Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: A case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality

Journal of Human Evolution

Volumn 36, Issue 6, 1999, Pages 705-718

  Sponheimer, Matt ^a,b   Reed, Kaye E ^c,d   Lee Thorp, Julia A ^b  

^a RUTGERS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^c ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBON; DIET; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; PALEOECOLOGY;

MAKAPANSGAT LIMEWORKS; NORTHERN PROVINCE; SOUTH AFRICA;

HOMO SAPIENS;

EID: 0033150521     PISSN: 00472484     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0300     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Ambrose, S. H. & Norr, L. (1993). Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate. In (J. B. Lambert & G. Grupe, Eds) Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level, Pp. 1-37. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
2. Brain, C. K. (1981). The Hunters or the Hunted? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3. Brock, A., McFadden, P.L. & Partridge, T. C. (1977). Preliminary palaeomagnetic results from Makapansgat and Swartkrans. Nature 266, 249-250.
4. Cerling, T. E., Harris, J. M., Macfadden, B. J., Leakey, M. G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V. & Ehleringer, J. R. (1997). Global vegetation change through the miocene/pliocene boundary. Nature 389, 153-158.
5. Coppens, Y. (1975). Evolution des hominides et de leur environnement au cours du Plio-Pléistocène dans la basse vallee de l'omo en Ethiopie. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 281, 1693-1696.
6. Dart, R. A. (1925). Australopithecus africanus: The man-ape of South Africa. Nature 115, 195-199.
7. Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man. New York: Modern Library.
8. Deines, P. (1980). The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon. In (P. Fritz & J. C. Fontes, Eds) Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, Pp. 329-406. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
9. Delson, E. (1984). Cercopithecid biochronology of the African plio-pleistocene: Correlation among eastern and southern hominid-bearing localities. Cour. Forsch. Inst. Seckenberg 69, 199-218.
10. DeNiro, M. J. & Epstein, S. (1978). Carbon isotopic evidence for different feeding patterns in two hyrax species occupying the same habitat. Science 201, 906-908.
11. Estes, R. D. (1991). The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Berkeley: University of California Press.
12. Fleagle, J. G. (1999). Primate Adaptation and Evolution. 2nd Edition. New York: Academic Press.
13. Gentry, A. W. (1970). The bovidae (mammalia) of the fort Ternan fossil fauna. In (L. S. B. Leakey & R. J. G. Savage, Eds) Fossil Vertebrates of Africa, Vol. 2, pp. 243-323. London: Academic Press.
14. Harris, J. M. & White, T. D. (1979). Evolution of the plio-pleistocene African suidae. Trans Am. Phil. Soc. 69, 1-128.
15. Harris, J. M. (1991). Koobi Fora Research Project, Vol. 3. The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Paleoenvironments. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
16. Hofmann, R. R. & Stewart, D. R. M. (1972). A classification based on the stomach structure and feeding habits of East African ruminants. Mammalia 36, 226-240.
17. Howell, F. C. (1978). Hominidae. In (V. J. Maglio & H. B. S. Cooke, Eds) Evolution of African Mammals, Pp. 154-248. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
18. Hylander, W. L. (1975). Incisor size and diet in anthropoids with special reference to Cercopithecoidea. Science 189, 1095-1098.
19. Janis, C. M. (1988). An estimation of tooth volume and hypsodonty indices in ungulate mammals, and the correlation of these factors with dietary preference. In (D. E. Russell, J. Santoro & D. Sigogneau-Russell, Eds) Teeth Revisited: Proceedings of the Viith International Symposium on Dental Morphology, Paris, 1986. Mem. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. 53, 367-387.
20. Kappelman, J. (1984). Plio-pleistocene environments of bed I and lower bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 48, 171-196.
21. Kappelman, J., Plummer, T., Bishop, L., Duncan, A. & Appleton, S. (1997). Bovids as indicators of plio-pleistocene paleoenvironments in east Africa. J. Hum. Evol. 32, 229-256.
22. Kingdon, J. (1982). East African Mammals, Vols. IIIC & IIID. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
23. Kingdon, J. (1997). The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. New York: Academic Press.
24. Lee-Thorp, J. A. (1989). Stable Carbon Isotopes in Deep Time: The Diets of Fossil Fauna and Hominids. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cape Town.
25. Lee-Thorp, J. A. & van der Merwe, N. J. (1991). Aspects of the chemistry of modern and fossil biological apatites. J. Archaeol. Sci. 18, 343-354.
26. Lee-Thorp, J. A., Sealy, J. C. & van der Merwe, N. J. (1989). Stable carbon istope ratio differences between bone collagen and bone apatite, and their relationship to diet. J. Archaeol. Sci. 16, 585-599.
27. Lee-Thorp, J. A., Manning, L. & Sponheimer, M. (1997). Exploring problems and opportunities offered by down-scaling sample sizes for carbon isotope analyses of fossils. Bull. Soc. Geol. France 168, 767-773.
28. Lewis, M. E. (1997). Carnivoran paleoguilds of Africa: Implications for hominid food procurement strategies. J. Hum. Evol. 32, 257-288.
29. MacFadden, B. J. & Shockey, B. J. (1997). Ancient feeding ecology and niche differentiation of pleistocene mammalian herbivores from Tarija, Bolivia: Morphological and isotopic evidence. Paleobiol. 23, 77-100.
30. McFadden, P. L., Brock, A. & Partridge, T. C. (1979). Paleomagnetism and the age of the Makapansgat hominid site. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 44, 373-382.
31. Nowak, R. M. & Walker, E. P. (1991). Mammals Of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
32. Plummer, T. W. & Bishop, L. C. (1994). Hominid paleoecology at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania as indicated by antelope remains. J. Hum. Evol. 27, 47-75.
33. Potts, R. (1996). Evolution and climate variability. Science 273, 922-923.
34. Quade, J., Cerling, T. E., Barry, J. C., Morgan, M. E., Pilbeam, D. R., Chivas, A. R., Lee-Thorp, J. A. & van der Merwe, N. J. (1992). A 16-Ma record of paleodiet using carbon and oxygen isotopes in fossil teeth from Pakistan. Chemical Geology (Isotope Geoscience Section) 94, 183-192.
35. Reed, K. E. (1996). The Paleoecology of Makapansgat and Other African plio-pleistocene Hominid Localities. Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
36. Reed, K. E. (1997). Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African plio-pleistocene. J. Hum. Evol. 32, 289-322.
37. Reed, K. E. (1998). Using large mammal communities to examine ecological and taxonomic organization and predict vegetation in extant and extinct assemblages. Paleobiol. 32, 384-408.
38. Robinson, J. T. (1963). Adaptive radiation in the australopithecines and the origin of man. In (F. C. Howell & F. Bourliere, Eds) African Ecology and Human Evolution, Pp. 385-416. Chicago: Aldine.
39. Rosenberger, A. (1992). Evolution of feeding niches in new world monkeys. Am. J. Phys. Anthrop. 88, 525-562.
40. Shipman, P. & Harris, J. M. (1988). Habitat preference and paleoecology of Australopithecus boisei in Eastern Africa. In (F. E. Grine, Ed.) The Evolutionary History of the "Robust" Australopithecines, Pp. 343-381. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
41. 12C ratios for higher plants. Plant Physiol. 47, 380-384.
42. Solounias, N. & Dawson-Saunders, B. (1988). Dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the late miocene ruminants from Pikermi and Samos in Greece. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 65, 149-172.
43. Spencer, L. M. (1995a). Antelopes and Grasslands: Reconstructing African Hominid Environments. Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
44. Spencer, L. M. (1995b). Morphological correlates of dietary resource partitioning in the African bovidae. J. Mammal. 76, 448-471.
45. Spencer, L. M. (1997). Dietary adaptations of plio-pleistocene bovidae: Implications for hominid habitat use. J. Hum. Evol. 32, 201-228.
46. Spinage, C. A. (1986). The Natural History of Antelopes. Beckenham: Croom Helm.
47. Sponheimer, M. & Lee-Thorp, J. A. (1999). Isotopic evidence for the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus. Science 283, 368-370.
48. Sponheimer, M. & Lee-Thorp, J. A. (1999). The alteration of enamel carbonate environments during fossilisation. J. Archaeol. Sci. (in press).
49. Stanley, S. M. (1992). An ecological theory for the origin of Homo. Paleobiol. 18, 237-257.
50. Tobias, P. V. (1991). The environmental background of hominid emergence and the appearance of the genus Homo. Hum. Evol. 6, 129-142.
51. Van Valkenburgh, B. (1987). Skeletal indicators of locomotor behavior in living and extinct carnivores. J. Vert. Paleontol. 7, 162-182.
52. Vogel, J. C., Fuls, A. & Ellis, R. P. (1978). The geographical distribution of kranz grasses in South Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 74, 209-215.
53. Vrba, E. S. (1980). The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. In (A. K. Behrensmeyer & A. P. Hill, Eds) Fossils in the Making, Pp. 247-272. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
54. Vrba, E. S. (1982). Biostratigraphy and chronology, based particularly on bovidae, of southern hominid-associated assemblages: Makapansgat, Sterkfontein, Taung, Kromdraai, Swartkrans; and also Elandsfontein (Saldanha), Broken Hill (not Kabwe) and cave of hearths. Proc. of 1st Inter. Congr. Hum. Palaeont. 2, 707-752.
55. Vrba, E. S. (1985). Ecological and adaptive changes associated with early hominid evolution. In (E. Delson, Ed.) Ancestors: The Hard Evidence, Pp. 63-71. New York: Alan R. Liss.
56. Vrba, E. S. (1987). A revision of the bovini (bovidae) and a preliminary revised checklist of bovidae from Makapansgat. Palaeontol. Afr. 26, 33-46.
57. Wang, Y. & Cerling, T. (1994). A model of fossil tooth and bone diagenesis: Implications for paleodiet reconstruction from stable isotopes. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 107, 281-289.
58. Wells, L. H. II & Cooke, H. B. S. (1956). Fossil bovidae from the limeworks quarry, Makapansgat, Potgietersrust. Palaeontol. Afr. 4, 1-55.
59. WoldeGabriel, G., White, T. D., Suwa, G., Renne, P., de Heinzelin, J., Hart, W. K. & Heiken, G. (1994). Ecological and temporal placement of early pliocene hominids at Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 371, 330-333.