Environmental change during MIS4 and MIS 3 opened corridors in the Horn of Africa for Homo sapiens expansion

Viehberg, Finn A.; Just, Janna; Dean, Jonathan R.; Wagner, Bernd; Franz, Sven Oliver; Klasen, Nicole; Kleinen, Thomas; Ludwig, Patrick; Asrat, Asfawossen; Lamb, Henry F.; Leng, Melanie J.; Rethemeyer, Janet; Milodowski, Antoni E.; Claussen, Martin; Schäbitz, Frank

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.008

Environmental change during MIS4 and MIS 3 opened corridors in the Horn of Africa for Homo sapiens expansion

Viehberg, Finn A.; Just, Janna; Dean, Jonathan R.; Wagner, Bernd; Franz, Sven Oliver; Klasen, Nicole; Kleinen, Thomas; Ludwig, Patrick; Asrat, Asfawossen; Lamb, Henry F.; Leng, Melanie J.; Rethemeyer, Janet; Milodowski, Antoni E.; Claussen, Martin; Schäbitz, Frank

Authors

Finn A. Viehberg

Janna Just

Jonathan R. Dean

Bernd Wagner

Sven Oliver Franz

Nicole Klasen

Thomas Kleinen

Patrick Ludwig

Asfawossen Asrat

Henry F. Lamb

Professor MELANIE LENG Melanie.Leng@nottingham.ac.uk
PROFESSOR OF ISOTOPE GEOSCIENCES

Janet Rethemeyer

Antoni E. Milodowski

Martin Claussen

Frank Schäbitz

Abstract

Archaeological findings, numerical human dispersal models and genome analyses suggest several time windows in the past 200 kyr (thousands of years ago) when anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersed out of Africa into the Levant and/or Arabia. From close to the key hominin site of Omo-Kibish, we provide near continuous proxy evidence for environmental changes in lake sediment cores from the Chew Bahir basin, south Ethiopia. The data show highly variable hydroclimate conditions from 116 to 66 kyr BP with rapid shifts from very wet to extreme aridity. The wet phases coincide with the timing of the North African Humid Periods during MIS5, as defined by Nile discharge records from the eastern Mediterranean. The subsequent record at Chew Bahir suggests stable regional hydrological setting between 58 and 32 kyr (MIS4 and 3), which facilitated the development of more habitable ecosystems, albeit in generally dry climatic conditions. This shift, from more to less variable hydroclimate, may help account for the timing of later dispersal events of AMH out of Africa.

Citation

Viehberg, F. A., Just, J., Dean, J. R., Wagner, B., Franz, S. O., Klasen, N., Kleinen, T., Ludwig, P., Asrat, A., Lamb, H. F., Leng, M. J., Rethemeyer, J., Milodowski, A. E., Claussen, M., & Schäbitz, F. (2018). Environmental change during MIS4 and MIS 3 opened corridors in the Horn of Africa for Homo sapiens expansion. Quaternary Science Reviews, 202, 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.008

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 2, 2018
Online Publication Date	Sep 29, 2018
Publication Date	Dec 15, 2018
Deposit Date	Oct 3, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Oct 3, 2018
Journal	Quaternary Science Reviews
Print ISSN	0277-3791
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	202
Pages	139-153
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.008
Keywords	Archaeology; Archaeology; Global and Planetary Change; Geology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1145410
Publisher URL	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118301744