There is a growing consensus that climate variability (i.e. magnitude and frequency of climate change) was an important factor in natural selection. Reconstruction of the environment requires multidisciplinary interaction of geologists, soil scientists, paleoanthropologists and paleoecologists.
The study of a Plio-Pleistocene “time slice” in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania provides a successful example of a reconstructed paleolandscape that is rich in detail and adds a small piece to the puzzle of hominin evolution in Africa. Lake Olduvai in the Olduvai basin expanded and contracted on Milankovitch time scales (23 Ka). Groundwater-fed wetlands provided a source of food and safety in an otherwise harsh setting.
The importance of springs and wetlands to the ecology of hominins at Olduvai had not been appreciated before and the linkage was noted only because of the interdisciplinary approach of the research.
