Climate Change Influenced Early Modern Human Occupation of Moroccan Caves, Say Scientists

Study suggests prehistoric human occupation in the Témara caves of coastal Morocco fluctuated with wet and dry periods. 

El Harhoura 2 (Temara, Morocco). Photo: s1.zetaboards.com/anthroscape

A central consideration related to prehistoric human settlement of coastal areas worldwide has revolved around climate change. In a paper published online on October 3 in the Journal of Human Evolution, Emilie Campmas of the Université de Bordeaux and colleagues suggest that early modern humans who occupied caves in the Témara region near the coast of Northern Morocco came and went, at least in terms of the intensity of their occupation, in correlation with major shifts in the climate of the region.

"The study area was selected for two main reasons," write the study authors in their report abstract. "First, it contains numerous caves with Upper Pleistocene deposits, which have yielded remains of anatomically modern humans in association with Aterian and Iberomaurusian artifacts. Second, these caves are currently located on the shore, thus this region is particularly sensitive to major climate change and sea level fluctuations." [...] popular-archaeology.com

Reference:  Emilie Campmas, Patrick Michel, Sandrine Costamagno, Fethi Amani, Emmanuelle Stoetzel, Roland Nespoulet, Mohamed Abdeljalil El Hajraoui, Were Upper Pleistocene human/non-human predator occupations at the Témara caves (El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra, Morocco) influenced by climate change?, Journal of Human Evolution, 2014, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.08.008