[en] During the mid-to-late Pliocene (ca. 4–3 Ma), several hominin species were present in central Sahel, eastern and southern Africa. The potential for the discovery of hominin remains from this interval is limited by the availability of exposed Pliocene deposits and the ability to investigate them. As a result, most discoveries have been made in the Afar region of Ethiopia and in the Lake Turkana basin, thus unveiling only a portion of Pliocene hominins' probable geographical presence. In this study we provide a continental view of geographic areas potentially accessible to these hominins. To do so, we estimate the climatic envelope suitable for mid-to-late Pliocene hominin presence, using the earth system model IPSL-CM5A and the Maxent habitat suitability algorithm. Our analysis reveals high habitat suitability for these hominin species in semi-arid regions where annual thermal amplitude and mean annual precipitation are moderate, mostly corresponding to tropical xerophytic shrublands. Our habitat model estimates geographically continuous, suitable climatic conditions for hominins between central Sahel and northeastern Africa, but not between eastern and southern Africa. This discontinuity suggests that southern African and eastern African hominins were separated by an environmental barrier that could only be crossed during particularly favourable periods or by undertaking long-range dispersal over climatically hostile habitats. Under climate conditions of northern hemisphere summer at perihelion this climatic barrier is not present. In contrast, the Turkana basin, the Laetoli region, and a large part of southern Africa remain suitable for all precession angles, suggesting that these areas may have functioned as refugia. The constant presence of these stable areas combined with the periodic establishment of corridors for dispersion can potentially explain hominin diversity in eastern Africa.
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Gibert, Corentin ✱; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, Pessac, France ; Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
Vignoles, Anaïs ✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Art, Archéologie et Patrimoine (AAP) ; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, Pessac, France
Contoux, Camille; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Banks, William E.; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, Pessac, France ; Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France ; Centre Français des Études Éthiopiennes, Ministère de l'Europe et des affaires étrangères & CNRS, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Chavasseau, Olivier; Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
Fluteau, Frédéric; Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Paris, France
Guy, Franck; Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
Noûs, Camille; Laboratoire Cogitamus, Paris, France
Otero, Olga; Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
Sepulchre, Pierre; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Souron, Antoine; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, Pessac, France
Ramstein, Gilles; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
This research was conducted within the framework of the ANR projet HADoC (ANR-17-CE31-0010). The authors were granted access to the HPC resources of TGCC under the allocation 2019-A0050102212 made possible by GENCI. We thank both reviewers for their suggestions and improvements.
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