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Science Forum Index » Anthropology - Paleo Forum » Laetoli = heavy woodland-bushland cover
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| Author |
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| Marc Verhaegen |
 Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:27 pm |
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Guest
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Bovid postcranial ecomorphological survey of the Laetoli paleoenvironment
Kris Kovarovic & Peter Andrews 2007 JHE in press
Here we report on a bovid postcranial ecomorphological survey of the fossil
assemblages from the Plio-Pleistocene site of Laetoli, Tanzania. A global
sample of extant bovids (n = 205), cervids (n = 14), and tragulids (n = 5)
from seven known habitat types constitutes the comparative data set. All
long bones, carpals, tarsals, and phalanges were measured. Discriminant
function analyses (DFA) were conducted in order to evaluate the ability of
each element to accurately predict habitat affiliation. The baseline of
chance accuracy for DFAs (i.e., the percentage of correct predictions that
can be expected when habitat assignments are randomized) served as the
cut-off point between good and bad habitat predictors. A total of 22
elements yielded percentages of correct classification over the baseline of
accuracy, and these were extended to the Laetoli fossil assemblages.
Summaries of the number of specimens predicted to belong to each habitat
type were used to reconstruct the paleoenvironment. The results indicate
that, at the time of the deposition of the Laetolil Beds, the area had heavy
woodland-bushland cover with some lighter tree and bush cover and grass
available. These results lend strong support to recent suggestions that the
area was on the more wooded end of the habitat spectrum, contra initial
conclusions that it represented a mosaic of more open habitats. The results
also indicate that, during the deposition of the Ndolanya Beds, the
environment had become more open and the grassland component of the
environment had increased significantly. Light woodland-bushland and an
abundance of grass cover dominated the landscape, although tracts of land
with denser vegetation likely existed. This conclusion agrees with earlier
suggestions that the area was a semiarid bushland. |
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