The Guadix-Baza Basin (GBB) in Andalucía, Spain, comprises palaeontological and archaeological sites dating from the Early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene, including some of the earliest sites with evidence for the presence of early humans (Homo sp.) in Europe. Thus, the history of climate and environments in this basin contributes significantly to our understanding of the conditions under which early humans spread into Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Here we present estimates of precipitation and primary productivity in the GBB from the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene based on dental ecometrics in fossil communities of large herbivorous mammals, and perform an ecometrics-based distribution modelling to analyse the environmental conditions of Early and Middle Pleistocene human sites in Europe. Our results show that Early Pleistocene humans generally occupied on average relatively diverse habitats with ecotones, such as woodlands and savannas, but avoided very open and harsh (cool or dry) environments. During the Middle Pleistocene in Europe, humans occupied a comparatively much broader range of environments than during the Early Pleistocene, but were on average more concentrated in environments where the dental ecometric of mammals indicate wooded palaeoenvironments. In the earliest human occupation sites of the GBB, Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3, the mean annual precipitation and net primary production estimates indicate climatic conditions close to modern Mediterranean sclerophyllous woodland environments, but with slightly higher primary productivity, indicating some similarity with East African woodlands. On the other hand, the environments did not resemble African grassland savannas. The browse-dominated diets of ungulates from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 further suggest palaeoenvironments where grasses were a minor component of the vegetation. In the slightly older site of Venta Micena that has no evidence for the presence of hominins, dental ecometric estimates indicate climate and environments similar to Mediterranean “forest steppe” environments existing in the surroundings of Baza today. Grasses were prevalent in the diet of some taxa, especially equids, in Venta Micena, but most of the species show browse-dominated diets even there.

西班牙安达卢西亚的瓜迪克斯-巴扎盆地 (GBB) 包括从上新世早期到中更新世的古生物和考古遗址，包括一些有证据表明早期人类存在的最早遗址 ( Homosp.) 在欧洲。因此，该盆地的气候和环境历史对我们了解早期人类在早更新世期间传播到欧洲的条件做出了重大贡献。在这里，我们根据大型食草哺乳动物化石群落的牙齿生态计量学，对 GBB 从上新世到中更新世的降水量和初级生产力进行了估计，并进行了基于生态计量学的分布建模，以分析早中更新世人类的环境条件欧洲的站点。我们的研究结果表明，早更新世人类通常平均占据相对多样化的栖息地，如林地和稀树草原，但避免非常开放和恶劣（凉爽或干燥）的环境。在欧洲中更新世期间，与早更新世相比，人类占据的环境范围相对更广泛，但平均而言，人类更集中在哺乳动物的牙齿生态测量表明树木繁茂的古环境中。在 GBB、Barranco León 和 Fuente Nueva 3 最早的人类占领区，年平均降水量和净初级生产估计表明气候条件接近现代地中海硬叶林地环境，但初级生产力略高，表明与东非有一些相似之处林地。另一方面，环境并不像非洲草原大草原。来自 Barranco León 和 Fuente Nueva 3 的有蹄类动物以食草为主的饮食进一步表明草是植被的次要组成部分的古环境。在稍旧的 Venta Micena 遗址中，没有证据表明存在古人类，牙科生态测量估计表明气候和环境类似于当今巴扎周围存在的地中海“森林草原”环境。草在文塔米塞纳的一些分类群，尤其是马科动物的饮食中很普遍，但大多数物种即使在那里也表现出以食草为主的饮食。