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Early Hominin Paleoecology

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Early Hominin Paleoecology Early Hominin Paleoecology Early Hominin Paleoecology !"#$!" %& Matt Sponheimer, Julia A. Lee-'orp, Kaye E. Reed, and Peter Ungar UNIVERSITY PRESS OF COLORADO Boulder © ()*+ by University Press of Colorado Published by University Press of Colorado ,,-. Arapahoe Avenue, Suite ()/C Boulder, Colorado -)+)+ All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 'e University Press of Colorado is a proud member of the Association of American University Presses. 'e University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, Utah State University, and Western State Colorado University. 'is paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z+..0--*..( (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Early hominin paleoecology / edited by Matt Sponheimer, Julia A. Lee-'orp, Kaye E. Reed, and Peter Ungar. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN .1--*-/)1+(-((0-, (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN .1--*-/)1+(-((,-( (ebook) *. Fossil hominids. (. Paleoecology. +. Paleontology. I. Sponheimer, Matt. GN(-(.E+1 ()*+ ,/...—dc(+ ()*+))(-+1 Design by Daniel Pratt (( (* () *. *- *1 */ *, *0 *+ *) . - 1 / , 0 + ( * Contents Preface ))) Acknowledgments ))) PART 1: PALEOCLIMATE AND PALEOENVIRONMENT *. Faunal Approaches in Early Hominin Paleoecology ))) K2&! E. R!!", L#33#24 M. S5!46!7, 24" A8& L. R!6$97 (. Facies Analysis and Plio-Pleistocene Paleoecology ))) C72#: S. F!#%!3 +. East African Hominin Paleoecology: Isotopic Evidence from Paleosols ))) J2& Q;2"! 24" N298# E. L!<#4 0. Tectonics, Orbital Forcing, Global Climate Change, and Human Evolution in Africa ))) M27= A. M2>3#4, B!$? C?7#>$!4>!4, 24" K2$& E. W#3>94 PART 2 : HOMININ ADAPTATIONS AND BEHAVIOR ,. Early Hominin Posture and Locomotion ))) C2793 V. W27" v /. 'e Functional Morphology of Jaws and Teeth: Implications for Understanding Early Hominin Dietary Adaptations ))) P!$!7 S. U4:27 24" D2<#" J. D2!:3#4: 1. Dental Microwear and Paleoecology ))) M27= F. T!2@97", P!$!7 S. U4:27, 24" F7!"!7#6= E. G7#4! -. Hominin Ecology from Hard Tissue Biogeochemistry ))) J;3#2 A. L!!-T?975 24" M2$$ S594?!#8!7 .. 'e Behavior of Plio-Pleistocene Hominins: Archaeological Perspectives ))) D2<#" R. B72;4 PART 3: ANALOGIES AND MODELS *). Plants and Protopeople: Paleobotanical Reconstruction and Early Hominin Ecology ))) J!244! S!5$ **. Chimpanzee Models of Human Behavioral Evolution ))) J9?4 C. M#$24# *(. Analogies and Models in the Study of the Early Hominins ))) C3#@@97" J. J933& Contributors ))) Index ))) vi 694$!4$> As soon as some ancient member in the great series Preface of the Primates came to be less arboreal, owing to a change in its manner of procuring subsistence, or to some change in the surrounding conditions, its habitual manner of progression would have been modiAed: and thus it would have been rendered more strictly quadrupedal or bipedal. —C?273!> D27B#4, *-1* For the production of man a diCerent apprenticeship was needed to sharpen the wits and quicken the higher manifestations of intellect—a more open veldt country where competition was keener between swiftness and stealth, and where adroitness of thinking and movement played a preponderating role in the preservation of the species. —R2&894" D27$, *.(, O;7 #4$!33!6$;23 @97!%!27> !D53#6#$3& grounded their notions of human origins in the ecological realm. Our understanding of human evolution has no doubt advanced since those times. We certainly know more about early hominin biology, diversity, and distribu- tions through time and space. We also have a broadly informed sense of the plants and animals that popu- lated the ancient landscapes on which our ancestors roamed, and a profoundly better notion of the envi- ronmental and climatic change they faced. We even have a steadily increasing understanding of the causal mechanisms behind such changes. vii We have advanced less, however, in our understanding of how these dis- parate elements can be distilled to produce a coherent story of hominin evo- lution; and although this is at least partly a failure of theory, it is also the inevitable result of the often cloudy, controversial, and contradictory evidence that forms the pediment on which our evolutionary scenarios are built. If Hutchinson is correct in asserting that ecology is the theater in which the evolutionary play takes place, early hominin actors are shadowy, or worse, peripatetic Agures. Major questions abound. Was Ardipithecus ramidus a forest creature or a denizen of wooded grasslands? Was Australopithecus afarensis an ecological generalist or a specialist limited to narrow microhabitats on oth- erwise diverse landscapes? Was Paranthropus boisei a frugivorous hard-object feeder or an amiable muncher of sedges and grasses? 'e answers to these questions lie to a large extent on which ecological data-sets we principally value, how we read them, and how they speak to one another. And while we have moved a long way in this regard, we still have a long way to go. In fact, for all of the recent developments in this Aeld, it would probably be safe to say that we are less collectively conAdent of the ecological underpinnings of human evolution than we were twenty years ago, which is remarkable given the new tools at our disposal and the undiminished pace of fossil discovery. Who could have dreamed that this wealth of information would produce so little persistent light? It was such concerns that led us to organize a workshop in October ())0 that brought together twelve researchers with varied interests including hominin paleontology, archaeology, primatology, paleoclimatology, sedimentology, and geochemistry to discuss the state of knowledge in their specialized subAelds and in hominin paleoecology on the whole. After two days of convivial and stimulating discussion two things were clear. First, recent advances in the Aeld and the lab were not only bettering our understanding of human evolution but potentially transforming it; and second, communicating the Aner details of this research had become distressingly complex, given the increasing specialization of our individual Aelds of endeavor. And if communicating such knowledge proved diEcult among a group of professionals, how much worse would it be to disseminate to a broader audience of graduate students, advanced undergradu- ates, and the interested public? It was with the idea of confronting this burgeoning Babel that this volume was conceived. 'is is not a collection of specialized papers that recapitulate or expand upon presentations from the meeting. Rather, we tried to devise a book that would not only provide a good working knowledge of early hominin paleoecology, but would also provide a solid grounding in the sundry ways we viii 57!@26! construct such knowledge. We leave it to the reader to judge the degree to which this approach has been a success. 'e book is divided into three sections: climate and environment (with a particular focus on the latter), adaptation and behavior, and modern analogs and models. 'e methods discussed in each represent only a portion of those employed by students of human evolution, although they are among those most frequently encountered in the literature. And because the story of human evo- lution is a long one, we made a decision to not cover material signiAcantly postdating the origin of our genus Homo. 'us, the discussion of archaeology is relatively brief, as most of the story discussed herein precedes the appearance of an abundant archaeological record. We would argue, however, that this is an acceptable elision given the primacy often aCorded stone tools and butchered animal bones in discussions of early hominin behavior, despite the fact that relatively few hominin taxa were indisputably stone toolmakers or -wielders. 'us, we make no claim to have covered all of the relevant methodological bases herein, or even to have provided a comprehensive presentation of ger- mane “facts.” But despite these, and no doubt many other faults of the editors’ making, we do believe that this book provides a generally accessible, yet schol- arly, entrée into this fascinating and ever-evolving Aeld. We look forward to the “chapters” that the next generation of scholars will write. 57!@26! ix A :7!2$ 824& 5!953! contributed to this book. We Acknowledgments thank Stanley Ambrose, Marion Bamford, René Bobe, Chris Campisano, Daryl Codron, Sandi Copeland, Darryl de Ruiter, John Kingston, Brian Richmond, Mike Rogers, Mark Spencer, and Alan Walker for helping in one way or another. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript entire. Jennifer Leichliter, Yasmin Rahman, and Sarah Taylor labored over the manuscript at various stages, and much of its coherence is due to their edito- rial ministrations. Darrin Pratt, Jessica d’Arbonne, Laura Furney, and the staC of the University Press of Colorado were unstintingly helpful and patient from the book’s conception through the publication. 'e editors also thank their colleagues, students, friends and family who have—in various ways—aided and abetted them in the production of this volume. MS, in particular, would like to thank Alia, Karim, and Yasmin for their inimitable support and forbearance, and Carmel Schrire for making this project possible. xi Early Hominin Paleoecology !"#$ % Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironment % T/' !"*'.',.*.0&
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