150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Henry Lamb; C. Richard Bates; Charlotte L. Bryant; Sarah Davies; Dei G. Huws; Michael Henry Marshall; Helen M. Roberts; Harry Toland

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w

150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Henry Lamb, C. Richard Bates, Charlotte L. Bryant, Sarah Davies, Dei G. Huws, Michael Henry Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, Harry Toland

Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

48 Citations (SciVal)

134 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Genetic evidence links dispersal to climatic change ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier modern human presence in Asia. We report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana, Ethiopia, close to early modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate towards the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions could have favoured selection for behavioural versatility, population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa.

Original language	English
Article number	1077
Number of pages	7
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	8
Issue number	1
Early online date	18 Jan 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w
Publication status	Published - 01 Dec 2018

Keywords

Africa
Biological Evolution
Climate
Climate Change
Ethiopia
Humans
Paleontology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41598-018-19601-wLicence: CC BY

ArticleFinal published version, 4.33 MBLicence: CC BY
Supplementary InformationFinal published version, 10.3 MBLicence: CC BY

Permanent link

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{6a8fc14510b744f2bec2cc41f4ad7bc7,

title = "150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa",

abstract = "Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Genetic evidence links dispersal to climatic change ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier modern human presence in Asia. We report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana, Ethiopia, close to early modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate towards the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions could have favoured selection for behavioural versatility, population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa.",

keywords = "Africa, Biological Evolution, Climate, Climate Change, Ethiopia, Humans, Paleontology",

author = "Henry Lamb and Bates, {C. Richard} and Bryant, {Charlotte L.} and Sarah Davies and Huws, {Dei G.} and Marshall, {Michael Henry} and Roberts, {Helen M.} and Harry Toland",

note = "Funding Information: This project was funded by grants from the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; grant nos NER/B/S/2002/00540 and NE/DO12996/1) and NERC Radiocarbon Facility support (NRCF010001 allocation number1201.1006). We thank members of the Department of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University for scientific and logistical support, especially the late Mohammed Umer; Addis Zeleke of Addis Geosystems plc; the Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, and Harry Toland. Data are archived at the UK National Geoscience Data Centre. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s).",

year = "2018",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

journal = "Scientific Reports",

issn = "2045-2322",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - 150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

AU - Lamb, Henry

AU - Bates, C. Richard

AU - Bryant, Charlotte L.

AU - Davies, Sarah

AU - Huws, Dei G.

AU - Marshall, Michael Henry

AU - Roberts, Helen M.

AU - Toland, Harry

N1 - Funding Information: This project was funded by grants from the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; grant nos NER/B/S/2002/00540 and NE/DO12996/1) and NERC Radiocarbon Facility support (NRCF010001 allocation number1201.1006). We thank members of the Department of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University for scientific and logistical support, especially the late Mohammed Umer; Addis Zeleke of Addis Geosystems plc; the Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, and Harry Toland. Data are archived at the UK National Geoscience Data Centre. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s).

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Genetic evidence links dispersal to climatic change ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier modern human presence in Asia. We report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana, Ethiopia, close to early modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate towards the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions could have favoured selection for behavioural versatility, population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa.

AB - Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Genetic evidence links dispersal to climatic change ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier modern human presence in Asia. We report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana, Ethiopia, close to early modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate towards the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions could have favoured selection for behavioural versatility, population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa.

KW - Africa

KW - Biological Evolution

KW - Climate

KW - Climate Change

KW - Ethiopia

KW - Humans

KW - Paleontology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040911812&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w

DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w

M3 - Article

C2 - 29348464

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 8

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

IS - 1

M1 - 1077

ER -

150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Permanent link

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Henry Lamb

Author Correction: 150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Cite this

150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Permanent link

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Profiles

Henry Lamb

Research output

Author Correction: 150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Cite this