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The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe

The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe
The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe
The spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into Europe occurred when shifts in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation triggered a series of large and abrupt climate changes during the last glacial. However, the role of climate forcing in this process has remained unclear. Here we present a last glacial record that provides insight into climate-related environmental shifts in the eastern Mediterranean region, i.e. the gateway for the colonisation of Europe by AMH. We show that the environmental impact of the Heinrich Event H5 climatic deterioration c. 48 kyr ago was as extreme as that of the glacial maximum of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 when most of Europe was deserted by Neanderthals. We argue that Heinrich H5 resulted in a similar demographic vacuum so that invasive AMH populations had the opportunity to spread into Europe and occupy large parts before the Neanderthals were able to reoccupy this territory. This spread followed the resumption of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GIS) 12 c. 47 kyr ago that triggered an extreme and rapid shift from desert-steppe to open woodland biomes in the gateway to Europe. We conclude that the extreme environmental impact of Heinrich H5 within a situation of competitive exclusion between two closely related hominids species shifted the balance in favour of modern humans
0277-3791
273-279
Muller, Ulrich C.
e8bc140e-dcba-4d78-ab07-eb66d564f36c
Pross, Jorg
73e9a7d5-d88c-4a79-8e3e-5494cfe3a5d1
Tzedakis, Polychronis C.
e2de7aa9-aa3b-4463-af61-ca25032f600b
Gamble, Clive
1cbd0b26-ddac-4dc2-9cf7-59c66d06103a
Kotthoff, Ulrich
162825b4-f0be-431b-a4ac-d6a7bb32293a
Schmiedl, Gerhard
bb0f2d73-dd05-4624-b590-497a224fd6ae
Wulf, Sabine
12412e3e-c09c-44d2-a5c8-286478f5dbdf
Christanis, Kimon
ecb47d17-98cb-43f9-9d78-b2e7093ec806
Muller, Ulrich C.
e8bc140e-dcba-4d78-ab07-eb66d564f36c
Pross, Jorg
73e9a7d5-d88c-4a79-8e3e-5494cfe3a5d1
Tzedakis, Polychronis C.
e2de7aa9-aa3b-4463-af61-ca25032f600b
Gamble, Clive
1cbd0b26-ddac-4dc2-9cf7-59c66d06103a
Kotthoff, Ulrich
162825b4-f0be-431b-a4ac-d6a7bb32293a
Schmiedl, Gerhard
bb0f2d73-dd05-4624-b590-497a224fd6ae
Wulf, Sabine
12412e3e-c09c-44d2-a5c8-286478f5dbdf
Christanis, Kimon
ecb47d17-98cb-43f9-9d78-b2e7093ec806

Muller, Ulrich C., Pross, Jorg, Tzedakis, Polychronis C., Gamble, Clive, Kotthoff, Ulrich, Schmiedl, Gerhard, Wulf, Sabine and Christanis, Kimon (2011) The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30 (3-4), 273-279. (doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.11.016).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into Europe occurred when shifts in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation triggered a series of large and abrupt climate changes during the last glacial. However, the role of climate forcing in this process has remained unclear. Here we present a last glacial record that provides insight into climate-related environmental shifts in the eastern Mediterranean region, i.e. the gateway for the colonisation of Europe by AMH. We show that the environmental impact of the Heinrich Event H5 climatic deterioration c. 48 kyr ago was as extreme as that of the glacial maximum of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 when most of Europe was deserted by Neanderthals. We argue that Heinrich H5 resulted in a similar demographic vacuum so that invasive AMH populations had the opportunity to spread into Europe and occupy large parts before the Neanderthals were able to reoccupy this territory. This spread followed the resumption of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GIS) 12 c. 47 kyr ago that triggered an extreme and rapid shift from desert-steppe to open woodland biomes in the gateway to Europe. We conclude that the extreme environmental impact of Heinrich H5 within a situation of competitive exclusion between two closely related hominids species shifted the balance in favour of modern humans

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e-pub ahead of print date: 15 December 2010
Published date: February 2011
Organisations: Archaeology

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Local EPrints ID: 336347
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336347
ISSN: 0277-3791
PURE UUID: 587cb03d-9ccf-4633-b4f7-04e543415d33

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Date deposited: 22 Mar 2012 12:44
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:41

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Contributors

Author: Ulrich C. Muller
Author: Jorg Pross
Author: Polychronis C. Tzedakis
Author: Clive Gamble
Author: Ulrich Kotthoff
Author: Gerhard Schmiedl
Author: Sabine Wulf
Author: Kimon Christanis

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