Climate-driven habitat shifts of high-ranked prey species structure Late Upper Paleolithic hunting

Abstract

Changing climates in the past affected both human and faunal population distributions, thereby structuring human diets, demography, and cultural evolution. Yet, separating the effects of climate-driven and human-induced changes in prey species abundances remains challenging, particularly during the Late Upper Paleolithic, a period marked by rapid climate change and marked ecosystem transformation. To disentangle the effects of climate and hunter-gatherer populations on animal prey species during the period, we synthesize disparate paleoclimate records, zooarchaeological data, and archaeological data using ecological methods and theory to test to what extent climate and anthropogenic impacts drove broad changes in human subsistence observed in the Late Upper Paleolithic zooarchaeological records. We find that the observed changes in faunal assemblages during the European Late Upper Paleolithic are consistent with climate-driven animal habitat shifts impacting the natural abundances of high-ranked prey species on the landscape rather than human-induced resource depression. The study has important implications for understanding how past climate change impacted and structured the diet and demography of human populations and can serve as a baseline for considerations of resilience and adaptation in the present.

Mechanisms of hunting native megafauna to extinction by Palaeolithic humans on Cyprus

“…On the other hand, when the palaeontological record suggests an extinction event occurred well before inferred human arrival, the assumed mechanism underlying the extinction tends to be environmental change. Here, proxy data indicating large climatological fluctuations 17 or via species distributions derived from climate niche models 13 in the period immediately before inferred extinction tend to be the basis for conclusions that environmental change drove regional extinctions of large terrestrial species.…”

“…Explanations for the global extinction of hundreds of large terrestrial species during the late Quaternary 1 have matured from relying on simple binary drivers, to a more nuanced demonstration of synergistic mechanisms varying across taxa and regions [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . However, temporal variation in species composition inferred from the zooarchaeological record is still often attributed either to (i) changing environmental conditions altering natural abundances, (ii) humans depleting populations through subsistence offtake, or (iii) a combination of the two [10][11][12][13] . Yet, the relative contribution of these two mechanisms and/or their combination to the loss of megafauna during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene are still largely examined based on inferred chronologies of relative human appearance and megafauna extinctions 5,8,14 .…”

Hunting with dogs: a synthesis of ethnohistorical data and discussion of their implications for prehistoric subsistence in New Guinea

“…The 'everyday' subsistence base itself may be dominated by much smaller animals that can be obtained with lower energetic search and pursuit costs, particularly if they are locally abundant and can be harvested in relatively large numbers (Jones & Hurley, 2017;Morin et al, 2022). Whether the foraging reality fits size-based predictions appears to be contingent on numerous factors, including the array of game species present and their respective Hunting with dogs abundances, the available hunting technologies, and relative demands exerted by human demography (Yaworsky et al, 2023). Applications of OFT to archaeological assemblages in some settings support size-based predictions of taxonomic abundances (e.g., Broughton et al, 2011) but in others indicate more marked preferences for smaller animals (e.g., Stiner et al, 2000).…”

Consistency in Verreaux's sifaka home range and core area size despite seasonal variation in resource availability as assessed by Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)

“…Exploitative resource depression occurs when (1) animals effectively lower the encounter rate of their own prey (or other resources) through consumption, or (2) a second predator reduces prey/resource encounter rate (e.g., loss of trees to extraction or forest‐clearing by humans through human‐induced resource depression) (Charnov, 1976). Similarly, climate‐induced resource depression may be characterized by prey/resource loss due to climatic events (e.g., tree loss due to windfall from cyclones or fire) or by habitat shifts to more suitable conditions (Yaworsky et al, 2023). Likewise, seasonal resource depression (or ecological depression sensu Betts & Friesen, 2006) is a reduction in prey/resource availability in response to variable environmental conditions (Alerstam et al, 2003; Bliege Bird & Bird, 2021; Owen‐Smith, 2011; Sefczek et al, 2020).…”