Hansford, J;
Wright, PC;
Rasoamiaramanana, A;
Pérez, VR;
Godfrey, LR;
Errickson, D;
Thompson, T;
(2018)
Early Holocene human presence in Madagascar evidenced by exploitation of avian megafauna.
Science Advances
, 4
(9)
, Article eaat6925. 10.1126/sciadv.aat6925.
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Abstract
Previous research suggests that people first arrived on Madagascar by ~2500 years before present (years B.P.). This hypothesis is consistent with butchery marks on extinct lemur bones from ~2400 years B.P. and perhaps with archaeological evidence of human presence from ~4000 years B.P. We report >10,500-year-old human-modified bones for the extinct elephant birds Aepyornis and Mullerornis, which show perimortem chop marks, cut marks, and depression fractures consistent with immobilization and dismemberment. Our evidence for anthropogenic perimortem modification of directly dated bones represents the earliest indication of humans in Madagascar, predating all other archaeological and genetic evidence by >6000 years and changing our understanding of the history of human colonization of Madagascar. This revision of Madagascar’s prehistory suggests prolonged human-faunal coexistence with limited biodiversity loss.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Early Holocene human presence in Madagascar evidenced by exploitation of avian megafauna |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.aat6925 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat6925 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10052571 |
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