Early humans adapted to harsh conditions more than a million years ago
Multidisciplinary study brings together researchers from UCalgary and around the world
University of Calgary
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Julio Mercader, a professor in both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science, is the lead author on a new study published in Nature.
view moreCredit: Colette Derworiz/Faculty of Science/University of Calgary
A long-standing question about when archaic members of the genus Homo adapted to harsh environments such as deserts and rainforests has been answered in a new research paper.
The study, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, finds it was earlier than originally thought.
“We reveal how early humans – known as hominins – were able to thrive under harsh conditions,” says lead author Dr. Julio Mercader FlorÃn, PhD, a professor in both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary.
The multidisciplinary analysis by researchers at UCalgary, the University of Manitoba and 17 other institutions around the world shows Homo erectus adapted at least 1.2 million years ago – long before our species, Homo sapiens, emerged.
Mercader, who studies human evolution, explains that the archaeological research was done at Olduvai Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tanzania.
“By doing archeology, what we can see is that Homo erectus keeps coming back to the same place in the landscape over thousands of years,” he says in an interview. “It’s not a one-time camp.
“There is thickness to the accumulation of archeological remains and fossils that is telling us that a species was targeting a very specific point in the landscape to do what they came here to do.”
The archeological evidence shows that groups of
Co-author Dr. Jed Kaplan, PhD, a Canada Research Chair in global systems modelling, says he was able to reconstruct past landscapes to simulate the East African region at the time.
“Things like extreme climate change leading to desertification would have been really difficult for hominins to survive,” he says. “What we discovered in the study is that, in fact, we find plenty of evidence for hominin activity under environmental conditions – so climate, vegetation – that suggest really hot and dry periods.
“So, it’s changing our understanding of the adaptability of these early hominins to extreme environments and demonstrating that Homo erectus were more adaptable than we realized.”
Kaplan, a professor with the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment in UCalgary’s Faculty of Science, says it has interesting implications.
“It’s well known that by the time modern humans come on the landscape, 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, we are really adaptable,” he explains. “We not only spread out in Africa but also start inhabiting all of these really different environments – everything from the Arctic tundra to the Sahara dessert and the tropical rainforest and everything in between.”
It’s now become clear, he says, that our human ancestors were demonstrating their ability to survive in a wide range of environments – including really extreme ones.
“That’s new, that pretty neat,” Kaplan says.
Ultimately, he expects scientists will be able to show the overall adaptability of Homo erectus.
“These prominent ancestors were not just able to survive in every kind of environment from rainforest to dessert, but also build boats and get across ocean straits and get to different islands.”
It’s still unknown whether they could talk or had language, he says, but they may have been able to communicate in other ways to find resources such as water or rocks for making tools or fire.
Kaplan says the study is important because it helps us to learn about who we are and where we come from.
“It is a contribution to a better understanding of our planet and human’s role in it,” he says.
Both researchers note that the paper is also important because it brought together a broad range of experts – from archaeologists and biogeochemists to paleoclimate specialists – to produce some ground-breaking research.
“It illustrates how modern climate research works,” says Mercader. “It is a model for addressing the science of past and present-day climate science research.”
Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Method of Research
Meta-analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Homo erectus adapted to steppe-desert climate extremes one million years ago
Article Publication Date
16-Jan-2025
Evolution: Early humans adapted to extreme desert conditions over one million years ago
Springer
Homo erectus was able to adapt to and survive in desert-like environments at least 1.2 million years ago, according to a paper published in Communications Earth & Environment. The findings suggest that behavioural adaptations included returning repeatedly over thousands of years to specific rivers and ponds for fresh water, and the development of specialised tools. The authors propose that this capability to adapt may have led to the expansion of H. erectus’ geographic range.
There has been significant debate over when early hominins acquired the adaptability to survive in extreme environments, such as deserts or rainforests. Previous research has frequently concluded that only Homo sapiens were able to adapt to such environments.
Julio Mercader, Paul Durkin, and colleagues collected archaeological, geological, and palaeoclimatic data at Engaji Nanyori in Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania — a key early hominin archaeological site. The authors report that between approximately 1.2 million and 1 million years ago, semi-desert conditions persisted in the area with characteristic plant life evident. The archaeological data suggests that groups of H. erectus in the area adapted to the conditions over the period by repeatedly returning to live in locations with freshwater availability such as ponds, and developing specialised stone tools such as scrapers and notched tools (known as denticulates), which the authors suggest were probably used to increase the efficiency of butchery.
The authors suggest that, together, these findings demonstrate that H. erectus had a much greater adaptability to survive in extreme environments than was previously thought. The authors conclude that their results contradict previous hypotheses that only H. sapiens could adapt to extreme ecosystems, and that H. erectus may have been a generalist species able to survive in a variety of landscapes in Africa and Eurasia.
Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Homo erectus adapted to steppe-desert climate extremes one million years ago
Article Publication Date
16-Jan-2025
Human ancestor thrived longer in harsher conditions than previous estimates
Griffith University
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Selected stone tools from Engaji Nanyori.
view moreCredit: Julio Mercader
An early human ancestor of our species successfully navigated harsher and more arid terrains for longer in Eastern Africa than previously thought, according to a new study published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
Homo erectus, the first of our relatives to have human-like proportions and the first known early human to migrate out of Africa, was the focus of the new study led by the international research team.
The researchers analysed evidence from Engaji Nanyori in Tanzania’s Oldupai Gorge, revealing Homo erectus thrived in hyper-arid landscapes one million years ago – well before our species, Homo sapiens, emerged.
“Now extinct, Homo erectus existed more than an estimated 1.5 million years, marking them as a species survival success in the human evolution story when compared with our own estimated existence of around 300,000 years to date,” Professor Michael Petraglia said, Director of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University.
“That success came down to their ability to survive over a long period marked by many changes to the environment and climate,” noted the lead author, Professor Julio Mercader of the University of Calgary.
Using biogeochemical analyses, chronometric dating, palaeoclimate simulations, biome modelling, fire history reconstructions, palaeobotanical studies, faunal assemblages, and archaeological evidence, the research team reconstructed an environment dominated by semidesert shrubland.
Despite the challenges of these conditions, Homo erectus repeatedly occupied landscapes created by rivers and streams, leveraging water sources and ecological focal points to mitigate risk.
These findings suggest archaic humans possessed an ecological flexibility previously attributed only to later hominins.
“Debate has long centred on when the genus Homo acquired the adaptability to thrive in extreme environments such as deserts and rainforests,” said Dr Abel Shikoni of the University of Dodoma, Tanzania.
“Traditionally, only Homo sapiens was thought capable of sustained occupation in such ecosystems, with archaic hominins seen as restricted to narrower ranges”.
“However, the biogeochemical, palaeoenvironmental, and archaeological evidence we analysed suggests early Homo had the ability to adapt to diverse and unstable environments from the East African Rift floor and Afromontane areas as early as two million years ago,” Professor Petraglia said.
“This adaptive profile, marked by resilience in arid zones, challenges assumptions about early hominin dispersal limits and positions Homo erectus as a versatile generalist and the first hominin to transcend environmental boundaries on a global scale.”
“This adaptability likely facilitated the expansion of Homo erectus into the arid regions of Africa and Eurasia, redefining their role as ecological generalists thriving in some of the most challenging landscapes of the Middle Pleistocene,” said Professor Paul Durkin of the University of Manitoba.
The study ‘Homo erectus adapted to steppe-desert climate extremes one million years ago’ has been published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
Excavations in foreground and background at Engaji Nanyori, Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania, in 2022, conducted by Masai landowners and project members.
Credit
Julio Mercader
Journal
Nature Communications
