It’s an Ice Age mystery that’s been debated for decades among anthropologists: Exactly when and how did the flow of Homo sapiens in Eurasia happen? Did a cold snap or a warming spell drive early human movement from Africa into Europe and Asia?
A study appearing in Science Advances compares Pleistocene vegetation communities around Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, to the oldest archaeological traces of Homo sapiens in the region. The researchers use the “remarkable evidence” to tell a compelling story from 45,000–50,000 years ago with new detail: how the first humans migrated across Europe and Asia.
The new pollen data suggest warming temperatures supported forests that expanded into Siberia and facilitated early human migration there, at roughly the same time as more and western areas of Eurasia.
“This research addresses long-standing debates regarding the environmental conditions that early Homo sapiens faced during their migration into Europe and Asia around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago,” said co-author Ted Goebel, professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas. “It provides critical insights into environmental conditions at Lake Baikal, using pollen records to reveal surprising warmth during this period.”
Indeed, the pollen data suggest that the dispersal of people occurred during some of the highest temperatures in the late Pleistocene, which also would have featured higher humidity. The ancient pollen record shows coniferous forests and grasslands characterized the region, able to support foraging and hunting by humans. Goebel said the environmental data, combined with archaeological evidence, tell a new story.
2023-09-22 16:00:03
Source from phys.org