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Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence pp 1–24Cite as

Approaches to the analysis of faunal change during the East African Pliocene

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Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series ((VERT))

Vertebrate faunas provide important evidence for the ecological context of evolving hominins over a wide range of scales, from site-specific analysis of taxa directly associated with hominin fossils to faunal trends indicating longterm environmental change that could have affected human evolution. The foundation for all such paleoecological interpretations consists of fossil specimens in their original geological context. Study of fossils in context generates a body of “first-order” evidence consisting of taxonomic identifications of specimens and placement of these taxa in a time/space continuum. Analysis of first-order faunal data in light of additional evidence about taphonomy, sedimentology, geochemistry, and ecomorphology generates a body of “second-order” interpretations. These require additional assumptions and result in evidence for the ecological attributes of a taxon, its habitat, and its temporal and spatial relationships to other taxa. Both first- and second-order data sets can be examined for larger-scale patterns across space and through time. The validity of inferences relating faunal evidence to the ecology of a hominin species requires an additional step, i.e., careful consideration of exactly how the faunal information relates spatially and temporally to hominin remains and archeological sites. Examples of different approaches to using faunal information to infer paleoenvironmental contexts, paleoecological relationships, and long-term ecological trends highlight major issues in faunal analysis and how these relate to understanding the ecological context of human evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The University of Georgia, 30602-1619, Athens, GA, USA

    René Bobe

  2. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Zeresenay Alemseged

  3. Department of Paleobiology and Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, Smithsonian Institution, 37102, 20013-7012, Washington, DC, USA

    Anna K. Behrensmeyer

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The University of Georgia, 30602-1619, Athens, GA, USA

    René Bobe

  2. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Zeresenay Alemseged

  3. Department of Paleobiology and Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, Smithsonian Institution, 37102, 20013-7012, Washington, DC, USA

    Anna K. Behrensmeyer

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Bobe, R., Alemseged, Z., Behrensmeyer, A.K. (2007). Approaches to the analysis of faunal change during the East African Pliocene. In: Bobe, R., Alemseged, Z., Behrensmeyer, A.K. (eds) Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3098-7_1

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