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Article Dans Une Revue Quaternary International Année : 2010

Oldest human expansions in Eurasia: Favouring and limiting factors

Résumé

On November 26e28, 2008, an International Conference wasorganised at theMuséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.The topic was the oldest human expansions in Eurasia under theaspect of the factors which could favour or limit the humansettlements.While fossil human remains are scarce in Eurasia, lithicassemblages suggest at least two phases of human settlement or/and techno-cultural spread from Africa to Eurasia. Thefirst one,attested by Mode 1 lithic industries, is observed at Dmanisi(Georgia) at 1.8 Ma, in Asia (in China and Pakistan around 2 Ma),and in Europe (for example in Spain since 1.2e1.4 Ma at Orce,Atapuerca), in Italy (Monte-Poggiolo,ca.1 Ma, Pirro-Nord, at least1.3 Ma) and in France (Pont-de-Lavaud, Le Vallonnet around 1 Ma).Some dates in China and Indonesia support the idea of earliersettlements in continental and island Asia than in Europe, while theoldest tool kit in Africa dates to 2.6 Ma (Kada Gona, Ethiopia).A second phase is marked by the appearance of new tools,especially handaxes and cleavers. These large tools do occur inAfrica around 1.6e1.7 Ma (Konso, Ethiopia; Kokiselei, Kenya) andaround 1.4e1.2 Ma in the Middle-East (Ubeidiya, Israel). They areconsidered as thefirst indicators of Acheulian tradition (or Mode 2),consisting in shaping large tools onflakes or blocks. These toolsappear outside Africa with different time lags according togeographical areas. In Asia, thefirst ones occur around 1.2 Ma(Isampur, India) and then become more significant, with anincreasing number of sites around 800 ka in eastern Asia (e, China)and south-eastern Asia (Ngebung, Java). In western and southernEurope, Acheulian sites onlyappear around 600e700 ka, as attestedby the recent discoveries in Centre Region, France (La Noira, in CherValley), and they become more numerous from 500 ka onwards, inSpain (Atapuerca Galeria, Ambrona), in Italy (Visogliano, Castel diGuido), in northern and southern France (Somme River terraces,Caune de l'Arago). In the European continent, assemblages withbifaces characteristic of Acheulian only occur in a geographical areastretching from southern Europe to Great-Britain. However, theyare lacking in Central Europe, and the Rhine River is considered asa frontier; but they do exist in the Caucasus, near the Central Asianborder, while they are unknown further east, in Tadjikistan.These two waves of populating probably include numerousarrivals, and we do not know whether these arrivals led each timeto a permanent settlement, particularly if the hominin groups weresmall and geographically dispersed.This time lag between Asia and Europe regarding the peoplingphases and their consequences is debated today within the scien-tific community: what could be the migratory paths (from Africa toboth Asia and Europe; or from Africa to Asia then to Europe); whomoved:Homo antecessor,Homo heidelbergensis;were there somecontacts between distinct human groups rather than shiftingpopulations? These questions also concern the diffusion modalitiesof technical traditions and the effect of climatic and environmentalconditions on human movements. The latter could explain chro-nological lags and restriction of human settlements to some areasonly. However, it has to be kept in mind that convergencephenomena could also happen at a regional scale in the tool kits(this may be the case for Acheulian people).The present state of knowledge on the Earth's climatic storyduring the last two million years shows local phenomena combinedto global changes: for example increase of glaciations around800 ka, when climatic cycles shifted to the 100 ka periodicity, as theeccentricity parameter of terrestrial orbit became more importantthan the obliquity of Earth's axis (earlier periodicity of 41 ka). MIS20, characterised by strong marine regression, took place at thesame time as the MatuyamaeBrunhes geomagnetic inversion,780 ka, and is considered as an accurate chronological marker.Recent results of various research teams contribute to builta more complete and precise picture of the past. The betterknowledge of the palaeoenvironment allows a new appraisalregarding the spread of technical behaviours in relation to theenvironmental context, highlighted by new issues concerningAfrica.Somemajor questions were discussed during the conference:1) The geographical dispersal of each type of lithic industry,2) The chronological gaps in the hominin settlements in thevarious areas of Eurasia,3) The periods when climatic or topographic variations had animportant role, favouring or limiting the human expansion insome regions,

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hal-03227104 , version 1 (16-05-2021)

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Paternité - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Partage selon les Conditions Initiales

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Marie-Hélène Moncel. Oldest human expansions in Eurasia: Favouring and limiting factors. Quaternary International, 2010, 223-224, pp.1-9. ⟨10.1016/j.quaint.2010.02.016⟩. ⟨hal-03227104⟩
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