Chennai: Researchers have said climate change likely played a major role in driving early human species to extinction. In a latest modelling study, they said this serves a ‘thunderous warning message’ to humans today.
Of the six or more different species of early humans, all belonging to the genus Homo, only Homo sapiens have managed to survive.
Published in the journal One Earth, the study combined climate modelling and fossil record to search for clues to what led to all those earlier extinctions of our ancient ancestors.
Pasquale Raia of Universita di Napoli Federico II in Italy, said, “Our findings show that… past Homo species could not survive intense climate change.”
This is despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools, the formation of complex social networks, and — in the case of Neanderthals — the production of glued spear points, fitted clothes, and a good amount of cultural and genetic exchange with Homo sapiens, Raia explained.
He added: “They tried hard; they made for the warmest places in reach as the climate got cold, but at the end of the day, that wasn’t enough.”
The finding may serve as a kind of warning to humans today as we face unprecedented changes in the climate, the researchers added.
To shed light on past extinctions of Homo species including H habilis, H ergaster, H erectus, H heidelbergensis, H neanderthalensis, and H sapiens, they relied on a high-resolution past climate emulator, which provides temperature, rainfall, and other data over the last five million years.