Visites insolites du CNRS à Palevoprim
and on a proboscidean femur shaft.
Références
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Baquedano, E., Moclán, A., Uribelarrea, D., Corre-Cano, J. A., Diez-Martin, F., … & Mabulla, A. (2026). Earliest evidence of elephant butchery at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) reveals the evolutionary impact of early human megafaunal exploitation. eLife, 14, RP108298. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.108298.5 – hal-05560818
Early Paleocene siluroid catfish from Bolivia and its evolutionary and paleogeographic importance
he role of megafaunal exploitation in early human evolution remains debated. Occasional use of large carcasses by early hominins has been considered by some as opportunistic, possibly a fallback dietary strategy, and for others a more important survival strategy.
At Olduvai Gorge, evidence for megafaunal butchery is scarce in the Oldowan of Bed I but becomes more frequent and widespread after 1.8 Ma in Bed II, coinciding with the emergence of Acheulean technologies, but not functionally related to the main Acheulian tool types.
Here, we present the earliest direct evidence of proboscidean butchery, including a newly documented elephant butchery site (EAK).
This shift in behavior is accompanied by larger, more complex occupation sites, signaling a profound ecological and technological transformation.
Rather than opportunistic scavenging, these findings suggest a strategic adaptation to megafaunal resources, with implications for early human subsistence and social organization.
The ability to systematically exploit large prey represents a unique evolutionary trajectory, with no direct modern analogue, since modern foragers do so only episodically.
Août 2026
Publication American Journal of Biological Anthropology
Août 2026
Publication Journal of Human Evolution
18 juillet 2026
Article de presse Midi Libre sur la conférence à Villeveyrac
21-22 Juillet 2026
2ème Colloque de paléoanthropologie au Tchad
Juillet 2026
Publication Palaeoworld
