ISTerre, CNRS, IRD, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, 38000, Grenoble, France.
School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2022 Nov 8;12(1):19012. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-23206-9.
The migration of Homo erectus in Southeast Asia during Early Pleistocene is cardinal to our comprehension of the evolution of the genus Homo. However, the limited consideration of the rapidly changing physical environment, together with controversial datings of hominin bearing sites, make it challenging to secure the robust timeline needed to unveil the behavior of early humans. Here, we reappraise the first appearance datum of Javanese H. erectus by adding the most reliable age constraints based on cosmogenic nuclides [Formula: see text]Be and [Formula: see text]Al produced in situ to a compilation of earlier estimates. We find that H. erectus reached Java and dwelled at Sangiran, Java, ca. 1.8 Ma. Using this age as a baseline, we develop a probabilistic approach to reconstruct their dispersal routes, coupling ecological movement simulations to landscape evolution models forced by reconstructed geodynamic and climatic histories. We demonstrate that the hospitable terra firma conditions of Sundaland facilitated the prior dispersal of hominins to the edge of Java, where they conversely could not settle until the Javanese archipelago emerged from the sea and connected to Sundaland. The dispersal of H. erectus across Sundaland occurred over at least tens to hundreds kyr, a time scale over which changes in their physical environment, whether climatic or physiographic, may have become primary forcings on their behavior. Our comprehensive reconstruction method to unravel the peopling timeline of SE Asia provides a novel framework to evaluate the evolution of early humans.
直立人在东南亚的迁徙是我们理解人类属进化的关键。然而,由于快速变化的物理环境因素考虑有限,加上含有人骨遗址的年代测定存在争议,使得难以确定可靠的时间线来揭示早期人类的行为。在这里,我们通过将最可靠的年龄约束条件(基于原地产生的宇宙成因核素 [Formula: see text]Be 和 [Formula: see text]Al)添加到早期估计的综合数据中,重新评估爪哇直立人的首次出现数据。我们发现直立人到达了爪哇,并在爪哇的 Sangiran 地区居住,时间约为 180 万年前。我们以这个年龄为基准,采用概率方法来重建他们的扩散路径,将生态运动模拟与受重建地球动力学和气候历史驱动的景观演化模型相结合。我们证明了巽他古陆的宜居陆地条件促进了人类先扩散到爪哇的边缘,而在爪哇群岛从海中升起并与巽他古陆相连之前,他们无法在那里定居。直立人在巽他古陆的扩散至少持续了数万至数十万年前,在这个时间尺度上,他们的物理环境变化,无论是气候还是地形地貌变化,都可能成为其行为的主要驱动力。我们解开东南亚人类迁徙时间表的综合重建方法为评估早期人类的进化提供了一个新的框架。