climate change about human evolution Whether it has any effect has been a question that has long puzzled scientists. Now, in a study by an international team of scientists, there is a connection between astronomical climate change and human evolution. a link clear evidence found.

The team of climate modellers, anthropologists and ecologists has combined the most comprehensive database of relatively accurate fossil remains and archaeological artifacts with an unprecedented new supercomputer model that simulates the world’s last 2 million years of climate history. In this way, scientists are convinced that archaic humans are likely how under environmental conditions? could determine that he was still alive.

Environmental conditions inhabited by prehistoric humans identified

As we mentioned above; in fact, there was already a widespread belief that climate change may have affected human evolution; but climatic data near the sites of prehistoric human fossils inadequate It was difficult to determine whether this was true or not. The research team, wanting to solve this problem, also developed a computer program according to the archaeological data. in the simulations decided to investigate what the climate was like in the times and places where people lived.

As a result, it was preferred by several hominin groups, including Homo sapiens, Homo neanderhalensis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo erectus, and early African Homo. environmental conditions popped up. Based on this, the team then searched for all the places and times in the model where these conditions occurred and created maps of possible habitats of hominids that have evolved over time.

Author of the study on the subject, Director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan ​​National University in South Korea Axel Timmermann† “While different groups of archaic humans preferred different climatic environments, their habitats were all caused by astronomical changes in the wobble, tilt and orbital eccentricity of the Earth’s axis. to climate changes It responded on time scales ranging from 21 to 400,000 years. the expressions used.

Groups of hominids were found to differ significantly from each other in their preferred habitats.

To test the robustness of the link between climate and human habitats, the research team repeated their analysis by shuffling the ages of the fossils like a stack of papers. Past evolution of climate variables, where and when people lived unaffected if so, this would mean that both methods should lead to the same habitats.

However, the researchers used mixed and realistic fossil ages in habitat models for the three most recent hominins (Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo heidelbergensis). important differences they found out. In this regard, Timmermann “This result suggests that the actual sequence of past climate change, including glacial cycles, over at least the last 500,000 years is that of different groups of hominins. Where do you live and his remains in determining where shows that it plays a central role” included as.

The next question from the researchers is about the habitats of different human species. in terms of space and time it was not overlapping. At this point, the contact zones, provided very important information about possible species sequences and mixtures. After analyzing the contact zones, the researchers concluded that Neanderthals and possibly Denisovans descended from the Eurasian Homo heidelbergensis lineage about 500-400 thousand years ago, while the roots of Homo sapiens can be traced back to South African populations of Homo heidelbergensis about 300 thousand years ago. year ago . hominin family tree reaches.

Co-author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the IBS Center for Climate Physics, Dr. About this, Jiaoyang Ruan said: “Our climate-based reconstructions of hominid lineages are based on recent estimates of genetic data or analysis of morphological differences in human fossils. very similarwhich increases our confidence in the results” the expressions used.

“We are where we are now because we have managed to adapt to slow changes in the climate of the past”

On the other hand, the simulation in question; The last of the world’s climate responses to the growth and decline of ice sheets and to changes in past greenhouse gas concentrations. 2 million years environmental history and 1 million years It is said to be the first continuous simulation with a state-of-the-art climate model covering for the first time the clear shift in the frequency of glacial cycles.

Co-author of the study from the University of Zurich, Prof. Christoph Zollikofer is“Until now, the paleoanthropology community has not exploited the full potential of such continuous simulations of paleoclimate models. Our work clearly demonstrates the value of well-validated climate models in addressing fundamental questions about our human origins.” listed as.

With that, the research team decided to raise the bar and move beyond the question of early human habitats and the times and places of origin of human species to look at how humans have lived over the past 2 million years. changing food sources He also addressed the question of how he might adapt. To this question, study co-author Elke Zeller, a doctoral student at Pusan ​​Ulusak University, said: “When we looked at the data on the five main hominids, we discovered an interesting pattern. About 2 million years ago, early African hominins preferred stable climatic conditions. This limited them to relatively narrow habitable corridors. After a major climate transition about 800,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergen is a group known under its umbrella, much more a wide variety of food sources It has adapted, allowing them to become world travelers and reach remote areas in Europe and East Asia.” answer in the form.

as Carpenter “Our work shows that climate has changed in the evolution of our genus Homo. base documents that it plays a role. We are where we are today because of the slow climate changes over the past millennium. To adjust we did it” He underlined that their work is evidence of the role of climate change on human evolution.