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Africa from MIS 6-2 pp 233–245Cite as

Environmental Change, Ungulate Biogeography, and Their Implications for Early Human Dispersals in Equatorial East Africa

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Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

To better understand the potential role of environmental change in mediating human dispersals across equatorial East Africa, this study examines the biogeographic histories of ungulates, including a summary of current knowledge and fossil evidence stemming from our fieldwork in the Kenyan portion of the Lake Victoria basin. Phylogeographic and paleontological evidence indicates that vegetation changes across Quaternary climate cycles mediated ungulate distributions and dispersals via the opening and closing of biogeographic barriers in equatorial East Africa. Dispersal capabilities would have been enhanced during phases of grassland expansion and diminished during phases of grassland contraction. We propose that the distribution and dispersal of diagnostic technological markers in the archaeological record may be similarly influenced by environmental changes. The Middle Stone Age record from the Lake Victoria region provides intriguing examples of possible environmentally mediated technological dispersals.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sacha Jones and Brian Stewart for inviting us to contribute to this volume and the many collaborators who have worked with us in the Lake Victoria basin, including Emily Beverly, Nick Blegen, Steve Driese, David Fox, Niki Garrett, Zenobia Jacobs, Kirsten Jenkins, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Cara Roure Johnson, Kieran McNulty, Sheila Nightingale, David Patterson, and Alex Van Plantinga. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and Sally Reynolds (reviewer) for helpful comments on a previous version of this chapter. Fieldwork was conducted under research permits NCST/RCD/12B/012/31 issued to JTF and NCST/5/002/R/576 issued to CAT and an exploration and excavation license issued by the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). Our fieldwork is made possible through the support of the NMK and the British Institute in East Africa and with financial support from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0841530, BCS-1013199, BCS-1013108), the Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the University of Queensland, New York University, and Baylor University. Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support of Cornel Faith, Rhonda Kauffman, Violet Tryon, and Sholly Gunter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Science, Archaeology Program, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

    J. Tyler Faith

  2. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Christian A. Tryon

  3. Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Group, Department of Geology, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76706, USA

    Daniel J. Peppe

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, McDonald Inst. for Archaeological Rsch, United Kingdom

    Sacha C. Jones

  2. University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA

    Brian A. Stewart

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Faith, J.T., Tryon, C.A., Peppe, D.J. (2016). Environmental Change, Ungulate Biogeography, and Their Implications for Early Human Dispersals in Equatorial East Africa. In: Jones, S., Stewart, B. (eds) Africa from MIS 6-2. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_13

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