Late Pleistocene: Difference between revisions

Most of the world's large ([[megafauna]]l) animals became extinct during the Late Pleistocene as part of the [[Late Pleistocene extinctions]], a trend that continued into the Holocene. In [[palaeoanthropology]], the late Pleistocene contains the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] stage of human development, including the [[early human migrations]] of modern humans outside of Africa, and the extinction of the last remainingall [[archaic human]] species.

The Lastlast Ice Age was followed by the [[Late Glacial Interstadial]], a period of global warming to 12.9 ka, and the [[Younger Dryas]], a return to glacial conditions until 11.7 ka. [[PalaeoclimatologyPaleoclimatology]] holds that there was a sequence of [[stadial]]s and [[interstadial]]s from about 16 ka until the end of the Pleistocene. These were the [[Oldest Dryas]] (stadial), the [[Bølling oscillation]] (interstadial), the [[Older Dryas]] (stadial), the [[Allerød oscillation]] (interstadial) and finally the Younger Dryas.<ref>{{cite encyclopaedia |url=http://people.oregonstate.edu/~carlsand/carlson_encyclopedia_Quat_2013_YD.pdf |encyclopaedia=Encyclopaedia of Quaternary Science |year=2013 |volume=3 |pages=126–134 |first=A. E. |last=Carlson |publisher=Elsevier |title=The Younger Dryas Climate Event}}</ref>

The end of the Younger Dryas marks the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. ManHominids in all parts of the world waswere still culturally and technologically in the [[Palaeolithic|Palaeolithic (Old Stone) Age]]. Tools and weapons were basic stone or wooden implements. [[Nomad|Nomadic tribes]] followed moving herds. Non-nomadics acquired their food by [[Hunter-gatherer|gathering and hunting]].{{sfn|Bronowski|1973|pp=59–60}}

Due to the geological location of [[Africa]] and its landmass of over 30 million <chem>km^2</chem>, it was able to support the spread of large terrestrial mammals, some of which has survived to this day. Africa plays a huge role in understanding human [[evolution]] and modern environments. This is where [[human evolution]] and the origins of modern humans were found. due to its warm and dry atmosphere rainfall patterns is what largely determines the vegetation patterns. Its present physical geography and climate hashave undergone changeschanged over time caused by the movement of [[tectonic plates]] and volcanoes but [[glacial cycle]]s and sea level variation ishave a more significant effect on the [[vertebrate]] communities during the '''Late Pleistocene'''.<ref name=":003">{{Citation |last=Steele |first=T.E. |title=VERTEBRATEVertebrate RECORDSRecords {{!}} Late Pleistocene of Africa |date=2013 |workencyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science |pages=664–672 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780444536433002478 |access-date=2024-03-17 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-444-53643-3.00247-8 |isbn=978-0-444-53642-6}}</ref>

[[File:Nazlet_Khater_Skeleton_from_above.jpg|thumb|image of Nazlet Khater skeleton found in Upper Egypt showing early human culture dating back to aproximatelyapproximately 30-40 Ka]]

The only domesticated animal in the Pleistocene was the [[dog]], which evolved from the [[wolf|grey wolf]] into its many modern [[dog breeds|breeds]]. It is believed that the grey wolf became associated with hunter-gatherer tribes around 15 kaKa.<ref name="PAD">{{cite book |doi=10.1007/13836_2018_55 |chapter=Palaeogenomics of Animal Domestication |title=Palaeogenomics |pages=225–272 |series=Population Genomics |year=2018 |author=Evan K. Irving-Pease |display-authors=etal |publisher=Springer, Cham |editor1-last=Lindqvist |editor1-first=C. |editor2-last=Rajora |editor2-first=O. |isbn=978-3-030-04752-8|chapter-url=http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/46323 }}</ref> The earliest remains of a true domestic dog have been dated to 14,200 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/13836_2018_27 |chapter=Palaeogenomic Inferences of Dog Domestication |title=Palaeogenomics |pages=273–306 |series=Population Genomics |year=2018 |author1=Olaf Thalmann |author2=Angela R. Perri |publisher=Springer, Cham |editor1-last=Lindqvist |editor1-first=C. |editor2-last=Rajora |editor2-first=O. |isbn=978-3-030-04752-8}}</ref> Domestication first happened in Eurasia but could have been anywhere from Western Europe to East Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1146/annurev-animal-022516-022747 |title=Taming the Past: Ancient DNA and the Study of Animal Domestication |journal=Annual Review of Animal Biosciences |volume=5 |year=2016 |author=David E. Machugh |display-authors=etal |pmid=27813680 |pages=329–351}}</ref> Domestication of other animals such as cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep did not begin until the Holocene when settled farming communities became established in the Near East.<ref name="PAD"/> The [[cat]] was probably not domesticated before {{Circa|7500 BC}} at the earliest, again in the [[Near East]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=C. A. Driscoll |display-authors=etal |title=The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=317 |issue=5837 |date=2007 |pages=519–523 |issn=0036-8075 |doi=10.1126/science.1139518 |pmc=5612713 |pmid=17600185 |bibcode=2007Sci...317..519D}}</ref>

In the [[North American land mammal age]] scale, the [[Rancholabrean]] spans the time from c. 240,000 years ago to c. 11,000 years ago. It is named after the [[Rancho La Brea]] fossil site in [[California]], characterisedcharacterized by extinct forms of [[bison]] in association with other Pleistocene species such as the [[mammoth]].<ref>A. E. Sanders, R. E. Weems & L. B. Albright III (2009). ''Formalization of the mid-Pleistocene "Ten Mile Hill beds" in South Carolina with evidence for placement of the Irvingtonian-Rancholabrean boundary''. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin (64:369–375).</ref><ref>D. E. Savage (1951). ''Late Cenozoic vertebrates of the San Francisco Bay region''. University of California Publications; Bulletin of the Department of Geological Sciences (28:215–314).</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Bell, C. J. |year=2004 |chapter=The Blancan, Irvingtonian, and Rancholabrean mammal ages |title=Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North America: Biostratigraphy and Geochronology |editor=Woodburne, M. O. |pages=232–314 |location=New York | publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-13040-6}}</ref>[[File:Skull of the Bison occidentalis.jpg|thumb|right|''Bison occidentalis'' skull at the [[Cleveland Museum of Natural History]].]]During the Late Pleistocene about 35 genera of [[megafauna]] went extinct including species such as [[mastodon]]s, [[Machairodontinae|saber-toothed cats]] and [[Megatherium|giant ground sloths]]. Some other species went extinct in [[North America]] but not globally. it is still{{when|date=April 2024}} heavily debated{{whom|date=April 2024}} what caused the extinctions.

''[[Bison occidentalis]]'' and ''[[Bison antiquus]]'', an extinct subspecies of the smaller present-day bison, survived the late Pleistocene period, between about 12 and 11 [[kiloannum|ka]] ago. [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] peoplespeople depended on these bison as their major food source. Earlier kills of camels, horses, and muskoxen found at [[Wally's beach]] were dated to 13.1–13.3 ka B.P.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Michael R. Waters |author2=Thomas W. Stafford Jr. |author3=Brian Kooyman |author4=L. V. Hills |title=Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free corridor: Reassessing the age of Wally's Beach, Canada |journal=[[PNAS]] |volume=112 |issue=14 |pages=4263–4267 |date=23 March 2015 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1420650112 |pmid=25831543 |pmc=4394292|bibcode=2015PNAS..112.4263W |doi-access=free }}</ref>

AOver large50 numbergenera (~ 83%) of [[megafauna]] in South and [[North America]] went extinct during the Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite Injournal North|last1=Prado |first1=José L. |last2=Martinez-Maza |first2=Cayetana |last3=Alberdi |first3=María T. |date=May 2015 |title=Megafauna extinction in South America: A new chronology for the Argentine Pampas |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018215000899 |journal=Palaeogeography, aboutPalaeoclimatology, 70%Palaeoecology of|language=en |volume=425 |pages=41–49 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.02.026}}</ref> most mega mammals weighing(>1000kg) aboutand 44&nbsp;kglarge mammals (>40kg) went extinct duringby the timeend periodof the Late Pleistocene.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Cione |first1=Alberto L. |title=Did Humans Cause the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Mammalian Extinctions in South America in a Context of 13Shrinking Open Areas? |date=2009 |work=American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene |pages=125–144 |editor-12last=Haynes k|editor-first=Gary cal|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_7 BP|access-date=2024-04-19 |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_7 |isbn=978-1-4020-8792-9 |last2=Tonni |first2=Eduardo P. |last3=Soibelzon |first3=Leopoldo}}</ref> During this period there was a major cooling event called the [[Younger Dryas|Younger dryas]] and the [[Clovis culture]] of capturing [[Game (hunting)|game]] became more prominent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prates |first1=Luciano |last2=Perez |first2=S. Ivan |date=2021-04-12 |title=Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=2175 |doi=10.1038/s41467-021-22506-4 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=8041891 |pmid=33846353|bibcode=2021NatCo..12.2175P }}</ref> Diverse factors such as climate change may have triggered this extinctionsextinction but itsit's still in debate what the major factors were.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Broughton |first1=Jack M. |last2=Weitzel |first2=Elic M. |date=2018-12-21 |title=Population reconstructions for humans and megafauna suggest mixed causes for North American Pleistocene extinctions |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=5441 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-07897-1 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=6303330 |pmid=30575758|bibcode=2018NatCo...9.5441B }}</ref>