Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Understanding the environmental context of the first human occupation of Western Europe during MIS 35-19 from marine pollen record.

Résumé

Hominins are documented at the doorstep of Europe at around 1.78 Ma in Dmanisi (Georgia), and they were already present in Asia at around 2.1 Ma. However, in Western Europe, the first evidence of human occupations dates back to 1.4 - 1.2 Ma in Sima del Elefante and Fuente Nueva 3 (Spain) and Pirro Nord (Italy). This period is associated to the beginning of the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition (1.4 - 0.4 Ma), a contrasted climate period characterized by important changes in the glacial-interglacial cyclicity. Glacial-interglacial climate cycles are assumed to have influenced human migrations. Nevertheless, to this day, the hominin environmental context (e.g., vegetation, climate) is poorly known. In the Mediterranean area, the Early Pleistocene vegetation is only documented by two continental key sequences, Tenaghi Philippon (Greece) and Lake Ohrid (Albania). Our study provides the first results of vegetation changes in the western Mediterranean between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 35 to MIS 19 (1.141 - 0.761 Ma). These new data are retrieved from the palynological analysis of the marine sequence of Leg 161 ODP site 976 located in the Alboran Sea, south of the Iberian Peninsula. Here we complement previous palynological studies: MIS 30-23 (1.141 - 0.9 Ma) and MIS 20-19 (0.814 - 0.761 Ma) with analysis of MIS 35-31 (1.141 - 1.062 Ma) and MIS 22-21 (0.9 - 0.814 Ma). Our pollen analyses show rapid vegetation changes during transitions between glacial and interglacial periods with a resolution never reached before. Our results are compared with Tenaghi Philippon’s and Lake Ohrid’s pollen records to provide a precise environmental and climatic framework for human occupation in western Europe during this key time period.

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Dates et versions

hal-04744653 , version 1 (19-10-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04744653 , version 1

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Maé Catrain, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Vincent Lebreton, Séverine Fauquette, Peyron Odile, et al.. Understanding the environmental context of the first human occupation of Western Europe during MIS 35-19 from marine pollen record.. 30th EAA Annual Meeting, Aug 2024, Rome, Italy. ⟨hal-04744653⟩
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