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Human Paleontology and Prehistory pp 31–44Cite as

The Paleoecology of the Upper Ndolanya Beds, Laetoli, Tanzania, and Its Implications for Hominin Evolution

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Abstract

Evidence from the Pliocene hominin site of Laetoli in northern Tanzania demonstrates that there was a taxonomic turnover of the mammalian fauna between the Upper Laetolil Beds (3.6–3.85 Ma) and the Upper Ndolanya Beds (2.66 Ma). Paranthropus aethiopicus was one of the novel species that appeared locally as part of the restructured fauna. This turnover coincides with a major climatic shift at ~2.8–2.5 Ma, which had an important impact on the local environment and the composition of the faunal community. Investigation of the paleoecology of the Upper Ndolanya Beds provides critical evidence about how the vegetation and fauna at Laetoli, including the hominins, responded to these environmental changes. The preponderance of alcelaphin bovids and the reduced frequency of browsing ungulates, in conjunction with evidence from ecomorphology, mesowear and stable isotopes, indicate that the Upper Ndolanya Beds sample drier habitats with a greater proportion of grasslands compared with the earlier Upper Laetolil Beds. However, paleoecological inferences based on ostrich eggshells, rodents, and terrestrial gastropods present a more complicated picture, indicating instead that Upper Ndolanya habitats were more mesic and dominated by dense woodlands. Such confounding results can be reconciled as a consequence of the differential impact of climatic and environmental change on a global, regional and local scale.

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Acknowledgements

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge the remarkable influence that Yoel Rak’s pioneering and seminal research has had on the study of human evolution. Several generations of students and scholars of paleoanthropology, myself included, have been profoundly influenced by his landmark contributions to hominin morphology and paleobiology. I extend my warmest appreciation, gratitude and congratulations to Yoel for his many outstanding and important scientific contributions and for being such a wonderful and supportive colleague. I thank Assaf Marom and Erella Hovers for the invitation to contribute to this honorary volume. I would also like to acknowledge the following colleagues for helping to shape the research and ideas presented here (although none should be held responsible for the final outcome): Peter Andrews, Christiane Denys, Mikael Fortelius, Alan Gentry, John Kingston, Thomas Kaiser, Kris Kovarovic, Amandus Kwekason, Chris Robinson, and William Sanders. Denise Su deserves special thanks for her valuable discussions about many of the themes presented in this paper. The manuscript benefited from the wisdom and critical comments of three anonymous reviewers. Research in Tanzania was granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, the Department of Antiquities, and the National Museum of Tanzania. I am grateful to the following institutions and their staff for access to the fossil and skeletal collections in their care: National Museum of Tanzania, National Museum of Kenya, American Museum of Natural History and The Natural History Museum, London. The National Geographic Society, the Leakey Foundation and NSF (Grants BCS-0309513, BCS-0216683 and BSC 1350023) provided funding.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Center for the Study of Human Origins, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Terry Harrison

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  1. Department of Anatomy & Anthropolog, Tel-Aviv University Department of Anatomy & Anthropolog, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Assaf Marom

  2. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology, Jerusalem, Israel

    Erella Hovers

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Harrison, T. (2017). The Paleoecology of the Upper Ndolanya Beds, Laetoli, Tanzania, and Its Implications for Hominin Evolution. In: Marom, A., Hovers, E. (eds) Human Paleontology and Prehistory. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46646-0_4

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