Abstract
The resource-poor, isolated islands of Wallacea have been considered a major adaptive
obstacle for hominins expanding into Australasia. Archaeological evidence has hinted that
coastal adaptations in Homo sapiens enabled rapid island dispersal and settlement; however,
there has been no means to directly test this proposition. Here, we apply stable carbon and
oxygen isotope analysis to human and faunal tooth enamel from six Late Pleistocene to
Holocene archaeological sites across Wallacea. The results demonstrate that the earliest
human forager found in the region c. 42,000 years ago made significant use of coastal
resources prior to subsequent niche diversification shown for later individuals. We argue that
our data provides clear insights into the huge adaptive flexibility of our species, including its
ability to specialize in the use of varied environments, particularly in comparison to other
hominin species known from Island Southeast Asia.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2068 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |