A multi-proxy approach to exploring Homo sapiens’ arrival, environments and adaptations in Southeast Asia

Anne-Marie Bacon*, Nicolas Bourgon, Frido Welker, Enrico Cappellini, Denis Fiorillo, Olivier Tombret, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Thongsa Sayavonkhamdy, Viengkeo Souksavatdy, Phonephanh Sichanthongtip, Pierre Olivier Antoine, Philippe Duringer, Jean-Luc Ponche, Kira Westaway, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Quentin Boesch, Eric Suzzoni, Sébastien Frangeul, Elise Patole-EdoumbaAlexandra Zachwieja, Laura Shackelford, Fabrice Demeter, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Élise Dufour

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

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Abstract

The capability of Pleistocene hominins to successfully adapt to different types of tropical forested environments has long been debated. In order to investigate environmental changes in Southeast Asia during a critical period for the turnover of hominin species, we analysed palaeoenvironmental proxies from five late Middle to Late Pleistocene faunas. Human teeth discoveries have been reported at Duoi U’Oi, Vietnam (70–60 ka) and Nam Lot, Laos (86–72 ka). However, the use of palaeoproteomics allowed us to discard the latter, and, to date, no human remains older than ~ 70 ka are documented in the area. Our findings indicate that tropical rainforests were highly sensitive to climatic changes over that period, with significant fluctuations of the canopy forests. Locally, large-bodied faunas were resilient to these fluctuations until the cooling period of the Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS 4; 74–59 ka) that transformed the overall biotope. Then, under strong selective pressures, populations with new phenotypic characteristics emerged while some other species disappeared. We argue that this climate-driven shift offered new foraging opportunities for hominins in a novel rainforest environment and was most likely a key factor in the settlement and dispersal of our species during MIS 4 in SE Asia.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer21080
TidsskriftScientific Reports
Vol/bind11
Antal sider14
ISSN2045-2322
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

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