our model indicated that H. erectus followed almost passively the large herbivore fauna during its dispersal. In Africa, the dispersal was statistically associated with the presence of large freshwater bodies (Rift Valley Lakes). In Eurasia, the presence of H. erectus was associated with the occurrence of geological outcrops likely yielding unconsolidated flint. During the early phase of dispersal, our model indicated that H. erectus actively avoided areas densely populated by large carnivores. This pattern weakened as H. erectus dispersed over Europe, possibly because of the decreasing presence of carnivores there plus the later acquisition of Acheulean technology. During this later phase, H. erectus was associated with limestone and shaley marl, and seems to have been selecting for high-elevation sites. While our results do not directly contradict the idea that H. erectus may have been an active hunter, they clearly point to the fact that predator avoidance may have conditioned its long-distance diffusion as it moved outside Africa. The modelled dispersal route suggests that H. erectus remained preferentially associated with low/middle latitude (i.e., comparatively warm) sites throughout its colonization history.
author2 School of Art, Design and Media
author_facet School of Art, Design and Media
Carotenuto, F.
Tsikaridze, N.
Rook, L.
Lordkipanidze, D.
Longo, Laura
Condemi, Silvana
Raia, P.
format Article
author Carotenuto, F.
Tsikaridze, N.
Rook, L.
Lordkipanidze, D.
Longo, Laura
Condemi, Silvana
Raia, P.
author_sort Carotenuto, F.
title Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
title_short Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
title_full Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
title_fullStr Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
title_full_unstemmed Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa
title_sort venturing out safely: the biogeography of homo erectus dispersal out of africa
publishDate 2016
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/82274
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41176
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