Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Department of History and Archaeology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Colombo, 10250, Sri Lanka.
Nat Commun. 2019 Feb 19;10(1):739. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-08623-1.
Defining the distinctive capacities of Homo sapiens relative to other hominins is a major focus for human evolutionary studies. It has been argued that the procurement of small, difficult-to-catch, agile prey is a hallmark of complex behavior unique to our species; however, most research in this regard has been limited to the last 20,000 years in Europe and the Levant. Here, we present detailed faunal assemblage and taphonomic data from Fa-Hien Lena Cave in Sri Lanka that demonstrates specialized, sophisticated hunting of semi-arboreal and arboreal monkey and squirrel populations from ca. 45,000 years ago, in a tropical rainforest environment. Facilitated by complex osseous and microlithic technologies, we argue these data highlight that the early capture of small, elusive mammals was part of the plastic behavior of Homo sapiens that allowed it to rapidly colonize a series of extreme environments that were apparently untouched by its hominin relatives.
相对于其他原始人类，定义智人的独特能力是人类进化研究的一个主要焦点。有人认为，获取小而难以捕捉、敏捷的猎物是我们物种特有的复杂行为的标志；然而，这方面的大多数研究都局限于过去 2 万年来的欧洲和黎凡特地区。在这里，我们提出了来自斯里兰卡法喜伦纳洞穴的详细动物群组合和埋藏学数据，这些数据表明，大约 45000 年前，在热带雨林环境中，人们专门对半树栖和树栖猴子和松鼠种群进行了复杂而精细的捕猎。在复杂的骨骼和微石器技术的帮助下，我们认为这些数据突出表明，早期捕捉小而难以捉摸的哺乳动物是智人可塑性行为的一部分，这种行为使它能够迅速占领一系列极端环境，而这些环境显然没有被其原始人类亲属触及。
