Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene

H. J. O'Regan, A. Turner, L. C. Bishop, S. Elton, A. L. Lamb

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

76 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Discoveries of fossil Homo outside Africa predating 1.0. Ma have generated much discussion about hominin dispersal routes. However, tool-using bipeds were only one element of the inter-continental mammalian dispersals that occurred during the climatic changes of the Pliocene and Pleistocene. This paper will place hominin movements in the context of those of the wider mammalian fauna, which includes carnivores, bovids and non-human primates. The distribution of these different taxa suggests that species moved individually when the environmental conditions were right for them, rather than in multi-species waves of dispersal, and allows evaluation of the contextual evidence for the newly emerging 'Out of Asia' paradigm as well as the established 'Out of Africa' model.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1343-1352
Number of pages10
JournalQuaternary Science Reviews
Volume30
Issue number11-12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Archaeology
  • Archaeology
  • Geology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this