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    Coastal Dispersal: of Pleistocene Homo

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    Anonymous wWRphADWz
    This document proposes that Homo species dispersed along coastal and riverine routes after 2.5 million years ago, during the Ice Ages when sea levels were lower. It argues that traversing open savannahs and mountains was impossible, so coastal dispersal via walking and wading along food-rich shorelines that provided brain-nourishing nutrients is more plausible. Evidence from bone and archaeological site structures support a "littoral theory" where early humans supplemented their diet with shellfish and other seafoods.

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    Coastal Dispersal: of Pleistocene Homo

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous wWRphADWz
    41 views14 pages
    This document proposes that Homo species dispersed along coastal and riverine routes after 2.5 million years ago, during the Ice Ages when sea levels were lower. It argues that traversing open savannahs and mountains was impossible, so coastal dispersal via walking and wading along food-rich shorelines that provided brain-nourishing nutrients is more plausible. Evidence from bone and archaeological site structures support a "littoral theory" where early humans supplemented their diet with shellfish and other seafoods.

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    AquaticApeTheorymadeeasy2017.pptx

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    This document proposes that Homo species dispersed along coastal and riverine routes after 2.5 million years ago, during the Ice Ages when sea levels were lower. It argues that traversing open savannahs and mountains was impossible, so coastal dispersal via walking and wading along food-rich shorelines that provided brain-nourishing nutrients is more plausible. Evidence from bone and archaeological site structures support a "littoral theory" where early humans supplemented their diet with shellfish and other seafoods.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    41 views14 pages

    Coastal Dispersal: of Pleistocene Homo

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous wWRphADWz
    This document proposes that Homo species dispersed along coastal and riverine routes after 2.5 million years ago, during the Ice Ages when sea levels were lower. It argues that traversing open savannahs and mountains was impossible, so coastal dispersal via walking and wading along food-rich shorelines that provided brain-nourishing nutrients is more plausible. Evidence from bone and archaeological site structures support a "littoral theory" where early humans supplemented their diet with shellfish and other seafoods.

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    You are on page 1of 14

    Coastal Dispersal

    of Pleistocene Homo
    Marc Verhaegen 2018
    Coastal Dispersal of Homo

    • not 5 or 10 Ma (mill.yrs ago)


    • probably after +-2.5 Ma
    • during the Ice Ages (Pleistocene)

    Ice Age coasts are +-100 meters under sea-level today.


    Dispersals along Coasts & Rivers

     
    ??
    


    


    Dispersals over Savannahs ??
    After +-2 Ma (Ice Ages),
    Homo fossils appeared outside Africa :

    - Savanna-running to Java, Flores etc.??


    Impossible: over mountains & seas.

    - Following Coasts of Africa & Eurasia?


    Of course. Why not? How else??
    When Homo followed
    African & Eurasian coasts,
    their diet included sea-foods.

    They collected these by


    bipedal walking-wading
    & shallow-diving.
    Sea-foods, e.g. shell-fish, are richest
    in brain-specific nutrients
    - poly-unsaturated fatty acids
    e.g. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)
    - oligo-elements
    - iodine
    - taurine etc.

    Savannah foods are poor


    in brain-specific nutrients.
    This Littoral Scenario is confirmed by
    • anatomy
    • e.g. thick, dense, brittle bones in H.erectus
    (pachy-osteo-sclerosis is only seen in littoral animals)
    • paleo-environment
    • All “archaic” sites have lots of water & shellfish.
    • All “butchery” sites are waterside (bones & stones leave
    archeological traces >> plants), e.g.
    • Mojokerto child (Java ?1.8 Ma)
    amid shellfish & barnacles = delta,
    • Paleo-lithic whale butchering (Angola ?1 Ma)
    at Dungo V, Baia Farta, Benguela. Etc. Etc.
    Refs Google, see last page
    Most “early ape” fossils
    (Mio- & Pliocene hominoids incl. Australopithecus)

    had vertical spines, e.g. for


    - climbing arms overhead &
    - wading bipedally,

    fossilized in swamp &


    flooded forests & wetlands.

    foto Oreopithecus
    Bipedal (on 2 legs) e.g. kangaroo

    + Vertical (upright spine) e.g. gibbon

    = Human Locomotion
    * Bipedal savanna-runners
    have horizontal spines
    = kangaroo, ostrich

    * Vertical + Bipedal
    = human, gibbon, penguin

    Chimp & gorilla ancestors = vertical + bipedal?


    = australopithecines?
    Human-like traits in australopiths are primitive?
    (not derived-human as assumed, e.g.
    thick enamel, low pelvis, X-knees, flat feet)
    Ape & Human evolution
    Waterside Theory
    hypothetical phases - schematic

    • Hominoids “early apes” swamp/flooded forests


    • Hominids incl. australopiths vertical wading/climbing

    • Homo Pleistocene = Ice Age dispersal coasts  rivers


    • H.sapiens late-Pleistocene from wading  walking
    Homo left Africa,
    not running over open plains
    = far-fetched fantasy.

    Homo followed
    African & Eurasian coasts & rivers
    = Littoral Theory.
    Google
    • Australopiths = African ape ancestors 2017

    • not Homo but Pan naledi 2017

    • original econiche Homo

    • Attenborough Schagatay Brenna reply

    • unproven assumptions so-called aquatic ape hypothesis

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