Tsahar Ella, Izhaki Ido, Lev-Yadun Simcha, Bar-Oz Guy
Laboratory of Archaeozoology, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
PLoS One. 2009;4(4):e5316. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005316. Epub 2009 Apr 29.
The southern Levant (Israel, Palestinian Authority and Jordan) has been continuously and extensively populated by succeeding phases of human cultures for the past 15,000 years. The long human impact on the ancient landscape has had great ecological consequences, and has caused continuous and accelerating damage to the natural environment. The rich zooarchaeological data gathered at the area provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in wild species distribution, and correlate them with human demographic changes.
Zoo-archaeological data (382 animal bone assemblages from 190 archaeological sites) from various time periods, habitats and landscapes were compared. The bone assemblages were sorted into 12 major cultural periods. Distribution maps showing the presence of each ungulate species were established for each period.
The first major ungulate extinction occurred during the local Iron Age (1,200-586 BCE), a period characterized by significant human population growth. During that time the last of the largest wild ungulates, the hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) became extinct, followed by a shrinking distribution of forest-dwelling cervids. A second major wave of extinction occurred only in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between the average body mass of ungulate species that became extinct during the Holocene and their extinction date. It is thus very likely that the intensified human activity through habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting were responsible for the two major waves of ungulate extinction in the southern Levant during the late Holocene.
在过去的15000年里，黎凡特南部（以色列、巴勒斯坦权力机构和约旦）一直持续且广泛地居住着相继出现的人类文化群体。人类对古代地貌的长期影响产生了巨大的生态后果，并对自然环境造成了持续且加速的破坏。该地区收集到的丰富动物考古数据提供了一个独特的机会，来重建野生物种分布的时空变化，并将它们与人类人口变化相关联。
比较了来自不同时期、栖息地和地貌的动物考古数据（来自190个考古遗址的382组动物骨骼组合）。这些骨骼组合被分为12个主要文化时期。为每个时期绘制了显示每种有蹄类物种存在情况的分布图。
第一次主要的有蹄类动物灭绝发生在当地的铁器时代（公元前1200 - 586年），这一时期的特点是人口显著增长。在那个时候，最后一批最大的野生有蹄类动物，角马（南非白面大羚羊）、原牛和河马灭绝了，随后是栖息在森林中的鹿类分布范围缩小。第二次主要的灭绝浪潮仅发生在公元19世纪和20世纪。此外，在全新世灭绝的有蹄类物种的平均体重与其灭绝日期之间发现了负相关关系。因此，很可能是通过栖息地破坏和无节制狩猎而加剧的人类活动导致了全新世晚期黎凡特南部有蹄类动物的两次主要灭绝浪潮。
