Sudano-Zambezian environments at Ewass Oldupa, Oldupai Gorge: 2-million-year-old microvertebrates below Tuff IA (Lower Bed I)
Taxonomic and taphonomic analyses of small vertebrate assemblages from Lower Bed I (below Tuff IA, Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania) provide a high-resolution reconstruction of phytogeographic biomes and paleolandscapes from 2 million years ago, offering insights that other proxies cannot reveal. This study...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::3502ec771d2967e9cad09eb23e6a5429 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/431182 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Microfauna Mutual Ecographic Range Oldupai Gorge Paleoclimate Woodland mosaics |
| Resumo: | Taxonomic and taphonomic analyses of small vertebrate assemblages from Lower Bed I (below Tuff IA, Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania) provide a high-resolution reconstruction of phytogeographic biomes and paleolandscapes from 2 million years ago, offering insights that other proxies cannot reveal. This study extends our understanding of the Oldupai Pleistocene hominin landscape by examining Oldowan small vertebrates dating from 2.0–1.8 Ma. The assemblage includes amphibians, snakes, birds, procaviids, rodents, and lagomorphs from Ewass Oldupa, analyzed from both paleontological and taphonomic perspectives. Using two methods—Mutual Ecogeographic Range and Taxonomic Habitat Index —we reconstruct mean annual temperature and precipitation to reveal habitats that supported local populations of amphibians, snakes, birds, hyraxes, rodents, and hares. The Ewass Oldupa paleoenvironment was significantly warmer and more humid, with a precipitation differential exceeding 700 mm compared to the present day. These findings highlight substantial faunal turnover and environmental variability in local mosaics, including both Somalia-Masai woodland mosaics and Sudano-Zambezian miombo woodlands. The analysis of microvertebrates supports that early Pleistocene hominin ecology was far more diverse than previously understood, encompassing a multiplicity of biomes that shaped hominin habitats. |
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