Newly discovered Middle Pleistocene hominid-bearing deposits from the Lower Awash basin, Ethiopia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7986112
AutoresYonatan Sahle (0000-0003-1098-1685, University of Tübingen, autor de correspondencia), Domenico Giusti (0000-0003-1438-4036, Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen), Vangelis Tourloukis (0000-0002-9527-2708, Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen)
Año2019
Volumen127
Número3
Páginas141-147
Fecha de publicación2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAnthropological Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0918-7960 • E-ISSN: 1348-8570
EditorialAnthropological Society of Nippon (PUBLISHER • JP)
DOI10.1537/ase.190603
OpenAlexW2969576414
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas11

Recent paleoanthropological surveys conducted in the Lower Awash basin (Afar Rift) have led to the discovery of new localities. Here we announce and describe the latest addition to the roster of hominid-bearing research areas in this basin. Located east of the modern Awash River and west of the Megenta mountain ridge, localities in the new research area contain extensive clay and silty-sand deposits variably capped by a widespread sandstone layer rich in archaeology and vertebrate fossils. Some of the localities are associated with volcanic tuffs suitable for radioisotopic age determination. A Middle Pleistocene antiquity is strongly inferred from the sampled fauna and archaeology; precise age estimates await results from ongoing tephra geochronological and geochemical analyses. Much of the archaeology falls under the conventional category of late Acheulean; assemblages identifiable as ‘Middle’ and ‘Later Stone Age’ are documented in a few localities. The vertebrate fauna from the closely probed Acheulean and hominid-bearing localities indicates a relatively wooded, near-water habitat. The cranial and post-cranial fossil hominid (and faunal) remains from the new localities promise insights into the patterns of human evolution across the Middle Pleistocene, a period currently poorly understood. Similarly, the archaeological occurrences provide unique opportunities for testing outstanding hypotheses about the origin of nuanced technologies and behaviors across the later Middle Pleistocene

Acheulean · Archaeology · Biology · Early Pleistocene · Fauna · Geography · Middle Paleolithic · Middle Stone Age · Paleoanthropology · Pleistocene · Rift valley · Structural basin · Taphonomy · Tephra · Volcano · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology