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The Mammoth Steppe and The Origin of Mongoloids and Their Dispersal Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals 1st Edition R Dale Guthrie
The Mammoth Steppe and The Origin of Mongoloids and Their Dispersal Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals 1st Edition R Dale Guthrie
The Mammoth Steppe and The Origin of Mongoloids and Their Dispersal Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals 1st Edition R Dale Guthrie
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Introduction
I would like to proffer a new theory: that the complex of characters which we
identify with Mongoloid peoples are the product of a special Holarctic biome,
the Mammoth Steppe. And further, that this Mammoth Steppe environment is
the key to understanding both the adaptive features of Mongoloids and much
of their dispersal history. The roots go deep. The collision of the Indian Plate
with the Asian Plate starting 40 million years ago created the Himalayas, building
mountains higher than any the earth had known. This series of massive upward
thrusts affected atmospheric circulation by blocking southern monsoonal air flow
which normally moves northwestward from the Pacific.
This mountain building reached a crescendo in Pleistocene times (Molnar
1989). An almost permanent high pressure cell developed behind the Himalayas,
resulting in a cold and arid climate. The flora and fauna which persisted in these
conditions had some unusual aspects due to the combination of low latitude (30°
to 45° North) but moderately high altitude (2000 to 5000 meters). The cold, dry
grassland which developed behind the south face of the Himalayas (the Tibetan
Plateau on the north to Mongolia) became the heartland of the Mammoth Steppe
(Fig. 11.1), and, I propose, was also the evolutionary homeland of the Mongoloid
peoples. During Pleistocene cycles of low solar input this grassy biome spread
eastward across Europe to the Atlantic, northward to the Arctic Ocean onto the
huge exposed continental shelf north of Asia, and eastward to North America
via the exposed Bering land bridge. Most woody plants were eliminated by com-
binations of cold and aridity, but these same factors favored certain arid-adapted
grasses and forbes (Guthrie 1982, 1990a; Hopkins ef al. 1982). The woodlands
which occurred along the southern border of this steppe were more open, without
modern analog (Guthrie 1990a). The expanding Pleistocene steppelands were
invaded by a diverse group of mammals, predominantly grazers. Fossils show
both large and small mammals in this special habitat underwent considerable evo-
lution during the Pleistocene. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
epitomizes this fauna and the biome name was coined from a mix of fauna and
flora: the Mammoth Steppe.
The Mammoth Steppe became the largest grassland ever seen on earth. It was
unusual, underlain in many places with permanently frozen ground. While it was
geographically quite diverse, *yoven with a variety of woodland/s on its southern
The Mammoth Steppe and the origin of Mongoloids and their dispersal 173
Fig. 11.1 Map of the Mammoth Steppe heartland, where I suggest all Mongoloids arose,
and most recently, northern Mongoloids. Arrows indicate how storm tracks moderated
the climate on the margins of Eurasia at the glacial maximum. The south face of the
Himalayas blocked monsoonal moisture to the interior, resulting in a cold dry grassland
environment in the high uplands even at moderately low latitudes. The horizontal line
represents 40 degrees north latitude.
margins, it had an overall integrity. Past models using pollen profiles of simple
Pleistocene vegetational communities moving north and south are not consistent
with the no-modern-analog reconstructions using macropaleontological samples
of whole communities (Guthrie 1990a). Most Pleistocene communities indeed
have no good modern analogs. Certainly among these is the Mammoth Steppe.
The stable high pressure system, diverse land forms, reduced tree cover, dramatic
insolation variations, proximity to glaciers, and other factors produced consider-
able wind in all seasons on the Mammoth Steppe (Guthrie 1982). Wind, incom-
pletely vegetated surfaces, and newly generated glacial silt produced a dusty land-
scape, of which the thick loess deposits bear witness.
In addition to the woolly mammoth, other large mammals included: woolly
rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis), steppe bison (Bison priscus), caballine horses
(Equus ferus), hemionids (Equus hemionus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), musk-
oxen (Ovibos moschatus), saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), and other less numerous
species (Guthrie 1982). These species developed unique adaptations to life on the
windswept, tree-barren steppes. Natural selection in this environment was appar-
ently very intense (from mammoths to collared lemmings, these northern
174 R. Dale Guthrie
Pleistocene species exhibit some of the most rapid evolutionary changes docu-
mented among mammals). And the enormous body size attained by many species
suggests that those which developed adaptations to survive the harsh winters
found the steppes a bountiful landscape during the growing season (Guthrie
19844).
The cold-adapted anatomical and physiological features found in the Mam-
moth Steppe species include heat-exchange vein-artery arrangement, the ability
to alternately flush and restrict blood flow to vulnerable appendages in Lewis
waves, and integumentary insulation of thick woolly pelage and concentrated
subcutaneous fat. Appendages were reduced, minimizing heat loss; this occa-
sionally involves shorter limbs but almost always smaller ears and tail. Mammoth
Steppe reindeer, mammoth, rhino, bison, and horse were unusually short eared
and tailed compared to their phylogenetic-ecological counterparts to the south:
deer (Odocoileus), elephant (Loxodonta), white rhino (Ceratotherium), cattle
(Bos), and asses (Equus asinus). While these adaptations to cold and aridity con-
served caloric energy, the extreme winter cold demanded absolutely more
calories. This need for more calories, which meant chewing more food when only
poor quality food is available, affected dental evolution. The complex high-
crowned teeth of northern grazing species allowed them to eat a greater volume
of marginal quality winter forage (Guthrie 1990a).
The conditions which produced the Mammoth Steppe were widespread, but
they were not identical in every region. Europe is basically an Atlantic peninsula,
which is now kept unusually warm and moist for its high latitude by the warm
Gulf Stream Atlantic current. This warm current was diverted southward toward
North Africa during the last glacial maximum, but southern Europe still retained
aspects of a moderate climate. Even during the glacial maximum, southern
France and Spain had relict temperate floras, including oak, hazel, and pine in
sheltered valleys. The wooded valleys apparently interfingered with steppelands
and the characteristic steppe mammals: bison, horse, woolly mammoth, and
reindeer predominate in Paleolithic art and camp middens. Yet I think we should
view the Paleolithic peoples who inhabited the European border of the cold
steppe perhaps more like the red deer, wild boar, roe deer, cattle, and moose. All
were mammals that infiltrated the southern margins of the steppe but never moved
out far onto the vast grasslands that were undiluted by woodland corridors.
A moderating coastal influence can also be observed on the Pacific side of the
Mammoth Steppe. It is most apparent by plotting the southern periphery of the
Mammoth Steppe fauna in relation to what is now the coast of China, Japan,
and Korea (Kalke 1976). The southern distribution of these steppe species arcs
upward to the east, not hitting the coast until Hokkaido (Kalke 1976). The
heartland of the Mammoth Steppe remained just north of the Himalayas where
the climate was most continental.
Morphological details of individuals of the mammoth fauna also reveal a less
extreme adaptation to cold and aridity on these coastally moderated margins. The
tails of steppe bison in southern Europe are much longer than bison tails from
northern Asia and Alaska (Guthrie 1990a). Also, European woolly mammoth
-
The Mammoth Steppe and the origin of Mongoloids and their dispersal 175
(ails are quite a bit longer than those from mammoth mummies found in northern
Asia. Geomorphological and floral evidence too support the view that late
Pleistocene climate in Europe and eastern Asia was not so harsh or extremely
continental as in central and northern Asia.
The fossil record across Eurasia and Alaska demonstrates that a rich diversity
of large ungulates existed on the Mammoth Steppe. Our Holocene bias suggests
that such a diverse large mammal community must imply rich resources, so surely
early people everywhere would have improvised a technology to allow them to
pursue the mammoth fauna out onto the open steppes. While the data recognize
the presence of the resource, there is no evidence that people were able to hunt
and live out on the undiluted steppes. Rather, during the peak of the last glacia-
tion when the Mammoth Steppe was at its greatest extent, the northern perimeter
of human settlement was driven far to the south (see Gamble and Soffer 1990).
I think this is because the climate of the Mammoth Steppe not only inhibited
human occupation but virtually prevented it. At glacial maximum, the area
covered by the Mammoth Steppe, most of the palearctic, was unpeopled except
along its southern margin. As I have pointed out, the ecological nature of the
coastally moderated margins of the Mammoth Steppe were different from those
at the heartland.
c‘,icanthic fold a{ld fatty upper lid over the eye reduces radiative heat loss (the
¢yes are the main infrared black-spots in the body). The eye’s wet surface
accelerates convective and conductive heat loss, making it especially vulnerable
1o cold and wind exposure. The fatty insulation in the upper lid even reduces
heat loss when the eye is closed. Eyelid folds also reduce glare in open country.
The low profile of the Mongoloid nose also significantly reduces the potential
for heat loss and frostbite. The more general blanket of facial subcutaneous pad-
ding around the eyes and on the cheeks, jaw, and chin act as important insulating
tissue. The more round, brachycephalic, Mongoloid head form is an efficient
heat-retaining design (Roberts 1978). All of these Mongoloid facial traits com-
bine in a smoothed facial profile against wind and cold. One has to be able to
function all winter long in a life based on hunting terrestrial mammals. Unlike
fishing or whaling, long-term food stores are difficult to amass for terrestrial
hunters (red meat is nutrient rich but calorie poor). Working, walking, stalking
for long episodes of —40°C or —60°C temperatures is more than difficult.
Exposed skin freezes in one minute at these temperatures with a breeze of 7km/h
(Folk 1974). It is in such extreme sorts of situations that subtle differences in
performance can make all the difference. I can speak from personal experiences
on those issues, as I have had my Caucasian eyes freeze shut and have had
severely frostbitten cheeks and nose more than once during my 30 years in
Alaska. As with other large northern mammals, frostbite avoidance is a critical
factor for humans; however, this can be accomplished with Lewis wave warming.
Probably equally important in the long run is the overall effect of these
anatomical structures of Mongoloids on the heat budget. But the interacting
forces are complex; for example, while Eskimo anatomy is extremely heat conserv-
ing, the physiological responses to cold are directed at much greater heat produc-
tion and keeping extremities warm and operational (Roberts 1978).
In relation to that equation of heat budget, one can observe that cold, windy,
arid climates are places where overall body proportions can be important in heat
retention just as heat dissipation requirements in Australian 40 °C and 50 °C
temperatures has influenced Aboriginal Australian body build. It is not by chance
that Australians and African Nilotics are at opposite poles to northern Mongo-
loids in body proportion (Fig. 11.2a), the relative length of appendages in relation
to torso length (that is, sitting height to standing height), and span arm reach
compared to height (Houghton 1980; Hanihara 1986; Harrison et al. 1988). As
a general figure, northern Mongoloids have a sitting height-stature index of 55;
Caucasians, 50; and Black Africans and Aboriginal Australians, 45. Northern
Mongoloids have a higher proportion of supernumerary vertebrae and a smaller
proportion with subnumerary vertebrae than other groups (Kaufman 1974). Hip
width is normally greater among Mongoloids in proportion to shoulder width
(Overfield 1985). Mongoloids also tend to have reduced waist constriction
(Hanihara 1986). Long torsoed, with large chests, Mongoloids have reduced lum-
bar curvature producing a straight profile. Mongoloid body shapes are further
accented by disproportionately shorter and comparatively thicker distal limbs,
shortened digit length and the well developed appendage musculature and fat
178 R. Dale Guthrie
(a ) @
R M~
L N
Fig. 11.2 A portrayal of some differences between Mongoloids and other races discussed
in the text. (a) These outline figures represent characteristic stature and body conforma-
tion of four males from (left to right) Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Australoid, and Nilotic
groups. (b) The skull on the left is from a Caucasoid and the one on the right from a
Mongoloid, illustrating some of the structural differences. (c) On the left half of this man-
dibular arch are characteristic Mongoloid teeth and on the right those of other races. The
black arrows suggest evolutionary differences in bite emphasis: an anterior emphasis for
Mongoloids and a posterior or more diffuse emphasis for other groups. The Mongoloid
dentition shows shovel-shaped incisors and an elaboration of the first molar and the loss
of the third molar.
deposits. Subcutaneous fat, more equally distributed throughout the body compa-
red to other racial groups, is characteristic of northern Mongoloids (Hanihara
1986), and one of the more important heat conserving mechanisms (Folk 1974).
Breasts and buttocks are not used as major fat depots in Mongoloids asin most other
groups. Lean torsos with large breasts and buttocks dissipate heat more readily than
The Mammoth Steppe and the origin of Mongoloids and their dispersal 179
A
Basal Metabolic Rate B
Thermal Neutral Zone
T
-50 ocC 50
Ambient Temperatures
Fig. 11.3 A graph to illustrate how variation in individual differences in cold resistance
could theoretically be much more dramatic outside the thermal neutral zone (that range
of temperatures in which metabolic rate is constant). Given similar clothing, individual
genetic and anatomical and physiological differences produce different metabolic
responses (between individuals A and B) to windy cold weather. Individual A has to
increase his metabolic rate at a much steeper angle than individual B to ever colder temp-
eratures. It is in this extreme of the cold range that natural selection would greatly favor
the anatomy and physiology of the characters possessed by individual B. I argue that this
cluster of cold adapted traits are the Mongoloid adaptive complex.
persist for many months of the year. And of course, Fig. 11.3 cannot tell all of
the story, because at these cold extremes Eskimos are staying warmer, as shown
by core and finger tip temperatures, than are Europeans. In short, it takes sus-
tained temperatures toward the extreme end of the thermal neutral range to create
the features we see as a Mongoloid complex. Given that there are no Pleistocene
archaeological sites in the far north, these conditions are most likely to have been
experienced in the heartland of the Mammoth Steppe.
Conclusions
Mongoloids were people of the Mammoth Steppe. The pattern of morphological
and physiological traits which constitute being Mongoloid are the result of adap-
tive responses to a special environment. This suite of traits apparently evolved
very rapidly in the late Pleistocene, as Mongoloids encamped at frontiers to
human dispersal in the rigorous climate of the Asiatic heartland of the Mammoth
Steppe. The northward dispersal of Mongoloids occurred as that climate-
ecological barrier disintegrated with the extinction of the Mammoth Steppe.
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olemassa.»
Suurella laitumella.
Kilty oli juhlilla ollut erittäin ystävällinen Philiä kohtaan. Kitty olikin
aina ystävällinen — melkein aina. Mutta hänen ystävällisyydestään
huolimatta oli Phil ollut huomaavinaan, ettei hänen
ratsastuskilpailussa saavuttamansa palkinto ollut tehnyt tyttöön
suurtakaan vaikutusta. Phil ei itsekään pannut palkinnolle suuria
arvoa, mutta hän oli päättänyt voittaa mestaruuden sen huomattavan
rahasumman takia, joka seurasi palkintoa. Tämä rahasumma oli
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Philin mielessä ja joka kuului niihin asioihin, joista hän ei kenellekään
puhunut. Niinpä hän olikin itse asiassa ratsastanut ei palkinnon,
vaan unelmiensa takia, ja siksi oli Kittyn mielipiteellä hänen
silmissään suuri merkitys.
Kuin jokin vaistomainen aavistus olisi ohjannut hänen liikkeitään
käänsi Phil Acton katseensa Kittyn kodista kaukaista Metsärajaa
kohden, missä edellisenä päivänä oli tavannut muukalaisen. Koko
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selittää itselleen hänen läsnäoloaan maassa, joka näytti niin suuresti
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enemmän hän ajatteli asiaa, sitä varmemmin hän tunsi häirinneensä
muukalaista hetkellä, jonka tämä oli omistanut yksinäisyydessä
ratkaistaville mietteille ja taisteluille. Tämä tunne oli pidättänyt Philiä
kertomasta kohtauksesta ainoallekaan ihmiselle — vieläpä
Rovastillekin ja »Äidille», kuten Phil sanoi rouva Baldwinia. Kenties
tämä tunne oli myöskin pohjaltaan syynä siihen myötätuntoon, jota
Phil ensi hetkestä alkaen oli tuntenut muukalaista kohtaan, sillä
Philillä oli itselläänkin hetkiä, jolloin hän ei halunnut kenenkään
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Aitauksessa.
»Lorua!» huusi pikku Billy kiihdyksissään. »Ei ole sitä hevosta, jota
Phil ei saisi tottelemaan. Vai mitä, Phil?»
Paimenet nyökkäsivät.