Ecological background to Plio-Pleistocene hominin occupation in North Africa: the vertebrate faunas from Ain Boucherit, Ain Hanech and El-Kherba, and paleosol stable-carbon-isotope studies from El-Kherba, Algeria

In contrast to well-studied paleoenvironments of Plio-Pleistocene hominin sites in East Africa, little is known about the ecology of the earliest North African human occupation sites. The recent studies at Ain Hanech and El-Kherba in northeastern Algeria have broadened the range of Plio-Pleistocene hominin ecology to include the earliest known archaeological sites documented in North Africa. Ain Hanech and El-Kherba are significant for yielding savanna-like faunas associated with Oldowan stone tools dated back to approximately 1.8 million years ago. This paper focuses on reconstructing the ecology of Ain Hanech and El-Kherba based on excavated faunas and stable carbon isotope of pedogenic carbonates from El-Kherba stratigraphic profile. The results point out to an overall open paleolandscape and a C3 predominantly paleovegetation both woody and grasses. In addition, the stable-carbon-isotopic evidence shows a clear environmental change through time at El-Kherba, which likely impacted hominin foraging activities in level A.