IT WAS the inexorable hand of climate
that spurred human evolution. This is
the latest finding of Peter
researcher, working with the University
of Columbia's Lamont-Doherty
Observatory, us. No one knows for c
tain what first forced huntoem
remote ape-like ancestors to forsa
the trees they called home, why so
prehistoric species surpassed others or
why primitive human ancestors migrated
ted out of their African homeland.
The new study has come up wise
the first detailed evidence to established
that weather may be at the root
all these momentous changes. An
analysis of ocean sediments I
revealed that In the last three
years, East Africa was rocked
times by abrupt cycles of coldw,
climate. Each cycle of change
with the demise of some primo
species and the development of tow
who became the forebearers of
humanity. 'We 4
now place the ft
record of hum
development witl
the context of very
detailed records
how African climate
changed during the
period of evolution,"
said deMenocal.
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