Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr; William D. Gosling; Ralf Vogelsang; André Bahr; Eleanor M.L. Scerri; Asfawossen Asrat; Andrew S. Cohen; Walter Düsing; Verena Foerster; Henry F. Lamb; Mark A. Maslin; Helen M. Roberts; Frank Schäbitz; Martin H. Trauth

doi:10.1073/pnas.2018277118

Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr^*, William D. Gosling, Ralf Vogelsang, André Bahr, Eleanor M.L. Scerri, Asfawossen Asrat, Andrew S. Cohen, Walter Düsing, Verena Foerster, Henry F. Lamb, Mark A. Maslin, Helen M. Roberts, Frank Schäbitz, Martin H. Trauth

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.

Original language	English
Article number	e2018277118
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	118
Issue number	23
Early online date	01 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118
Publication status	Published - 08 Jun 2021

Keywords

African paleoclimate
Hominin evolution
Orbital forcing
Walker and Hadley circulation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.2018277118

Accepted ManuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 6.22 MBLicence: CC BY-NC
Supplementary InformationFinal published version, 1.15 MBLicence: CC BY-NC
Supporting DataFinal published version, 182 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

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Kaboth-Bahr, S., Gosling, W. D., Vogelsang, R., Bahr, A., Scerri, E. M. L., Asrat, A., Cohen, A. S., Düsing, W., Foerster, V., Lamb, H. F., Maslin, M. A., Roberts, H. M., Schäbitz, F., & Trauth, M. H. (2021). Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(23), Article e2018277118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118

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title = "Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans",

abstract = "In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Ni{\~n}o Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.",

keywords = "African paleoclimate, Hominin evolution, Orbital forcing, Walker and Hadley circulation",

author = "Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr and Gosling, {William D.} and Ralf Vogelsang and Andr{\'e} Bahr and Scerri, {Eleanor M.L.} and Asfawossen Asrat and Cohen, {Andrew S.} and Walter D{\"u}sing and Verena Foerster and Lamb, {Henry F.} and Maslin, {Mark A.} and Roberts, {Helen M.} and Frank Sch{\"a}bitz and Trauth, {Martin H.}",

note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.K.-B. received funding from an Open Topic Postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Potsdam and acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through Grant KA 4757/3-1. Support for Chew Bahir drilling was provided by DFG through the Priority Program SPP 1006 International Continental Drilling Program, as well as through NSF Grant NSF-EAR1338553 to A.S.C. F.S. acknowledges further funding from the DFG through Grants SCHA 472/13 and SCHA 472/18. M.H.T. acknowledges funding from the DFG through Grants TR 419/8, TR 419/10, and TR 419/16. In addition, F.S. acknowledges funding from the Collaborative Research Centre 806 Research Project “Our way to Europe”—Project Number 57444011. H.F.L. and H.M.R. were funded by Grant NE/K014560/1 from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. This is publication No. 36 of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project. All data used in the analysis are available through their respective references. The results of the pwPCA is appended as supporting information. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.",

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doi = "10.1073/pnas.2018277118",

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Kaboth-Bahr, S, Gosling, WD, Vogelsang, R, Bahr, A, Scerri, EML, Asrat, A, Cohen, AS, Düsing, W, Foerster, V, Lamb, HF, Maslin, MA, Roberts, HM, Schäbitz, F & Trauth, MH 2021, 'Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 23, e2018277118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118

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T1 - Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

AU - Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie

AU - Gosling, William D.

AU - Vogelsang, Ralf

AU - Bahr, André

AU - Scerri, Eleanor M.L.

AU - Asrat, Asfawossen

AU - Cohen, Andrew S.

AU - Düsing, Walter

AU - Foerster, Verena

AU - Lamb, Henry F.

AU - Maslin, Mark A.

AU - Roberts, Helen M.

AU - Schäbitz, Frank

AU - Trauth, Martin H.

N1 - Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. S.K.-B. received funding from an Open Topic Postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Potsdam and acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through Grant KA 4757/3-1. Support for Chew Bahir drilling was provided by DFG through the Priority Program SPP 1006 International Continental Drilling Program, as well as through NSF Grant NSF-EAR1338553 to A.S.C. F.S. acknowledges further funding from the DFG through Grants SCHA 472/13 and SCHA 472/18. M.H.T. acknowledges funding from the DFG through Grants TR 419/8, TR 419/10, and TR 419/16. In addition, F.S. acknowledges funding from the Collaborative Research Centre 806 Research Project “Our way to Europe”—Project Number 57444011. H.F.L. and H.M.R. were funded by Grant NE/K014560/1 from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. This is publication No. 36 of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project. All data used in the analysis are available through their respective references. The results of the pwPCA is appended as supporting information. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/6/8

Y1 - 2021/6/8

N2 - In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.

AB - In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.

KW - African paleoclimate

KW - Hominin evolution

KW - Orbital forcing

KW - Walker and Hadley circulation

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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2018277118

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2018277118

M3 - Article

C2 - 34074756

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 118

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 23

M1 - e2018277118

ER -

Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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A 500,000- year environmental record from Chew Bahir, south Ethiopia: testing hypotheses of climate- driven human evolution, innovation and dispersal

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Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Permanent link

Other files and links

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A 500,000- year environmental record from Chew Bahir, south Ethiopia: testing hypotheses of climate- driven human evolution, innovation and dispersal

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