Ecological background to Plio-Pleistocene hominin occupation in North Africa: the vertebrate faunas from Ain Boucherit,Ain Hanech and El-Kherba,and paleosol stable-carbon-isotope studies from El-Kherba,Algeria |
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| Authors: | Mohamed Sahnouni Jan Van der Made Melanie Everett |
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| Institution: | 1. Stone Age Institute and CRAFT Research Center, Indiana University Bloomington, USA;2. Museo Nacional Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain;3. Department of Geological Sciences and Anthropology Department, Indiana University Bloomington, USA;1. Département de Préhistoire, Muséum national d''histoire naturelle, UMR7194, 1, rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France;2. US Geological Survey, ms/470, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States;3. Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca s/n, 09002 Burgos, Spain;4. Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, C/Marcel·lí Domingo s/n (Edifici W3), Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain;5. Àrea de Prehistòria, Dept. d''Història i Història de l''Art, Univ. Rovira i Virgili, Fac. de Lletres, Av. Catalunya, 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain;6. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l''Environnement, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France;7. GEOTOP, Université de Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada;8. CEA/I²BM, F-91401 Orsay Cedex, France;9. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of Beijing (IVPP), Beijing, China;10. Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/Sinesio Delgado 4, Pabellón 14, 28029 Madrid, Spain;1. Museo Arqueológico de Granada, Carrera del Darro 41-43, 18010 Granada, Spain;2. ICREA, Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Àrea de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, C/Marcel.lí Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain;3. Center for the Study of Human Origins – CSHO, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003-6790, USA;4. Museum National d''Histoire Naturelle, Département de Préhistoire, UMR 7194 du CNRS, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France;5. Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo de Atapuerca, 09002 Burgos, Spain;6. Université Paul Valery, Montpellier III, UMR 5140 «Archéologie des sociétés méditerranéennes» Route de Mende, F-34199 Montpellier, France;7. Stone Age Institute, Indiana University, 1392 w. Ditterrore Rd., Gasport, IN 47433, USA;8. Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain;9. Institut de Ciències de la Terra ‘J. Almera’ (CSIC), C/L. Solé Sabarís sn, 08028 Barcelona, Spain;10. Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Campus de Fuentenueva, Universidad de Granada, 18003 Granada, Spain;11. Centre européen de recherches préhistoriques, avenue Léon-Grégory, 66720 Tautavel, France;12. Museo de Prehistoria y Paleontología, Orce, Granada 18858, Spain;13. Departamento de Geología y Ecología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain;1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, “Sapienza–Università di Roma”, P.le A. Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy;2. Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Via U. Aldrovandi 18, I-00197 Roma, Italy;1. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China |
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| Abstract: | In contrast to well-studied paleoenvironments of Plio-Pleistocene hominin sites in East Africa, little is known about the ecology of the earliest North African human occupation sites. The recent studies at Ain Hanech and El-Kherba in northeastern Algeria have broadened the range of Plio-Pleistocene hominin ecology to include the earliest known archaeological sites documented in North Africa. Ain Hanech and El-Kherba are significant for yielding savanna-like faunas associated with Oldowan stone tools dated back to approximately 1.8 million years ago. This paper focuses on reconstructing the ecology of Ain Hanech and El-Kherba based on excavated faunas and stable carbon isotope of pedogenic carbonates from El-Kherba stratigraphic profile. The results point out to an overall open paleolandscape and a C3 predominantly paleovegetation both woody and grasses. In addition, the stable-carbon-isotopic evidence shows a clear environmental change through time at El-Kherba, which likely impacted hominin foraging activities in level A. |
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