The uncertain case for human-driven extinctions prior to Homo sapiens

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 88-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
John Rowan ◽  
Andrew Du ◽  
W. Andrew Barr
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
History Of ◽  
Faunal Diversity ◽  
Biodiversity Decline ◽  
Made In

AbstractA growing body of literature proposes that our ancestors contributed to large mammal extinctions in Africa long before the appearance of Homo sapiens, with some arguing that premodern hominins (e.g., Homo erectus) triggered the demise of Africa's largest herbivores and the loss of carnivoran diversity. Though such arguments have been around for decades, they are now increasingly accepted by those concerned with biodiversity decline in the present-day, despite the near complete absence of critical discussion or debate. To facilitate that process, here we review ancient anthropogenic extinction hypotheses and critically examine the data underpinning them. Broadly speaking, we show that arguments made in favor of ancient anthropogenic extinctions are based on problematic data analysis and interpretation, and are substantially weakened when extinctions are considered in the context of long-term evolutionary, ecological, and environmental changes. Thus, at present, there is no compelling empirical evidence supporting a deep history of hominin impacts on Africa's faunal diversity.

Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: No evidence for ancient hominin impacts

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 362 (6417) ◽  
pp. 938-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
John Rowan ◽  
Andrew Du ◽  
Paul L. Koch
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
Meat Eating ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mammal Communities ◽  
Herbivore Communities

It has long been proposed that pre-modern hominin impacts drove extinctions and shaped the evolutionary history of Africa’s exceptionally diverse large mammal communities, but this hypothesis has yet to be rigorously tested. We analyzed eastern African herbivore communities spanning the past 7 million years—encompassing the entirety of hominin evolutionary history—to test the hypothesis that top-down impacts of tool-bearing, meat-eating hominins contributed to the demise of megaherbivores prior to the emergence ofHomo sapiens. We document a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivores beginning ~4.6 million years ago, long before the appearance of hominin species capable of exerting top-down control of large mammal communities and predating evidence for hominin interactions with megaherbivore prey. Expansion of C4grasslands can account for the loss of megaherbivore diversity.

P087 Polyarteritis nodosa: a case report

Rheumatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Azirar ◽  
A Ghannam ◽  
A Elaouli ◽  
M Rkain ◽  
N Benaajiba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polyarteritis Nodosa ◽  
Skin Lesions ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Periarteritis Nodosa ◽  
Minimal Effective Dose ◽  
First Child ◽  
History Of ◽  
Inflammatory Syndrome ◽  
Made In

Abstract Background Polyarteritis nodosa is a necrotizing vasculitis of small and medium caliber arteries. Rarely described in children, its pathophysiology is complex and remains poorly elucidated. Two main forms were described in the literature: cutaneous and visceral. Material and results We report the cases of two boys, aged of 7 and 11 years old. They had a history of recurrent sore throat with a recurrent aphthosis in the 11-year-old child. Both boys presented with polyarthralgias, myalgias, polymorphous skin lesions made of livedo reticularis with subcutaneous nodosa on the lower limbs in the first child and distal necrosis of the toes with oedema of the lower limbs in the second. Patients suffered also of cough evolving in a context of alteration of the general state made of fever and asthenia. A biological inflammatory syndrome was present in both children and the skin histology confirmed periarteritis nodosa. The evolution was marked by the disappearance of arthralgias and myalgias after a corticosteroid-based treatment with progressive dose reduction until minimal effective dose. Conclusion The diagnosis of Polyarteritis nodosa should be made in any child presenting with the following signs: fever, altered general condition, myalgias, arthralgias and skin manifestations. The prognosis is usually benign but long-term surveillance is necessary.

4. The long-term history of Europe and Asia

2018 ◽  
pp. 42-64
Author(s):  
Chris Gosden
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Steppe Ecosystem ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Europe

‘The long-term history of Europe and Asia’ explains how the fluctuating climatic systems between cold and warm periods provided the context in which the global expansion of our ancestors occurred. It discusses the mammoth steppe ecosystem, the relationships between plants and animals, and the introduction of tool use, language, and farming systems across Europe and east Asia. The last great global warming—shifting vegetation zones, the territories of animals, and sea levels—was one of the most challenging periods in planetary history since the evolution of Homo sapiens. Yet from this period came a mass of novel technologies, skills, and relationships that provided the basis for life.

Household Economy, Long-Term Change, and Social Transformation: The Bronze Age Political Economy of Northwestern Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Term Change ◽  
History Of Vegetation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Triggering Factor ◽  
The Bronze Age

In this article I examine how long-term economic strategies in the Bronze Age of northern Europe between 2300 and 500 BCE transformed the environment and thus created and imposed new ecological constraints that finally led to a major social transformation and a "dark age" that became the start of the new long-term cycle of the Iron Age. During the last 30 years hundreds of well-excavated farmsteads and houses from south Scandinavia have made it possible to reconstruct the size and the structure of settlement and individual households through time. During the same period numerous pollen diagrams have established the history of vegetation and environmental changes. I will therefore use the size of individual households or farmsteads as a parameter of economic strength, and to this I add the role of metal as a triggering factor in the economy, especially after 1700 BCE when a full-scale bronze technology was adopted and after 500 BCE when it was replaced by iron as the dominant metal. A major theoretical concern is the relationships between micro- and macroeconomic changes and how they articulated in economic practices. Finally the nature of the "dark age" during the beginning of the Iron Age will be discussed, referring to Sing Chew's use of the concept (Chew 2006).

scholarly journals Post-glacial acidification of two alpine lakes (Sudetes Mts., SW Poland), as inferred from diatom analyses

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Elwira Sienkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Anthropogenic Pollution ◽  
Mountain Lakes ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Arctic Regions ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Past environmental changes in mountain lakes can be reconstructed with the use of subfossil diatoms from post-glacial sediments. This study applied such an analysis to two mountain lakes in the Sudetes Mts. in Poland: Mały Staw (MS) and Wielki Staw (WS). Cores 882 cm long (MS) and 1100 cm long (WS) taken from the centre of each lake in 1982 were used to study the long-term acidification history of these lakes. Changes in vegetation indicate that the initial phase of MS started at the end of the Pleistocene. WS sediments began to accumulate shortly after that, at the beginning of the Holocene. The majority of the diatom assemblages are typical of oligotrophic acidic lakes located in alpine and arctic regions. A pH reconstruction based on diatoms (DI-pH) showed long-term acidification dating to almost the beginning of the lakes’ existence. Natural acidification began after the deglaciation, and the most intensive acidification continued to the end of the mid-Holocene. Through the whole period studied, pH decreased by 1.4 in MS and 0.9 in WS. After a period of relatively stable lake water pH, it decreased rapidly during the last few decades of the 20th century, due to anthropogenic pollution: pH declined by 0.7 in MS and 0.3 in WS. Mały Staw, being shallower, smaller, and with a larger drainage basin than Wielki Staw, is more sensitive to acid deposition; this accounts for the difference in pH.

scholarly journals 30 Years Trend of Competitive Balance in Turkish Football Super League

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuğbay Inan
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Media Effect ◽  
Balance Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Income Sharing ◽  
Balance Factor ◽  
Score Table ◽  
Made In ◽  
Super League

We must point out that the results of football games affect the competitive balance degree. In other words, the calculations we made in the score table at the end of the season give us a degree of competitive balance. The degree on which the concept of competitiveness is based is cited as competitive balance in football. Sports economics can be defined as the degree to which overall league attendances are raised by such measures as media effect, home advantage, income sharing, all of which aim to strengthen the competitive balance. The aim of this study was to gauge the competitive balance in Turkish football league. Using long term competitive balance analysis, some of the matters encountered and possible precautions to be taken were approached in a way that can discuss the mentioned subjects throughout the 1987-2017 seasons in Turkish Football Super League (TSL). The present study examined the way that competitive balance level followed in the history of super league (30 years). For this purpose, C5 Competitive Balance Index (C5CBI) and a Herfindahl index of competitive balance (HICB) were benefited. Finally, competitive balance factor was observed to have occured time to time; however, when looked in terms of total, a view apart from competitive balance can be clearly seen.

scholarly journals The human genome reveals the evolution of Homo sapiens

2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
K. Schwartz ◽  
◽  
M. Sorokin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Genome ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Language Communication ◽  
History Of ◽  
Development Of Language

The evolution of modern humans began two and a half million years ago as Homo erectus. Several hundred thousand years ago, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern men Homo sapiens have been separated from the Homo erectus branch. Nevertheless, Homo sapiens is the only one that has survived to our days. The complex history of Homo is revealed by genetic research and comparison of the modern human genome with genes of Neanderthals and Denisovans. Svante Pääbo, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, made a significant contribution to these studies and decoded the genome of Neanderthals and Denisovans. Comparison of the genome of modern humans with the genes of Neanderthals and Denisovans made it possible to reveal the size of the population, the paths and times of migrations, interactions of various groups of ancient humans and their biological crossing. It was found that in Eurasia, modern man carries traces of Neanderthal genes, whereas in Asia and Oceania – Denisovan genes. According to anthropological research, the survival of Homo sapiens was driven by the cognitive revolution, which took place about seventy thousand years ago and included the development of language, communication and association in large groups.

Love’s Evolution

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-94
Author(s):  
Celia E. Deane-Drummond
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reasonable Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of

The relationship between empathy, love, and compassion has long been contested in the history of moral theory. Drawing on Martha Nussbaum’s definition of compassion as a form of judgement, and its relationship to empathy as both emotive and cognitive, this chapter seeks to uncover some of the reasons why empathy and compassion are still contested by scientists working in moral psychology as being relevant for the truly moral life. It also draws on fascinating work by archaeologists that shows reasonable evidence for the existence of deep compassion far back in the evolutionary record of early hominins, even prior to the appearance of Homo sapiens. The long-term care of those with severe disabilities is remarkable and indicates the importance of empathy and compassion deep in history. This is not so much a romanticized view of the past, since violence as well as cooperation existed side by side, but an attempt to show that the rising wave of anti-empathy advocates have missed the mark. Compassion is the fruit of cooperative tendencies. Primatologist Frans de Waal has also undertaken important work on empathy operative in the social lives of alloprimates. The Thomistic concept of compassion in the framework of his approach to the virtues in the moral life is also discussed.

scholarly journals Visual Culture in Prehistoric South-east Italy

2002 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 165-183
Author(s):  
Robin Skeates
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Visual Cultures ◽  
The Bronze Age

Using the approach of visual culture, which highlights the embeddedness of art in dynamic human processes, this paper examines the prehistoric archaeology of the Lecce province in south-east Italy, in order to provide a history of successive visual cultures in that area, between the Middle Palaeolithic and the Bronze Age. It is argued that art may have helped human groups to deal with problems in subsistence and society, including environmental changes affecting the cultural landscape and its resources, the breaking up of old social relations and the establishment and maintenance of new ones. More specifically, art appears to have become increasingly related to the expression of religious and even mythical beliefs, and in particular to the performance of ceremonies and rituals in selected spaces such as caves. This may reflect the existence of a long-term tradition of performance art in prehistory, involving performers and viewers, in which art helped to structure and heighten the sensual and social impact of the acting human body.

The Early Palaeolithic of Japan

Antiquity ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 59 (226) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. G. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Know How ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Kanto Region

The Early Palaeolithic of Japan may be defined as comprised of any assemblage which occurs before 30,000 years BP, i.e., prior to the formation of Tachikawa loam formation of the Kanto region (Serizawa, 1970, Ikawa Smith, 1978, 247-86). It has been the subject of controversy since the Palaeolithic period was recognized in Japan following discoveries at Iwajuku in 1949 (Sugihara, 1956). Early in the history of subsequent research, debate arose as to the date of man's arrival in the archipelago. This debate is of importance to a wider audience for a number of reasons. First, Japan is located in a region which has traditionally been associated as a source area for the peopling of the New World—early dates claimed for occupation in America should then, perhaps, be relatable to similar finds and dates in Japan. Secondly, there is now increasing evidence for relative early dates of occupation in Siberia. (Boriskovskij, 1978, 27; Yi and Clark, 1983; Okladnikov and Pospelova, 1982). These may find supportive evidence from neighbouring lands. Thirdly, it is interesting from the point of view of hominid evolution to know how far populations of Homo erectus and archaic Homo sapiens had spread in East Asia and what form their adaptations took. Additionally, Japan is a relatively well-explored and published source of data in a poorly known region of the World and may be useful as a source for deriving analogies and ideas in interpreting lithic material, particularly in countries such as Korea where palaeolithic research is still in its infancy (Hwang, 1979; Kim, 1983).

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