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It is suggested that joint architecture of the extant cercopithecid forelimb differentiates terrestrial from arboreal quadrupedal species. Linear dimensions of forelimb joint morphology have also been used to assign fossil species to locomotor categories. However, many primates use a mix of terrestrial and arboreal behaviors, which can be problematic when developing models of behavior reconstruction using morphological variation. The current study uses multivariate analyses to identify morphology related to substrate use in primates, including determination of semiterrestriality. Measurements collected from distal humeri and proximal ulnae of 49 extant cercopithecid primate species were selected based on studies indicating that they could individually predict substrate use. Analyses including one-way analysis of variance, principal components, and discriminant functions were conducted to assess their ability to differentiate between arboreal and terrestrial substrate use. The functions created in these analyses are then applied to data from fossil specimens from the Hadar sequence, Ethiopia, sampling both the Hadar and overlying Busidima Formations, to retrodict possible substrate behavior of fossil monkeys at Hadar through time. As this study is designed to identify function and behavior rather than phylogeny, the taxonomic assignment of the fossil specimens is sometimes uncertain, but substrate behavior can still be inferred. Results suggest that substrate use, including semiterrestrial behavior, in extant and extinct primates can be inferred successfully from multivariate analyses based on joint morphology of the monkey elbow. This study reveals that the ecological distribution of primarily terrestrial fossil primate species of the Hadar sequence is comparable to modern-day communities in habitats similar to those reconstructed for the Hadar members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Western Cape region of South Africa is home to a unique type of mediterranean vegetation called fynbos, as well as some of the earliest sites of modern human occupation in southern Africa. Reconstructing the paleohabitats during occupations of these early anatomically modern Homo sapiens is important for understanding the availability of resources to the humans during the development of behaviors that are often considered advanced. These reconstructions are critical to understanding the nature of the changes in the environment and resources over time. Here we analyze the craniodental fossils of the larger mammals recovered from two Pleistocene assemblages in the Pinnacle Point complex, Mossel Bay, Western Cape Region, South Africa. We reconstruct the paleohabitats as revealed by multivariate analyses of the mammalian community structures. Pinnacle Point 30 is a carnivore assemblage and Pinnacle Point 13B includes early evidence of a suite of modern human behavior; together they present an opportunity to identify environmental change over time at a localized geographic scale. Further, this is the first such study to include dated Western Cape localities from Marine Isotope Stage 6, a time of environmental pressure that may have marginalized human populations. Results indicate that environmental change in the Western Cape was more complex than generalized C4 grassland expansions replacing fynbos habitats during glacial lowered sea levels, and thus, resources available to early modern humans in the region may not have been entirely predictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Some of the earliest evidence for modern human behavior has been recovered from the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Archaeological and paleontological sites in the Western Cape are typically described as “glacial” or “interglacial” in aspect based on the numbers of grazers found in the faunal assemblage, as glacial periods are often thought to have been characterized by spreading C4 grasslands that replaced endemic C3 shrubland vegetation found in the Western Cape today. Here, we test the hypothesis that glacial and interglacial time periods were associated with a predictable change in large mammal trophic adaptations by analyzing the proportions of grazing larger mammals from 118 levels of 15 Western Cape fossil assemblages sampling marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 to the present time to determine whether there is a change in composition in these communities that might reflect a shift in ecology and habitat. Our results indicate that trophic proportions did not significantly change over time in the Western Cape as a whole, and thus the hypothesis for habitat changes affecting the subsistence ecology of modern humans during the development of modern behavior is not supported. However, our results show that the southwestern subregion of the Western Cape was characterized by the presence of more grazing species through time than the western subregion. Thus, if ecological and population isolation during glacial periods were integral to catalyzing the development of modern behaviors in the Western Cape region of South Africa, then a complex model including the development of possible mosaic habitats is needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]