Study correlates climate change and early human activities at the Algerian site of El Kherba 1.7 million years ago

Mohamed Sahnouni, coordinator of the Prehistoric Technology Program at the Centro Nacional de Investigaci贸n sobre la Evoluci贸n Humana (CENIEH), leads a study, published online in the journal L'Anthropologie, using fossil fauna and carbon stable isotope to reconstruct paleoenvironments of the newly discovered site of El Kherba (Algeria) dated to 1.7 million years ago, in relation with hominid behavioral activities.
The results of this paleoecological study indicate the occurrence of an increasingly open landscape, which is supported by the pedogenic carbonate data showing a climate change that is consistent with the documented Plio-Pleistocene continental trend of increasing aridi铿乧ation and grassland expansion.
The climate change likely impacted hominid foraging activities, particularly in the Archaeological level A. The level A witnessed a drastic decrease in hominid activities characterized by a considerably lower density in stone tools and fossil bones as opposed to the lower level B, characterized by a closed habitat and abundant archaeological materials.
"The open habitat in level A would have caused major constraints for early hominids, such as limitations for access to food supply and water as a result to their diffusion and shortage on the landscape, as well as riskier possibilities for meat acquisition due to competition with carnivores," explains Mohamed Sahnouni.
More information: Mohamed Sahnouni et al. Mise en 茅vidence d'un changement climatique dans le site pl茅istoc猫ne inf茅rieur d'El Kherba (Alg茅rie), et son possible impact sur les activit茅s des hominid茅s, il y a 1,7 Ma, L'Anthropologie (2017).
Provided by CENIEH