Subarctic climate for the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe

Pederzani, Sarah, Britton, Kate, Aldeias, Vera, Bourgon, Nicolas, Fewlass, Helen, Lauer, Tobias, McPherron, Shannon P., Rezek, Zeljko, Sirakov, Nikolay, Smith, Geoff M., and others. (2021) Subarctic climate for the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe. Science Advances, 7 (39). Article Number eabi4642. ISSN 2375-2548. (doi:10.1126/sciadv.abi4642) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:92830)

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi4642

Abstract

The expansion of Homo sapiens across Eurasia marked a major milestone in human evolution that would eventually lead to our species being found across every continent. Current models propose that these expansions occurred only during episodes of warm climate, based on age correlations between archaeological and climatic records. Here, we obtain direct evidence for the temperatures faced by some of these humans through the oxygen isotope analysis of faunal remains from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria, the earliest clear record of H. sapiens in Europe. The results indicate that humans ∼45,000 years ago experienced subarctic climates with far colder climatic conditions than previously suggested. This demonstrates that the early presence of H. sapiens in Europe was not contingent on warm climates. Our results necessitate the revision of key models of human expansion and highlight the need for a less deterministic role of climate in the study of our evolutionary history.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1126/sciadv.abi4642
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
Divisions:	Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User:	Geoff Smith
Date Deposited:	24 Jan 2022 11:37 UTC
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2022 16:13 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/92830 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Smith, Geoff M..

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-5140
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