Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France) - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Scientific Reports Année : 2021

Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France)

Résumé

AbstractExploring the role of changing climates in human evolution is currently impeded by a scarcity of climatic information at the same temporal scale as the human behaviors documented in archaeological sites. This is mainly caused by high uncertainties in the chronometric dates used to correlate long-term climatic records with archaeological deposits. One solution is to generate climatic data directly from archaeological materials representing human behavior. Here we use oxygen isotope measurements of Bos/Bison tooth enamel to reconstruct summer and winter temperatures in the Late Pleistocene when Neandertals were using the site of La Ferrassie. Our results indicate that, despite the generally cold conditions of the broader period and despite direct evidence for cold features in certain sediments at the site, Neandertals used the site predominantly when climatic conditions were mild, similar to conditions in modern day France. We suggest that due to millennial scale climate variability, the periods of human activity and their climatic characteristics may not be representative of average conditions inferred from chronological correlations with long-term climatic records. These results highlight the importance of using direct routes, such as the high-resolution archives in tooth enamel from anthropogenically accumulated faunal assemblages, to establish climatic conditions at a human scale.

Domaines

Sciences de l'Homme et Société Anthropologie biologique

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https://hal.science/hal-04044371

Soumis le : vendredi 24 mars 2023-11:16:17

Dernière modification le : mercredi 5 juin 2024-16:26:05

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Dates et versions

hal-04044371 , version 1 (24-03-2023)

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Citer

Sarah Pederzani, Vera Aldeias, Harold Dibble, Paul Goldberg, Jean-Jacques Hublin, et al.. Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France). Scientific Reports, 2021, 11 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41598-020-80777-1⟩. ⟨hal-04044371⟩

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