小柯机器人

英国牛津大学Lorena Becerra-Valdivia研究小组揭示了人类最早抵达北美的时间和影响。该研究于2020年7月22日在线发表于《自然》。

研究人员使用贝叶斯年龄建模的方法分析了42个北美和白令考古遗址的计时数据，并使用由此产生的年代框架阐明了人类传播的时空模式。随后，研究人员将这些模式与可用的遗传和气候证据相结合。研究获得的数据表明，人类可能出现在末次冰盛期之前、期间和之后（大约26.5至19000年前），但是在突然变暖的格陵兰次冰期 1（大约公元2000年之前的14.7-1.29万年）开始大规模出现。

研究人员还确定了白令、克洛维斯和西方装柄传统文化的近同步起源，以及这些文化与现已灭绝18个动物属的最后出现日期存在重叠。该分析表明，人类在北美的大规模扩张是大型陆地哺乳动物灭绝的主要因素。

研究人员表示，美洲人口增长标志着人类在地球上的大规模扩张。但是，有关这种传播的时间和机制问题仍然存在，已有充足的证据对广泛认同的模型（称为“克洛维斯优先”）进行驳斥，克洛维斯优先表明美洲的第一个居民与一种复杂的克洛维斯传统有关。

附：英文原文

Title: The timing and effect of the earliest human arrivals in North America

Author: Lorena Becerra-Valdivia, Thomas Higham

Issue&Volume: 2020-07-22

Abstract: The peopling of the Americas marks a major expansion of humans across the planet. However, questions regarding the timing and mechanisms of this dispersal remain, and the previously accepted model (termed ‘Clovis-first’)—suggesting that the first inhabitants of the Americas were linked with the Clovis tradition, a complex marked by distinctive fluted lithic points1—has been effectively refuted. Here we analyse chronometric data from 42 North American and Beringian archaeological sites using a Bayesian age modelling approach, and use the resulting chronological framework to elucidate spatiotemporal patterns of human dispersal. We then integrate these patterns with the available genetic and climatic evidence. The data obtained show that humans were probably present before, during and immediately after the Last Glacial Maximum (about 26.5–19 thousand years ago)2,3 but that more widespread occupation began during a period of abrupt warming, Greenland Interstadial 1 (about 14.7–12.9 thousand years before AD 2000)4. We also identify the near-synchronous commencement of Beringian, Clovis and Western Stemmed cultural traditions, and an overlap of each with the last dates for the appearance of 18 now-extinct faunal genera. Our analysis suggests that the widespread expansion of humans through North America was a key factor in the extinction of large terrestrial mammals.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2491-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2491-6

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
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