The Matter of Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Antonio
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THE MATTER OF PREHISTORY: PAPERS IN HONOR / OF ANTONIO GILMAN GUILLEN Edited by Pedro Díaz-del-Río Katina Lillios Inés Sastre CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTíFICAS Madrid, 2020 Reservados todos los derechos por la legislación en materia de Propiedad Intelectual. Ni la totalidad ni parte de este libro, incluido el diseño de la cubierta, puede repro- ducirse, almacenarse o transmitirse en manera alguna por medio ya sea electrónico, químico, óptico, informático, de grabación o de fotocopia, sin permiso previo por escrito de la editorial. Las noticias, los asertos y las opiniones contenidos en esta obra son de la exclusiva responsabilidad del autor o autores. La editorial, por su parte, solo se hace responsable del interés científico de sus publicaciones. Catálogo de publicaciones de la Administración General del Estado: https://cpage.mpr.gob.es EDITORIAL CSIC: http://editonal.csic.es (correo: [email protected]) GOBIERNO MINISTERIO DE ESPAÑA DE CIENCIA ilCSIC E INNOVACIÓN jJ FSC MIXTO Papel FSC· C016626 © CSIC © Pedro Díaz-del-Río, Katina Lillios e Inés Sastre © De las imágenes, los autores y las fuentes mencionadas a pie de figura ISBN: 978-84-00-10721-5 e-ISBN: 978-84-00-10722-2 NIPO: 833-20-189-7 e-NIPO: 833-20-190-X Depósito Legal: M-30504-2020 Maquetación, impresión y encuadernación: Estudios Gráficos Europeos S.A. Impreso en España. Printed in Spain En esta edición se ha utilizado papel ecológico sometido a un proceso de blanqueado ECF, cuya fibra procede de bosques gestionados de forma sostenible. 6 v. PERSPECTIVES ON THE BIOGEOGRAPHIC AND CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS OF EARLY HUMAN S DURING THE FIRST INTERCONTINENTAL DISPERSALS Ignacio de la Torre / Alfonso Benito-Calvo / Faysal Bibi / Jackson Njau / Shuwen Pei / Florent Rivals Haowen Tong / Kevin Uno / Sara Varela / Xiujie Wu Abstract que retrotraen ambos eventos varios cientos de Our understanding of the emergence and miles de años antes de lo que se pensaba. A me- dispersal of the earliest tool-making hominins nudo, los factores climáticos y medioambientales has been revolutionised in the last decade, with se han considerado como los actores principales sites in eastern Africa and China pushing records que guiaron la mayoría de los eventos evolutivos of both events several hundred thousand years en nuestra especie. Sin embargo, los modelos que earlier than previously thought. In recent years, vinculan dinámicas terrestres climáticas con espe- climate and environmental factors have been ciación biológica, innovación cultural y eventos considered by many as primary drivers of these migratorios requieren una validación más sólida, evolutionary events in human history. However, y necesitan de nuevas aproximaciones a la bio- models linking Earth's dynamics with biological geografía y conductas adaptativas de los primeros speciation, cultural innovation and migration humanos. En el presente artículo proponemos la events with climate require further testing, and necesidad de adoptar una aproximación geográ- recent discoveries suggest that the picture of the fica amplia al estudio de las dinámicas de ocu- earliest human colonization across the Old World pación de los primeros humanos, basada en la is far more complex, demanding new approach- comparación de Africa oriental y China, regiones es to the biogeography and adaptive behaviours que contienen dos de las secuencias más largas of early humans. In this paper, we argue for a de primeros yacimientos arqueológicos en todo broader geographic approach to the study of ear- el mundo. Repasamos así los temas de investiga- ly human occupation dynamics comparing long ción principales relacionados con el estudio de archaeological sequences from eastern Africa las primeras migraciones humanas, y propone- and China. We thus review major research ques- mos una hoja de ruta para la comprensión de las tions involved in the investigation of the earliest trayectorias evolutivas alternativas adoptadas por human migrations and propose a route map to homininos que, aun compartiendo un fondo bio- better understand the alternative evolutionary lógico y cultural común, se enfrentaron a retos y trajectories adopted by hominins that shared an oportunidades climáticas y biográficas diferentes. overarching biological and cultural background, but that faced different climatic and biogeo- Palabras clave: primeros talladores, migrasiones graphic challenges and opportunities. humanas, Pleistoceno inferior en China y Africa. Keywords: early stone tool makers, hominin mi- grations, early Pleistocene in China and Africa. Resumen La comprensión de la aparición y dispersión de los primeros homininos que usaron herramientas ha experimentado una rev?lución en la última década, con yacimientos en Africa oriental y China 73 5.1. INTRODUCTION chaeological record; as the gaps between known sites become wider in time and space, it becomes Timing of the emergence of the earliest tech- crucial to go beyond first-appearance discussions no-complexes (De la Torre 2011) and the first and focus on the broader biogeographic and cul- hominin dispersals from Mrica into Europe (Roe- tural patterns involved. In addition, research on broeks 2006) and Asia (Dennell and Roebroeks the premodern human occupation of the Old 2005) are regularly pushed back. This pace has World can no longer be compartmentalised re- accelerated in the last decade, when our views gionally, and any comprehensive study should be have changed radically with the earliest artefacts based on a comparative analysis of the alternative reported at 3.3 million years ago (Ma) in Mrica evolutionary and cultural pathways observed in (Harmand et al. 2015), 1.85 Ma in Georgia (Fer- each area. The need for drawing similarities and ring et al. 2011), 1.2 Ma in Southwestern Europe differences between the earliest archaeological (Carbonell et al. 2008), and potentially at 2.1 sequences - those of Mrica and Asia - has be en Ma in China (Zhu et al. 2018). While the impor- recognised in recent years, but efforts have fo- tance of such discoveries cannot be overstated, cused on either general literature reviews of the it is also true that the field is dominated by a evidence in each region (Schick 1994; Dennell Joining-up-the-dots' perspective (Dennell 2017) and Roebroeks 2006; Norton and Braun 2010), focused on first appearance data, which is by de- or comparisons of particular attributes of sorne fault provisional and is proving to be unreliable stone tools (Norton and Bae 2008; Petraglia and as an explanatory device for human biological Shipton 2008; Lycett and Bae 2010). and cultural adaptations. In the discipline of archaeology as a whole, sub- Pliny's motto "ex Mrica semper aliquid novi" stantial fieldwork efforts in the last few decades drives a paradigm in which this continent saw the have produced extensive datasets, and the time emergence of consecutive species of Early Pleisto- is ripe for large-scale synthetic research (Kintigh cene (Antón and Swisher 2004) and Middle Pleis- et al. 2014). The archaeology of premodern hu- tocene (Lahr and Foley 2001) premodern humans mans is no exception to this trend, particularly in and Hamo sapiens (Stringer and Galway-Witham the two regions concerning this paper; triggered 2018), who then colonised the Old World. Despite by the discoveries at Olduvai Gorge, fieldwork in the problems of this paradigm (Dennell and Roe- eastern Mrica since the 1960s has produced an broeks 2005), Mrica is generally seen as the only unparalleled dataset of Early Stone Age sites. Sim- region in the world with continuous human oc- ilarly, the exponential growth of scientific research cupation throughout the entire Early and Middle in China sin ce the 1990s has multiplied the num- Pleistocene (Dennell 2003). Massive chronologi- ber of archaeological sites and revolutionised our cal gaps between the earliest human evidence in understanding of human evolution in Asia. eastern latitudes of Europe (Ferring et al. 2011) The synthetic perspective advocated by Kintigh and in the western Mediterranean (Carbonell et et al. (2014) for archaeology - also identified as al. 2008; Toro-Moyano et al. 2013) may suggest one of the grand challenges in the study of cul- failed initial migrations and more than one "Out tural evolution as a whole (Brewer et al. 2017) - of Mrica" event, while the fragmentary evidence in has indeed be en substantiated in Antonio Gil- northern Europe could be linked to intermittent man's career, in which a comparative approach human occupation only during interglacial peri- has proved to be a highly productive research ods (Roebroeks 2005). An even more complicated strategy (e.g., Gilman 1991). Such perspective is picture emerges from Asia, where new discoveries now possible and greatly needed to properly un- (Zhu et al. 2018) suggesting human presence at derstand the ecological and cultural patterns of 2.1 Ma would necessarily imply that Hamo ergaster/ early humans. Nonetheless, such research should erectus was not the first colonizer of Eurasia, as be based on the systematic analysis of quantita- often thought (e.g., Antón 2003), and where the tive datasets (thus superseding the current stage Early and Middle Pleistocene archaeological re- of superficialliterature review comparisons) and cord is so sparse that a 'source-and-sink model' include computational modelling - also identi- (Martinón-Torres et al. 2018) has be en invoked fied as a general priority for the advance of the to interpret a discontinuous pattern of occupation discipline (Kintigh et al. 2014). Given the lack for the