Arid, mosaic environments during the Plio-Pleistocene transition and early hominin dispersals in northern Africa

Iván Ramírez-Pedraza (), Carlos Tornero, Hassan Aouraghe, Florent Rivals, Robert Patalano, Hamid Haddoumi, Isabel Expósito, Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Steffen Mischke, Jan Made, Pedro Piñero, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Patrick Roberts, Deepak Kumar Jha, Jordi Agustí, Christian Sánchez-Bandera, Abdelkhalek Lemjidi, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Elena Moreno-Ribas, Aïcha Oujaa, Hicham Mhamdi, Mohamed Souhir, Al Mahdi Aissa, M. Gema Chacón and Robert Sala-Ramos
Additional contact information
Iván Ramírez-Pedraza: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Carlos Tornero: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Hassan Aouraghe: Université Mohammed Premier
Florent Rivals: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Robert Patalano: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Hamid Haddoumi: Université Mohammed Premier
Isabel Expósito: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Steffen Mischke: University of Iceland
Jan Made: Departamento de Paleobiología
Pedro Piñero: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Hugues-Alexandre Blain: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Patrick Roberts: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Deepak Kumar Jha: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Jordi Agustí: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Christian Sánchez-Bandera: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Abdelkhalek Lemjidi: Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP)
Alfonso Benito-Calvo: Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
Elena Moreno-Ribas: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Aïcha Oujaa: Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP)
Hicham Mhamdi: Université Mohammed Premier
Mohamed Souhir: Université Mohammed Premier
Al Mahdi Aissa: Université Mohammed Premier
M. Gema Chacón: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)
Robert Sala-Ramos: Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA)

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract The earliest archaeological evidence from northern Africa dates to ca. 2.44 Ma. Nevertheless, the palaeoenvironmental setting of hominins living in this part of the continent at the Plio-Pleistocene transition remains poorly documented, particularly in comparison to eastern and southern Africa. The Guefaït-4 fossil site in eastern Morocco sheds light on our knowledge of palaeoenvironments in northern Africa. Our study reveals the oldest known presence of C4 plants in the northern part of the continent in a mosaic landscape that includes open grasslands, forested areas, wetlands, and seasonal aridity. This diverse landscape and resource availability likely facilitated the occupation of the region by mammals, including potentially hominins. Our regional-scale study provides a complementary perspective to global-scale studies and highlights the importance of considering the diversity of microhabitats within a given region when studying species-dispersal dynamics.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52672-0

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