Kassal Boris Yu.,
Candidate of Veterinary Sciences, Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Omsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Biotic Conditions of the Pleistocene Migration of Homo sapiens to the West Siberian Plain
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-4-1
The penetration of Homo sapiens, an intelligent man, in the ancient Upper Pleistocene 45–40 thousand years ago on the West Siberian Plain occurred along the interfluve and along the rivers. The invasion vector of Homo sapiens was directed from south to north following herds of herbivores migrating from wintering sites to summer pastures. The presence of the Neanderthal genes Homo neanderthalensis in the Homo sapiens genome could contribute to the successful survival and naturalization of humans not so much in the summer as under the harsh winter conditions of the tundra steppe of Western Siberia. The biotic conditions of the tundra steppes contributed to the resettlement of humans in competition with other large predators: cave lions, wolves, small cave bears. The new habitat influenced the formation and development of society, reinforcing the emerging behavioral adaptations of people, including highly productive group hunt for herd hoofed animals on the banks of the Siberian rivers as well as hunting such giants as hairy mammoths. The abundance of hunting prey in the form of a number of representatives of the mammoth megafauna (horses and deer of various species, primitive steppe buffalo, wild bulls, saigas, etc.) provided the emerging human population with the necessary energy from the obtained animal food and building material for winter dwellings and summer shelters. The accumulated experience of people’s survival in the tundra-steppe of Western Siberia was preserved by sequential transmission of information from generation to generation, ensuring the survival and success of naturalization under new conditions. Even with a small population, the invasive species Homo sapiens influenced the ecosystem of the tundra steppes of the ancient upper Pleistocene of Western Siberia, which has developed over millennia, but the degree of this influence remains unknown.
Publishing: 29/08/2020
How to cite: Kassal B.Yu. Biotic Conditions of the Pleistocene Migration of Homo sapiens to the West Siberian Plain // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 3 (11), pp. 6–19. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-4-01.pdf
Links: Issue 4 2020
Keywords: ancient Upper Pleistocene; Western Siberia; biotic conditions; Homo sapiens