Giovanni Arduino (1759)

Last period in Earths

History
Starting from 2.588
Million years Ago
Prior to 2009 = 1.8 Ma

Quaternary is unique for its oscillating climates,

glacials and interglacials, and evolution of
humans.

defined by ice ages

from 2.588 million years ago
The period is divided into two epochs:
The Pleistocene (2.588 Ma)
The Holocene (0.011 Ma)

The Anthropocene ? (17th Century)

Marine Isotopic Stages

Alternating warm and

cold episodes in the
earths history
MIS 1 = Holocene
MIS 103 = Beginning of
the Quaternary
Even numbered MIS =
higher O18
Odd numbered MIS =
lower O18
MIS 5, 7, 9?

The change in Earths orbit which changed the

solar radiation received by our planet was the
apparent cause of the climate change.

Milutin Milankovitch 1879-1958

Variations of solar radiation received by
Earth is caused by the variations of the
Earth-Sun geometry.

Eccentricity

100,000 years
Variation of the shape of the
Earths orbit around the Sun

Obliquity

Change in the angle of the Earths axis.

41,000 years

Precession

21,000 years

Earths axis
pointing to
Polaris vs
pointing to Vega

Cumulative
effect of the
Milankovitch
Cycle
Substantial
difference in
climate
experience !

 From 2.58 Ma
11000 Ka (2009)
Introduced by Charles
Lyell (1839)
Period of repeated
glaciations
Climatic changes
affected flora and
fauna

 Global Megafaunal extinctions, From 50 Ka

At least 200 genera died
Large herbivores (mammoths, mastodons, huge
ground sloths, cave bears, woolly rhinoceros, other
rhinoceroses, etc.)
Carnivores that fed on them, the dire wolves and
saber-tooth cats.

> 100 lbs

Australia (95%), South America (80%), and North
America (75%)
There was no accelerated extinction of smaller terrestrial
species, plants, or marine organisms.

WHY???
Overkill / Hunting
Most extinctions after the arrival
of humans
Co-evolution of humans and
large mammals = survival

Climate Change
Failure to adapt with the climate
and vegetation

OVERKILL HYPOTHESIS
humans with relatively
efficient hunting techniques
arrived in North America
from Asia toward the end of
the Pleistocene and slowly
spread southward

OVERKILL HYPOTHESIS
Mammal species that crossed
the land bridge from Asia at
the same time as, or after the
human hunters = survive

Large animals that survived were nocturnal,

arboreal, alpine, and/or deep-forest dwellers
most immune to hunting

CLIMATE CHANGE
Changes that may have
resulted in many areas
becoming drier or more
variable in climate caused the
extinctions
Climate change and human effects
interacted to cause extinctionsin
Northern Hemisphere.

Starts with the earliest known stone

tools (2,6 Ma)
Almost coincides with the Pleistocene
epoch
Diverse hominin evolution

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Formation of the rift valley c. 35

Ma the cause of major differences
in environmental context
West: humid, wooded
environment
Great Apes
East: savannah climate
Australopithecines

Bipedal hominins = tool makers?

Environmental instability
a key to the evolution of important human
adaptations.

Over the course of their evolution, hominins

increased their abilities to cope with a number
of different environments rather than
specializing on a single environment.

 Beginning of MIS 2 i.e. ~20 Ka

Global sea level below 125-110m than
present sea level
Lower CO2 levels
Ice sheet volume twice as present
7% of Earth (land) is exposed
Generally colder temperature
~ -4 C globally and ~ -10 C near the poles
and ~-2 to -3 C in tropics

SEA LEVEL CHANGE

http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/nerc.html

SEA LEVEL CHANGE

SEA LEVEL CHANGE

AND STILL VISIBLE ON SATELLITE IMAGES..

Retreat begins at ~16 Ka, Ice sheets gone by ~6 Ka

Sea-level rise
From glacial to interglacial
Last (strong) cold event is the Younger Dryas (12
Ka)
transition event to current interglacial
period

 From 11700 BP
Interglacial
Punctuated by
climate changes
every ~1000-2000
years

With the warming of the

Earth
Formation of lakes
Sea-level rise
Colonization of
vegetation
Over all global warming

 Cooling during 14001800 AD

1400-1800

Well documented in
Europe
Cold winters and cold,
wet summers

Famine, deaths
Year Without Summer

- 1816
Vikings RIP

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel

Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851

Human populations adapt to the climate:

We minimize the downside

We are accustomed
to the
mean climate

We maximise the opportunities

It shapes our:
Agriculture
Economy
Culture
Way of life

But

Human population is also stressed by the

climate :

We are sensitive
to
climate
variability

Weather extremes:
Drought & Flood
Heat & cold waves

Storms
Climate change:
Natural variability
Human induced changes

Kenyanthropus
platyops

Ardipithecus ramidus

Orrorin tugenensis
Sahelanthropus tchadensis

10

Big brain, small teeth, strict bipedalism

Small brain, very large teeth, occasional bipedalism
Small brain, large teeth, occasional bipedalism
Small brain, small teeth, quadrupedalism
insufficient information

H. sapiens

H. rhodesiensis

H. antecessor

H. erectus

H. georgicus

H. ergaster

H. habilis

H. rudolfensis

P. boisei

P. robustus

A. africanus

A. garhi

A. bahrelghazali

A. anamensis

A. afarensis

Australopithecus

P. aethiopicus

Paranthropus

H. heidelbergensis

Chimpanzees

H. neanderthalensis

Homo

H. floresiensis

(Ma)

Toros-Menalla
(Sahelanthropus)
Middle Awash
(Ardipithecus)

Kapsomin
(Orrorin)

Ancestors of the human stem or ancestors of the great Apes ?

Haile-Selassie et al.
(1995, 2001, 2004)
White et al. (2009)
Ardipithecus kadabba
5.8 5.2 Ma
Ardipithecus ramidus
~ 4.4 Ma

Senut et al. (2001)

Brunet et al. (2002)

Vignaud et al. (2002)

Orrorin tugenensis
~ 6 Ma

Touma
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
6 7 Ma

Ardipithecus, Orrorin, Touma: which one is the good one?

A. bahrelghazali

Australopithecus anamensis
A. afarensis
A. garhi
P. aethiopicus
P. boisei

A. africanus
P. robustus

Australopithecus garhi

Australopithecus africanus

Australopithecus amanensis

Australopithecus afarensis

Australopithecus bahrelghazali

Australopithecus

?
6

10

Big brain, small teeth, strict bipedalism

Small brain, very large teeth, occasional bipedalism
Small brain, large teeth, occasional bipedalism
Small brain, small teeth, quadrupedalism
insufficient information

H. sapiens

H. rhodesiensis

H. antecessor

H. erectus

H. georgicus

H. ergaster

H. habilis

H. rudolfensis

P. robustus

P. boisei

P. aethiopicus

H. heidelbergensis

Chimpanzees

H. neanderthalensis

H. floresiensis

(Ma)

Paranthropus aethiopicus

Paranthropus boisei

from 2.6 to 1.8 Ma

Huge
diversification of
Hominins in East
Africa
Homo rudolfensis

Homo habilis

H. habilis
H. rudolfensis
H. ergaster
P. aethiopicus
P. boisei

H. habilis
P. robustus

The first Out of Africa

Homo : adaptation to food cooking?

Sima del Elefante

1.2 - 1.1

Dmanisi
1.8

Longgupo
1.9 1.8
Mohui Cave
~ 1.9

East Africa
1.9 1.5 (H. ergaster)
2.4 1.5 (H. habilis)
Mojokerto
Sangiran
1.8 1.6

Homo habilis Homo erectus Homo neanderthalensis Homo floresiensis Homo sapiens

Neandertal sites
(from ~ 150,000 to 28,000 years ago)

Neandertal

Klna

Spy
La Quina
Saint Csaire
Le Moustier
La Ferrassie

Steinheim

Tata

Krapina

La Chapelle
aux Saints

Vindija

Molodovo
Kiyik-Koba

Moula
Saccopastore
Guattari

Zafarraya

Amud
Tabun

H. neanderthalensis coexisted with H. sapiens for at least

20,000 years, perhaps as long as 60,000 years

all the contemporary and worldwide human mtDNA variability is also

present in Africa (East Africa), thus it is the most probable place of origin
of the species Homo sapiens

Diversity of one imaginary mitochondrial genetic marker (schematic picture)

Burma

Vietnam
Laos

Thailand

Philippines
Cambodia

Malaysia

Indonesia

TOBA super-eruption

~71-75 kya
Largest known eruption
of the last 450 My
~40 x Tambora eruption
(1816 - the year without
summer)
Global mean surface
temperature drop: 3 to
5C

Human pop. :
major bottleneck??

Faunal provinces
Wallace line (Huxley)

Wallace line (original)

Western limit of Marsupials
Weber line
Lydekker line

SUNDA

WALLACEA

SAHUL

Rich and heterogeneous

fossil record
?

Homo erectus
Southeast Asia

mainland
insular (Java)

H. e. / arch. H. sapiens
East Asia (China)
Southeast Asia
insular (Java)

Fossil Homo sapiens

East Asia
Southeast Asia
Australia
Pacific islands

Map : University of Texas, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

East Asia (China)