Discontinuity of human presence at Atapuerca during the early Middle Pleistocene: a matter of ecological competition?

ABSTRACT: Increasing evidence suggests that the European human settlement is older than 1.2 Ma. However, there is a fierce debate about the continuity or discontinuity of the early human settlement of Europe. In particular, evidence of human presence in the interval 0.7-0.5 Ma is scarce in comparison with evidence for the previous and later periods. Here, we present a case study in which the environmental conditions at Sierra de Atapuerca in the early Middle Pleistocene, a period without evidence of human presence, are compared with the conditions in the previous period, for which a relatively intense human occupation is documented. With this objective in mind, the available resources for a human population and the intensity of competition between secondary consumers during the two periods are compa

SUBMITTER: Rodriguez-Gomez G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4114206 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature