Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage

Dmanisi is currently the oldest Early Palaeolithic site discovered out of Africa. It has produced over 40 hominin remains, including a set of very informative skulls, in direct association with faunal remains and numerous lithic artifacts. Given the relevance of this locality, every effort is being...

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Autores: Blain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707, Agustí, Jordi|||0000-0002-7240-1992, Lordkipanidze, David, Rook, Lorenzo|||0000-0001-8923-5428, Delfino, Massimo|||0000-0001-7836-7265
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:247442
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/247442
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.004
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dmanisi
Early Homo
Early Pleistocene
Herpetofauna
Paleoclimate
Paleoenvironment
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spelling Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblageBlain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707Agustí, Jordi|||0000-0002-7240-1992Lordkipanidze, DavidRook, Lorenzo|||0000-0001-8923-5428Delfino, Massimo|||0000-0001-7836-7265DmanisiEarly HomoEarly PleistoceneHerpetofaunaPaleoclimatePaleoenvironmentDmanisi is currently the oldest Early Palaeolithic site discovered out of Africa. It has produced over 40 hominin remains, including a set of very informative skulls, in direct association with faunal remains and numerous lithic artifacts. Given the relevance of this locality, every effort is being made to reconstruct the landscapes where these hominins once lived. Amphibian and reptile remains from Dmanisi are here described for the first time and used as paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental proxies. They comprise at least six taxa: a green toad (Bufo gr. Bufo viridis), the Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca), a green lizard (Lacerta gr. Lacerta viridis), a four-lined snake (Elaphe gr. Elaphe quatuorlineata), an indeterminate colubrid and a water snake (Natrix sp.). As these taxa are not extinct and their ecology can be directly studied, they can contribute to the reconstruction of the landscape and climate. The application of the Mutual Climatic Range method provides quantitative data indicating that during the hominin presence at Dmanisi climate was warm and dry, similar to the present-day Mediterranean climate. In comparison with today climate of Dmanisi, estimated mean annual temperature was 3.1 °C higher, with a greater increase of temperature in summer (+7.1 °C) than in winter (+4.7 °C). The mean annual precipitation was slightly lower (-65 mm) than the current level, with precipitation higher than current one during winter (+104 mm) but strongly lower during the other seasons, suggesting a stronger contrast in the rainfall regime during the year. From a paleoenvironmental point of view, fossil amphibians and reptiles all suggest the predominance of arid environments, from steppe or semi-desert to open Mediterranean forest, with stony or rocky substrate and bushy areas. The presence of permanent aquatic environments is also documented. These results mainly agree with those for large mammals, small mammals and the archaeobotanical analysis that indicate an important water stress suggesting a period of increased aridity contemporaneous with human occupations of the site. 22014-01-0120142014-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501AMhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/247442https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.004reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 CGL2012-38358Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 CGL2011-28681Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2014/SGR-901Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2014/SGR-416open accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2474422026-06-06T12:50:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
title Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
spellingShingle Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
Blain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707
Dmanisi
Early Homo
Early Pleistocene
Herpetofauna
Paleoclimate
Paleoenvironment
title_short Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
title_full Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
title_fullStr Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
title_full_unstemmed Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
title_sort Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context of the Early Pleistocene hominins from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Blain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707
Agustí, Jordi|||0000-0002-7240-1992
Lordkipanidze, David
Rook, Lorenzo|||0000-0001-8923-5428
Delfino, Massimo|||0000-0001-7836-7265
author Blain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707
author_facet Blain, Hugues-Alexandre|||0000-0002-9920-2707
Agustí, Jordi|||0000-0002-7240-1992
Lordkipanidze, David
Rook, Lorenzo|||0000-0001-8923-5428
Delfino, Massimo|||0000-0001-7836-7265
author_role author
author2 Agustí, Jordi|||0000-0002-7240-1992
Lordkipanidze, David
Rook, Lorenzo|||0000-0001-8923-5428
Delfino, Massimo|||0000-0001-7836-7265
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Dmanisi
Early Homo
Early Pleistocene
Herpetofauna
Paleoclimate
Paleoenvironment
topic Dmanisi
Early Homo
Early Pleistocene
Herpetofauna
Paleoclimate
Paleoenvironment
description Dmanisi is currently the oldest Early Palaeolithic site discovered out of Africa. It has produced over 40 hominin remains, including a set of very informative skulls, in direct association with faunal remains and numerous lithic artifacts. Given the relevance of this locality, every effort is being made to reconstruct the landscapes where these hominins once lived. Amphibian and reptile remains from Dmanisi are here described for the first time and used as paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental proxies. They comprise at least six taxa: a green toad (Bufo gr. Bufo viridis), the Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca), a green lizard (Lacerta gr. Lacerta viridis), a four-lined snake (Elaphe gr. Elaphe quatuorlineata), an indeterminate colubrid and a water snake (Natrix sp.). As these taxa are not extinct and their ecology can be directly studied, they can contribute to the reconstruction of the landscape and climate. The application of the Mutual Climatic Range method provides quantitative data indicating that during the hominin presence at Dmanisi climate was warm and dry, similar to the present-day Mediterranean climate. In comparison with today climate of Dmanisi, estimated mean annual temperature was 3.1 °C higher, with a greater increase of temperature in summer (+7.1 °C) than in winter (+4.7 °C). The mean annual precipitation was slightly lower (-65 mm) than the current level, with precipitation higher than current one during winter (+104 mm) but strongly lower during the other seasons, suggesting a stronger contrast in the rainfall regime during the year. From a paleoenvironmental point of view, fossil amphibians and reptiles all suggest the predominance of arid environments, from steppe or semi-desert to open Mediterranean forest, with stony or rocky substrate and bushy areas. The presence of permanent aquatic environments is also documented. These results mainly agree with those for large mammals, small mammals and the archaeobotanical analysis that indicate an important water stress suggesting a period of increased aridity contemporaneous with human occupations of the site.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2014-01-01
2014
2014-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
AM
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aa
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/247442
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.004
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/247442
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.004
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 CGL2012-38358
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 CGL2011-28681
Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2014/SGR-901
Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2014/SGR-416
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
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