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Mammalian Extinction in Ancient Egypt, Similarities with the Southern Levant

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Mammalian Extinction in Ancient Egypt, Similarities with the Southern Levant LETTER Mammalian extinction in ancient Egypt, similarities with the southern Levant Yeakel et al. (1) find that wild mammal ex- taxa turnover and extinction was related in a way commensal and benefit from human tinction in ancient Egypt during the Holo- mainly to anthropogenic effects. Similarly impact. Gazelle can subsist in open agricultural cene was nonrandom and coincided with to Egypt (1), direct hunting and habitat de- areas, whereas the carnivores are attracted to abrupt climatic changes and a local cultural struction were the major causes of animal human refuse. Moreover, the elimination of collapse. The authors provide compelling ev- extinction in the southern Levant (3). larger mammals may have also reduced compe- idence that the deterioration of the natural The timing of extinction of a number of tition within members of these guilds, further Egyptian ecosystem gradually progressed dur- specific taxa in Egypt and in the southern improving the survival of the resilient ones. ing the Holocene. The extinction patterns Levant is similar. In both ecosystems, the a,1 a b provided vividly show that decreasing pred- first wave of faunal extinction occurred at Guy Bar-Oz , Ella Tsahar , Ido Izhaki , c ator and prey (ungulates) diversity mirror the time of peak geopolitical vulnerability and Simcha Lev-Yadun increased desertification, human population and a human demographic expansion. In aZinman Institute of Archaeology and growth, and political instability. We see strong the southern Levant it occurred during the bDepartment of Evolutionary and ’ ecological logic in Yeakel et al. s(1)scenario end of the second mid-first millennium B.C.E. Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, and point to the advantages of conducting and in Egypt during the second-first millen- Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel; and detailed comparisons of local extinction data nium B.C.E. The first herbivores to become cDepartment of Biology and Environment, to illuminate particularities and to better fine- locally extinct in both regions were those Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of tune broader hypotheses concerning Holo- large-bodied species that were on the verge – cene extinctions. of their distribution range. It is only during Haifa Oranim, Tivon 3600600, Israel Similar patterns of wild mammalian ex- thelast150ythatthesecondmajorextinction tinction occurred in many parts of the ancient wave has occurred (with the arrival of effi- 1 Yeakel JD, et al. (2014) Collapse of an ecological network in world(2),includingthosewehaverecently cient firearms). This more recent occurrence re- Ancient Egypt. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(40):14472–14477. reported for the adjacent, but ecologically dif- sulted in a disproportionally fast extinction rate 2 Martin PS, Klein RG (1984) Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric ferent, southern Levant (3). Like in Egypt, of most prey and predator species (>10 kg). Revolution (Univ of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ). – 3 Tsahar E, Izhaki I, Lev-Yadun S, Bar-Oz G (2009) Distribution and HoloceneextinctioninthesouthernLevant The 19th 20th century extinction was the extinction of ungulates during the Holocene of the southern Levant. occurred mainly in extinction cascades. The most fatal for the majority of wild mamma- PLoS ONE 4(4):e5316. ’ 4 Bar-Matthews M, Ayalon A (1997) Late Quarternary paleoclimate southern Levant s solid zooarchaeological da- lian taxa in both ecosystems (5). in the Eastern Mediterranean region from stable isotope analysis of tabase enabled demonstrating the time and Interestingly, we can see that similar taxa speleothems at Soreq Cave, Israel. Quat Res 47(2):155–168. pace of ungulate extinction. We have shown escaped extinction and survived to this date 5 Yom-Tov Y, Mendelssohn H (1988) Changes of the distribution and abundance of vertebrates during the 20th (3) that large-bodied mammalian herbivores in both ecosystems. These groups include century in Israel. The Zoogeography of Israel,edsYom-TovY, (Hippopotamus,aurochs,andhartebeest)were opportunistic ungulate (e.g., gazelle and ibex) Tchernov E (Dr. W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands), the first to disappear, whereas several species and carnivore (fox, golden jackal, and hyena), pp 515–548. resilient to environmental changes and to hu- taxa that are less sensitive to environmental man activity have survived to date in both changes, some of which inhabit the desert, Author contributions: G.B.-O., E.T., I.I., and S.L.-Y. wrote the paper. ecosystems (1, 3). Because the southern Levant a less populated habitat. Hence, these taxa The authors declare no conflict of interest. climate was relatively stable throughout the were less exposed to the multitudes of human 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: guybar@ Holocene (4), we suggested (3) that animal impacts. Most of these surviving species are research.haifa.ac.il. E238 | PNAS | January 20, 2015 | vol. 112 | no. 3 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1422133112 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021.
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