Site PP13B is a sea cave overlooking the Indian Ocean in the quartzitic coastal cliffs at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay (South Africa). Archeological evidence indicates that around 164 ka, in the midst of the Middle Stone Age, PP13B was inhabited by early modern human populations which fed on shellfish and other seafood. Pinnacle Point preserves the archeologically oldest evidences for human use of marine resources. Such a diet and habitat expansion has been interpreted as a response to the generally harsh environmental conditions which affected southern Africa during the predominantly glacial MIS 6. Among the fossil marine invertebrates recognized at Cave PP13B, an isolated whale barnacle rostrum was tentatively determined as Coronula diadema and regarded as an indirect evidence of human scavenging and consumption of a baleen whale, most likely Megaptera novaeangliae. Here we redetermine the whale barnacle plate found at PP13B as belonging to Cetopirus complanatus, an unusual but characteristic coronulid species currently known as a highly genus-specific phoront of the right whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Eubalaena spp.). This record significantly improves the most fragmentary fossil history of the genus Cetopirus and permits various paleobiological inferences. To our knowledge, the fossil whale barnacle plate from cave PP13B represents the first occurrence of the genus Cetopirus in Africa. Moreover, this record significantly expands the fossil history of C. complanatus, of about 150 ky, to the Middle Pleistocene: in fact, to this date, the geologically oldest published record of C. complanatus dated back to the Late Glacial period of southern Spain. Furthermore, the Middle Pleistocene C. complanatus specimen from Pinnacle Point partially bridges the occurrence of Cetopirus fragilis in early Pleistocene (1.95-1.73 Ma) deposits of Otranto (South Italy) to the Late Pleistocene to Recent C. complanatus record. Since C. complanatus is a strictly genus-specific phoront of the right whales, we propose that the Middle Pleistocene groups that inhabited cave PP13B fed on a stranded southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), a cetacean species which currently approaches the southern coasts of Africa in the late austral winter. Weighing up to about 50 tons (more than 40% of the body weight being possibly contributed by the thick layer of nutritionally valuable subcutaneous fat), a southern right whale should have been a fitting dinner for Pinnacle Point foragers. Some authors recently proposed that, during the Last Glacial Period, southern right whales could have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere as a response to Antarctic sea-ice expansion. In turn, the whale barnacle from cave PP13B suggests the persistence of a southern right whale population off southern South Africa during the predominantly glacial MIS 6, thus supporting the continuity of cetacean migration paths and antitropical distribution during that global cold phase. Due to their coastal habits, large size, huge abundance of blubber, and slow swimming speed, right whales have been the main target worldwide of whalers for centuries. It is therefore puzzling to note that the most ancient evidence of humans feeding on a whale involves Eubalaena, likely the most historically exploited cetacean genus, and currently still seriously threatened with extinction due to anthropic impact and poorly sustainable trade.
A fossil whale barnacle from the Middle Pleistocene human settlement of cave PP13B (Pinnacle Point, South Africa), and its paleobiological significance
Collareta A.
Primo
;
2016-01-01
Abstract
Site PP13B is a sea cave overlooking the Indian Ocean in the quartzitic coastal cliffs at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay (South Africa). Archeological evidence indicates that around 164 ka, in the midst of the Middle Stone Age, PP13B was inhabited by early modern human populations which fed on shellfish and other seafood. Pinnacle Point preserves the archeologically oldest evidences for human use of marine resources. Such a diet and habitat expansion has been interpreted as a response to the generally harsh environmental conditions which affected southern Africa during the predominantly glacial MIS 6. Among the fossil marine invertebrates recognized at Cave PP13B, an isolated whale barnacle rostrum was tentatively determined as Coronula diadema and regarded as an indirect evidence of human scavenging and consumption of a baleen whale, most likely Megaptera novaeangliae. Here we redetermine the whale barnacle plate found at PP13B as belonging to Cetopirus complanatus, an unusual but characteristic coronulid species currently known as a highly genus-specific phoront of the right whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Eubalaena spp.). This record significantly improves the most fragmentary fossil history of the genus Cetopirus and permits various paleobiological inferences. To our knowledge, the fossil whale barnacle plate from cave PP13B represents the first occurrence of the genus Cetopirus in Africa. Moreover, this record significantly expands the fossil history of C. complanatus, of about 150 ky, to the Middle Pleistocene: in fact, to this date, the geologically oldest published record of C. complanatus dated back to the Late Glacial period of southern Spain. Furthermore, the Middle Pleistocene C. complanatus specimen from Pinnacle Point partially bridges the occurrence of Cetopirus fragilis in early Pleistocene (1.95-1.73 Ma) deposits of Otranto (South Italy) to the Late Pleistocene to Recent C. complanatus record. Since C. complanatus is a strictly genus-specific phoront of the right whales, we propose that the Middle Pleistocene groups that inhabited cave PP13B fed on a stranded southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), a cetacean species which currently approaches the southern coasts of Africa in the late austral winter. Weighing up to about 50 tons (more than 40% of the body weight being possibly contributed by the thick layer of nutritionally valuable subcutaneous fat), a southern right whale should have been a fitting dinner for Pinnacle Point foragers. Some authors recently proposed that, during the Last Glacial Period, southern right whales could have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere as a response to Antarctic sea-ice expansion. In turn, the whale barnacle from cave PP13B suggests the persistence of a southern right whale population off southern South Africa during the predominantly glacial MIS 6, thus supporting the continuity of cetacean migration paths and antitropical distribution during that global cold phase. Due to their coastal habits, large size, huge abundance of blubber, and slow swimming speed, right whales have been the main target worldwide of whalers for centuries. It is therefore puzzling to note that the most ancient evidence of humans feeding on a whale involves Eubalaena, likely the most historically exploited cetacean genus, and currently still seriously threatened with extinction due to anthropic impact and poorly sustainable trade.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
