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Extreme glacial cooling likely led to hominin depopulation of Europe in the Early Pleistocene

Vasiliki Margari,D. Hodell,S. Parfitt,N. Ashton,J. Grimalt,Hyuna Kim,K. Yun,P. Gibbard,C. Stringer,A. Timmermann,P. Tzedakis

Published 2023 in Science

ABSTRACT

The oldest known hominin remains in Europe [~1.5 to ~1.1 million years ago (Ma)] have been recovered from Iberia, where paleoenvironmental reconstructions have indicated warm and wet interglacials and mild glacials, supporting the view that once established, hominin populations persisted continuously. We report analyses of marine and terrestrial proxies from a deep-sea core on the Portugese margin that show the presence of pronounced millennial-scale climate variability during a glacial period ~1.154 to ~1.123 Ma, culminating in a terminal stadial cooling comparable to the most extreme events of the last 400,000 years. Climate envelope–model simulations reveal a drastic decrease in early hominin habitat suitability around the Mediterranean during the terminal stadial. We suggest that these extreme conditions led to the depopulation of Europe, perhaps lasting for several successive glacial-interglacial cycles. Description Editor’s summary Most of what we know about hominin evolution comes from fossil evidence, and these fossils come from a world shaped by climate and ecological dynamics, as ours is today. The ability to estimate these past environments permits us to better understand the forces that shaped our evolution. Using climate models to estimate past environments and spatial distribution models to predict species occurrence, two studies now reveal details about hominin evolution that fossils alone cannot (see the Perspective by Beverly). Looking at habitat overlap for Neanderthals and Denisovans, Ruan et al. found patterns of interbreeding between the two that correlate with climate and environmental change in Eurasia. Margari et al. have identified a previously unknown climate-driven depopulation of hominins in southern Europe during the early Pleistocene. —Sacha Vignieri An intensification of glaciation about 1.15 million years ago challenges the idea of permanent early hominin occupation of Europe.

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