Reassessment of the paleoenvironment and preservation of hominid fossils from Hadar, Ethiopia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8319403
AutoresStefan C Radosevich (University of Oregon), Gregory J Retallack (0000-0003-4356-9240, University of Oregon), Maurice Taieb (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Año1992
Volumen87
Número1
Páginas15-27
Fecha de publicación1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.1330870103
PMID1736671
OpenAlexW1983479729
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas17

Samples of paleosols from locality AL‐333, known for numerous specimens of Australopithecus afarensis , were analyzed in order to reconstruct the original soils and environment of burial of the associated fossil hominids. The bones were found in swale‐like features, within the calcareous and coarse‐grained basal portion of a paleosol. This is more like an assemblage of bones buried during a single depositional episode, such as a flood, than an assemblage accumulated on a soil over a long period of time by carnivores or other means of death. What killed the hominids remains unclear, but considering the association of originally disarticulated bones of such hydraulically distinct types as phalanges and maxillae, it is very likely that they died and partially rotted at or very near this site. The paleosols at AL‐333, here named the Fo and Go clay paleosols, have calcareous rhizoconcretions, granular surface horizons, prismatic peds, and shallow calcareous nodules and stringers like soils now supporting grassy woodland in semiarid regions. Although this group of hominids was buried in streamside gallery woodland, there is evidence from Laetoli, Tanzania, that A. afarensis ventured out into open wooded grassland as well. Evidence for this should be sought from other paleosols at Hadar

Archaeology · Astrobiology · Biology · Geography · Geology · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation