학술논문
Adaptive foraging behaviours in the Horn of Africa during Toba supereruption
Document Type
Original Paper
Author
Kappelman, John; Todd, Lawrence C.; Davis, Christopher A.; Cerling, Thure E.; Feseha, Mulugeta; Getahun, Abebe; Johnsen, Racheal; Kay, Marvin; Kocurek, Gary A.; Nachman, Brett A.; Negash, Agazi; Negash, Tewabe; O’Brien, Kaedan; Pante, Michael; Ren, Minghua; Smith, Eugene I.; Tabor, Neil J.; Tewabe, Dereje; Wang, Hong; Yang, Deming; Yirga, Solomon; Crowell, Jordan W.; Fanuka, Matthew F.; Habtie, Teshager; Hirniak, Jayde N.; Klehm, Carla; Loewen, Natalia D.; Melaku, Sahleselasie; Melton, Sierra M.; Myers, Timothy S.; Millonig, Sarah; Plummer, Megan C.; Riordan, Keenan J.; Rosenau, Nicholas A.; Skinner, Anne; Thompson, Abraham K.; Trombetta, Lindsey M.; Witzel, Adrienne; Assefa, Ephrem; Bodansky, Maria; Desta, Ayenachew A.; Campisano, Christopher J.; Dalmas, Daniel; Elliott, Connor; Endalamaw, Metasebia; Ford, Nicholas J.; Foster, Frederick; Getachew, Tomas; Haney, Yibai Li; Ingram, Brittney H.; Jackson, Jonayah; Marean, Curtis W.; Mattox, Sissi; de la Cruz Medina, Karla; Mulubrhan, Gebretsadkan; Porter, Keri; Roberts, Alexis; Santillan, Perla; Sollenberger, Alaric; Sponholtz, Julia; Valdes, Jessica; Wyman, Lani; Yadeta, Meklit; Yanny, Sierra
Source
Nature: International weekly journal of science. 628(8007):365-372
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
0028-0836
1476-4687
1476-4687
Abstract
Although modern humans left Africa multiple times over 100,000 years ago, those broadly ancestral to non-Africans dispersed less than 100,000 years ago1 . Most models hold that these events occurred through green corridors created during humid periods because arid intervals constrained population movements2 . Here we report an archaeological site—Shinfa-Metema 1, in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia, with Youngest Toba Tuff cryptotephra dated to around 74,000 years ago—that provides early and rare evidence of intensive riverine-based foraging aided by the likely adoption of the bow and arrow. The diet included a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic animals. Stable oxygen isotopes from fossil mammal teeth and ostrich eggshell show that the site was occupied during a period of high seasonal aridity. The unusual abundance of fish suggests that capture occurred in the ever smaller and shallower waterholes of a seasonal river during a long dry season, revealing flexible adaptations to challenging climatic conditions during the Middle Stone Age. Adaptive foraging along dry-season waterholes would have transformed seasonal rivers into ‘blue highway’ corridors, potentially facilitating an out-of-Africa dispersal and suggesting that the event was not restricted to times of humid climates. The behavioural flexibility required to survive seasonally arid conditions in general, and the apparent short-term effects of the Toba supereruption in particular were probably key to the most recent dispersal and subsequent worldwide expansion of modern humans.
The archaeological site Shinfa-Metema 1 in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia provides early evidence of intensive riverine-based foraging aided by the likely adoption of the bow and arrow.
The archaeological site Shinfa-Metema 1 in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia provides early evidence of intensive riverine-based foraging aided by the likely adoption of the bow and arrow.