Paleoanthropology. Late Pliocene fossiliferous sedimentary record and the environmental context of early Homo from Afar, Ethiopia

Erin N DiMaggio; Christopher J Campisano; John Rowan; Guillaume Dupont-Nivet; Alan L Deino; Faysal Bibi; Margaret E Lewis; Antoine Souron; Dominique Garello; Lars Werdelin; Kaye E Reed; J Ramón Arrowsmith

doi:10.1126/science.aaa1415

Paleoanthropology. Late Pliocene fossiliferous sedimentary record and the environmental context of early Homo from Afar, Ethiopia

Science. 2015 Mar 20;347(6228):1355-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa1415. Epub 2015 Mar 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. dimaggio@psu.edu kreed@asu.edu.
² Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
³ CNRS Géosciences Rennes, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France.
⁴ Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA.
⁵ Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
⁶ Biology Program, Stockton University, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ 08205, USA.
⁷ Human Evolution Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3160, USA.
⁸ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
⁹ Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Palaeobiology, Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 25739409
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa1415

Abstract

Sedimentary basins in eastern Africa preserve a record of continental rifting and contain important fossil assemblages for interpreting hominin evolution. However, the record of hominin evolution between 3 and 2.5 million years ago (Ma) is poorly documented in surface outcrops, particularly in Afar, Ethiopia. Here we present the discovery of a 2.84- to 2.58-million-year-old fossil and hominin-bearing sediments in the Ledi-Geraru research area of Afar, Ethiopia, that have produced the earliest record of the genus Homo. Vertebrate fossils record a faunal turnover indicative of more open and probably arid habitats than those reconstructed earlier in this region, which is in broad agreement with hypotheses addressing the role of environmental forcing in hominin evolution at this time. Geological analyses constrain depositional and structural models of Afar and date the LD 350-1 Homo mandible to 2.80 to 2.75 Ma.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Ecosystem*
Ethiopia
Fossils
Geologic Sediments*
Hominidae*