title: Pleistocene footprints show intensive use of lake margin habitats by Homo erectus groups.
abstract: Reconstructing hominin paleoecology is critical for understanding our ancestors' diets, social organizations and interactions with other animals. Most paleoecological models lack fine-scale resolution due to fossil hominin scarcity and the time-averaged accumulation of faunal assemblages. Here we present data from 481 fossil tracks from northwestern Kenya, including 97 hominin footprints attributed to Homo erectus. These tracks are found in multiple sedimentary layers spanning approximately 20 thousand years. Taphonomic experiments show that each of these trackways represents minutes to no more than a few days in the lives of the individuals moving across these paleolandscapes. The geology and associated vertebrate fauna place these tracks in a deltaic setting, near a lakeshore bordered by open grasslands. Hominin footprints are disproportionately abundant in this lake margin environment, relative to hominin skeletal fossil frequency in the same deposits. Accounting for preservation bias, this abundance of hominin footprints indicates repeated use of lakeshore habitats by Homo erectus. Clusters of very large prints moving in the same direction further suggest these hominins traversed this lakeshore in multi-male groups. Such reliance on near water environments, and possibly aquatic-linked foods, may have influenced hominin foraging behavior and migratory routes across and out of Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA.
authors.forename: Neil T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Roach
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Hatala
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Ostrofsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada - Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Villmoare
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA.
authors.forename: John W K
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Paleobiology, MRC: NHB 121, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia 20013-7012, USA.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Behrensmeyer
authors.affiliation: Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA.|Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Brian G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Richmond
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D049628:Body Size; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya