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Understanding the conditions under which the first humans settled from Africa to Europe during the early and Middle Pleistocene is important for studying human evolution. Scientists from the universities of Helsinki (Finland), Granada and Barcelona, Seville, Salamanca (Spain) decided to learn more about this issue.

The researchers studied the distribution of dental ecometric features in fossil communities of large herbivorous mammals, as well as their body size during the Pleistocene epoch in Spain. It is these parameters that are associated with various aspects of vegetation and climate.

The area near the Spanish city of Guadix — a place that scientists were interested in-is of particular importance for understanding the human environment outside of Africa. It is there that some of the earliest sites of representatives of the genus Homo in Europe are located, dating back 1.2-1.4 million years.

It turned out that the climate in these parts at that time ranged from approximately similar to the current one to more humid. The vegetation on the territory of early human settlement was similar to the Mediterranean forest without significant grassy undergrowth, that is, it differed from the African savanna, where there was a lot of grass.

"The analysis of tooth wear shows that most of the large herbivorous mammals in this area did not consume a significant amount of grass. This once again indicates a lack of herbaceous vegetation. Our discovery is important because it suggests that the earliest places of human habitation in Europe were often different from African grassy savannas, " said Juha Saarinen, lead author of the study from the University of Helsinki.

But the authors of the work did not limit themselves to data only from Spain. To understand what living conditions our ancestors had, they analyzed the distribution of functional signs of large herbivorous mammals throughout Europe on archaeological sites and in places where, on the contrary, they found no traces of the presence of humans.

It turned out that the first settlers from Africa lived in a variety of conditions, but preferred a relatively mild climate and a diverse vegetation environment, which at least partially assumes a wooded area.

They published their findings in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews

PHOTO © M. Lopez-Herrera/ Enrique Baquedano

Source: naked-science.ru, sci-dig.ru