Research Digest: How do humans adapt to changing environmental conditions?

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“….it is well-accepted that Neanderthals appear to be the most cold-adapted of known fossil hominin groups; however, there are still many unknowns. There is a great deal yet to be uncovered about the nature and manifestation of Neanderthal adaptation and how the synergy of biology and culture helped buffer them against extreme and variable environments.” - Evolutionary Anthropology 2021




Starting in 1970, April 22nd is designated as “Earth Day” and is meant to be a day we celebrate and engage in activities related to earth and its inhabitants. Anthropologists are interested in studying all things related to human activity, its impact, interaction and the ramification of global climate change on human life. 


Recently a study from a team of researchers at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology asked a related question - Was one of our close hominid relatives, namely Neanderthals really as adapted to life in the cold as has been previously assumed, or did they prefer more temperate environmental conditions during the last Ice Age?


The researchers used a multidisciplinary approach combining methods from archeology, luminescence dating techniques, studying sediments and micro-morphology along with analyzing pollen and phytoliths to create a window into the environmental history that allowed them to explore the relationship between human presence and the changing climate conditions in northern Germany - an area with numerous Neanderthal sites.


"In Lichtenberg, we have now succeeded in dating quite accurately the end of a pronounced warm phase -- the so-called Brörup Interstadial -- to 90,000 years," Hein adds. "Thus, the cooling of the continent would have coincided with the climate change in the Greenland ice and the North Atlantic. A direct coupling had so far only been suspected -- but not proven -- for northern Germany." Source - Science Daily


The study finds evidence that supports the presence of Neanderthals in a relatively temperate climate including tools suggestive of a range of activities such as woodworking and plant processing to a time about 70,000 years ago, proving that Neanderthals had indeed inhabited the regions in northern Germany even during last Ice Age that was previously unknown.


These and other findings add to the growing body of knowledge that our hominid relatives, Neanderthals, showed signs of flexible adaptation to the changes in environmental conditions by adapting the tools to survive the climate changes in northern Central Europe.



References : 


https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21894

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220426101653.htm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379122001500?via%3Dihub


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