Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma
© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Landscape-scale reconstructions of ancient environments within the cradle of humanity may reveal insights into the relationship between early hominins and the changing resources around them. Many studies of Olduvai Gorge during Pliocene-Pleis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133839 |
| _version_ | 1826202130892980224 |
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| author | Sistiaga, Ainara Husain, Fatima Uribelarrea, David Martín-Perea, David M Ferland, Troy Freeman, Katherine H Diez-Martín, Fernando Baquedano, Enrique Mabulla, Audax Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel Summons, Roger E |
| author_facet | Sistiaga, Ainara Husain, Fatima Uribelarrea, David Martín-Perea, David M Ferland, Troy Freeman, Katherine H Diez-Martín, Fernando Baquedano, Enrique Mabulla, Audax Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel Summons, Roger E |
| author_sort | Sistiaga, Ainara |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Landscape-scale reconstructions of ancient environments within the cradle of humanity may reveal insights into the relationship between early hominins and the changing resources around them. Many studies of Olduvai Gorge during Pliocene-Pleistocene times have revealed the presence of precession-driven wet-dry cycles atop a general aridification trend, though may underestimate the impact of local-scale conditions on early hominins, who likely experienced a varied and more dynamic landscape. Fossil lipid biomarkers from ancient plants and microbes encode information about their surroundings via their molecular structures and composition, and thus can shed light on past environments. Here, we employ fossil lipid biomarkers to study the paleolandscape at Olduvai Gorge at the emergence of the Acheulean technology, 1.7 Ma, through the Lower Augitic Sandstones layer. In the context of the expansion of savanna grasslands, our results represent a resourcerichmosaic ecosystempopulated by groundwater-fed rivers, aquatic plants, angiospermshrublands, and edible plants. Evidence of a geothermally active landscape is reported via an unusual biomarker distribution consistent with the presence of hydrothermal features seen today at Yellowstone National Park. The study of hydrothermalism in ancient settings and its impact on hominin evolution has not been addressed before, although the association of thermal springs in the proximity of archaeological sites documented here can also be found at other localities. The hydrothermal features and resources present at Olduvai Gorge may have allowed early hominins to thermally process edible plants and meat, supporting the possibility of a prefire stage of human evolution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:02:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/133839 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:02:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1338392021-10-28T04:07:43Z Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma Sistiaga, Ainara Husain, Fatima Uribelarrea, David Martín-Perea, David M Ferland, Troy Freeman, Katherine H Diez-Martín, Fernando Baquedano, Enrique Mabulla, Audax Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel Summons, Roger E © 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Landscape-scale reconstructions of ancient environments within the cradle of humanity may reveal insights into the relationship between early hominins and the changing resources around them. Many studies of Olduvai Gorge during Pliocene-Pleistocene times have revealed the presence of precession-driven wet-dry cycles atop a general aridification trend, though may underestimate the impact of local-scale conditions on early hominins, who likely experienced a varied and more dynamic landscape. Fossil lipid biomarkers from ancient plants and microbes encode information about their surroundings via their molecular structures and composition, and thus can shed light on past environments. Here, we employ fossil lipid biomarkers to study the paleolandscape at Olduvai Gorge at the emergence of the Acheulean technology, 1.7 Ma, through the Lower Augitic Sandstones layer. In the context of the expansion of savanna grasslands, our results represent a resourcerichmosaic ecosystempopulated by groundwater-fed rivers, aquatic plants, angiospermshrublands, and edible plants. Evidence of a geothermally active landscape is reported via an unusual biomarker distribution consistent with the presence of hydrothermal features seen today at Yellowstone National Park. The study of hydrothermalism in ancient settings and its impact on hominin evolution has not been addressed before, although the association of thermal springs in the proximity of archaeological sites documented here can also be found at other localities. The hydrothermal features and resources present at Olduvai Gorge may have allowed early hominins to thermally process edible plants and meat, supporting the possibility of a prefire stage of human evolution. 2021-10-27T19:56:55Z 2021-10-27T19:56:55Z 2020 2021-09-23T16:16:46Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133839 en 10.1073/PNAS.2004532117 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS |
| spellingShingle | Sistiaga, Ainara Husain, Fatima Uribelarrea, David Martín-Perea, David M Ferland, Troy Freeman, Katherine H Diez-Martín, Fernando Baquedano, Enrique Mabulla, Audax Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel Summons, Roger E Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title | Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title_full | Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title_fullStr | Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title_short | Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma |
| title_sort | microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at olduvai gorge at the dawn of the acheulean 1 7 ma |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133839 |
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