Non-analog environments supported early Homo sapiens in southern Africa 200 000 years ago

Abstract In our species’ evolutionary history, the type of environments in which we evolved can provide crucial details about early human adaptive capacities. Such environments might not exist under current climatic and ecological conditions. Reconstructing palaeohydrology and vegetation using multiple proxies at human fossil sites in South Africa provides insights into local conditions at a high level of detail. This paper presents a plant n -alkane stable isotope record for Florisbad and Lombard’s Drift, which is anchored by new luminescence ages that revise the age for the Florisbad human cranium. We observe contrasting, non-analog plant environments during the Middle and Late Pleistocene by combining multiple lines of evidence to better understand the different environments that early Homo sapiens experienced. It also provides the foundation to evaluate their cultural adaptation strategies through time.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Published
2026-10-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-04116-4
Primary Topic
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Type
article
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article

Non-analog environments supported early Homo sapiens in southern Africa 200 000 years ago

Nils Andersen, Louis Scott, Michaela Ecker, C. Britt Bousman et al.
1 links
Communications Earth & Environment
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
article

Non-analog environments supported early Homo sapiens in southern Africa 200 000 years ago

Nils Andersen, Louis Scott, Michaela Ecker, C. Britt Bousman, Michael B. Toffolo, Andri C. van Aardt, Josep María Parés, William Archer, Beatrice Bin, Maïlys Richard
article en

Abstract

Abstract In our species’ evolutionary history, the type of environments in which we evolved can provide crucial details about early human adaptive capacities. Such environments might not exist under current climatic and ecological conditions. Reconstructing palaeohydrology and vegetation using multiple proxies at human fossil sites in South Africa provides insights into local conditions at a high level of detail. This paper presents a plant n -alkane stable isotope record for Florisbad and Lombard’s Drift, which is anchored by new luminescence ages that revise the age for the Florisbad human cranium. We observe contrasting, non-analog plant environments during the Middle and Late Pleistocene by combining multiple lines of evidence to better understand the different environments that early Homo sapiens experienced. It also provides the foundation to evaluate their cultural adaptation strategies through time.

Communications Earth & EnvironmentVol. 7(1)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Texas State University (US), George Washington University (US), University of the Free State (ZA), Université Bordeaux Montaigne (FR), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), National Museum (ZA), Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (ES), Archéosciences-Bordeaux : Matériaux, temps, Images et Sociétés (FR), University of Tübingen (DE)
European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, NextGenerationEU
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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