In this study, we provide the first taphonomic and taxonomic descriptions of the micromammals from Misliya Cave, where recently a Homo sapiens hemimaxilla has been reported. This finding significantly extends the time frame for the out-of-Africa presence of anatomically modern humans. It also provides an opportunity to reassess variation in early modern human population responses to climate change in the Levantine sequence. Information on species ranking and diversity estimations (Shannon functions) is obtained from quantitative data across 31 Levantine assemblages and investigated in a broad comparative frame using multivariate analyses. Recent models of human-climate interactions in the late Early-Middle Paleolithic of the southern Levant have drawn heavily on on-site associations of human fossils with remains of micromammals. However, there has been little, if any, attempt to examine the long-term picture of how paleocommunities of micromammals responded qualitatively and quantitatively to climatic oscillations of the region by altering their compositional complexity. Consequently, our understanding is vastly limited in regard to the paleoecosystem functions that linked past precipitation shifts to changes in primary producers and consumers or as to the background climatic conditions that allowed for the development of highly nonanalog ancient communities in the region. Although previous studies argued for a correspondence between alternations in H. sapiens and Neanderthal occupations of the Levant and faunal shifts in key biostratigraphic indicator taxa (such as Euro-Siberian Ellobius versus Saharo-Arabian Mastomys and Arvicanthis), our data indicate the likelihood that early H. sapiens populations (Misliya and Qafzeh hominins) persisted through high amplitudes of paleoecological and climatic oscillations. It is unlikely, given these results, that climate functioned as a significant filter of early modern human persistence and genetic interactions with Neanderthals in the Levant.

中文翻译：

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根据以色列Misliya Cave的微型哺乳动物的新记录，智人早期膨胀的气候变化。

在这项研究中，我们提供了Misliya洞穴中的微哺乳动物的第一个分类学和分类学描述，最近在这里报道了一个智人半最大的人。这一发现大大延长了解剖学上现代人类在非洲以外地区存在的时间范围。它还提供了一个机会，可以重新评估黎凡特序列中现代人类对气候变化的早期反应中的变化。有关物种排名和多样性估计（香农函数）的信息是从31种黎凡特组合的定量数据中获得的，并使用多元分析在广泛的比较框架中进行了研究。在黎凡特南部早期-中晚期旧石器时代晚期的人与气候相互作用的最新模型，极大地吸引了人类化石与微哺乳动物遗体的现场联系。然而，几乎没有尝试（如果有的话）检查通过改变其组成复杂性而对微生物的古群落如何定性和定量地响应该区域的气候振荡的长期情况。因此，对于将过去的降水变化与主要生产者和消费者的变化联系在一起的古生态系统功能，或者对于允许该地区高度非类比古代社区发展的背景气候条件，我们的理解受到极大限制。尽管先前的研究认为，人鱼的交替与黎凡特的尼安德特人的占领与主要生物地层指示物类群（例如欧洲-西伯利亚的Ellobius与萨哈罗-阿拉伯的Mastomys和Arvicanthis）的动物群转移之间存在对应关系，我们的数据表明，早古人种群（Misliya和Qafzeh hominins）通过高幅度的古生态和气候振荡而持续存在的可能性。鉴于这些结果，气候不太可能成为早期现代人类持久性和与黎凡特的尼安德特人的遗传相互作用的重要过滤器。