where have most fossils of australopithecus been found
South Africa
719323
accept "Australopithecus" as a member of the family tree. Then, in 1997, an almost complete "Australopithecus" skeleton with skull was found in the Sterkfontein caves of Gauteng, South Africa. It is now called "Little Foot" and it is probably around three million years old. It was named "Australopithecus prometheus" which has since been placed within "A. africanus". Other fossil remains found in the same cave in 2008 were named "Australopithecus sediba", which lived 1.9 million years ago. "A. africanus" probably evolved into "A. sediba", which some scientists think may have evolved into "H. erectus", though this is heavily disputed. A
Australopithecus
14452777
Australopithecus sediba Australopithecus sediba is a species of "Australopithecus" of the early Pleistocene, identified based on fossil remains dated to about 2 million years ago. The species is known from six skeletons discovered in the Malapa Fossil Site at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa, including a juvenile male (MH1 also called "Karabo", the holotype), an adult female (MH2, the paratype), an adult male, and three infants. The fossils were found together at the bottom of the Malapa Cave, where they apparently fell to their death, and have been dated to between 1.980 and 1.977 million
Australopithecus sediba
1452177
most likely leopards and fellow machairodont "Megantereon", whose carbon isotope ratios showed more indication of preying on hominids. "Dinofelis" fossils and bones have been found in South Africa near those of the baboons that it possibly had killed. Bones from several specimens of "Dinofelis" and baboons were found in a natural trap, where "Dinofelis" may have been lured to feed on trapped prey. Several sites from South Africa seem to show "Dinofelis" may have hunted and killed "Australopithecus africanus", since the finds mingle fossilized remains of "Dinofelis", hominids, and other large contemporary animals. In South Africa, "Dinofelis" remains have been
Dinofelis
3871026
Mrs. Ples Mrs. Ples is the popular nickname for the most complete skull of an "Australopithecus africanus" ever found in South Africa. Many Australopithecus fossils have been found near Sterkfontein, about northwest of Johannesburg, in a region of the Transvaal now designated as the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Mrs. Ples was discovered by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson on April 18, 1947. Because of Broom's use of dynamite and pickaxe while excavating, Mrs. Ples's skull was blown into two pieces and some fragments are missing. Nonetheless, Mrs./Mr. Ples is one of the most perfect pre-human skulls ever
Mrs. Ples
3871031
fossil has been dated by a combination of palaeomagnetism and uranium-lead techniques to around 2.05 million years. In 2004, Mrs. Ples was voted 95th in the SABC 3's and e.tv's "Great South Africans" Top 100 list. Mrs. Ples Mrs. Ples is the popular nickname for the most complete skull of an "Australopithecus africanus" ever found in South Africa. Many Australopithecus fossils have been found near Sterkfontein, about northwest of Johannesburg, in a region of the Transvaal now designated as the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Mrs. Ples was discovered by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson on April 18,
Mrs. Ples
719320
consumption, as they did in 1994 using stable carbon isotopic analysis. In 2005, fossils of animal bones with butchery marks dating 2.6 million years old were found at the site of Gona, Ethiopia. Fossil evidence indicates meat consumption by at least three species of hominins occurring around 2.6-2.5 Mya: "A. africanus, A. garhi", and "P. aethiopicus". In 2010, fossils of butchered animal bones dated 3.4 million years old were found in Ethiopia, close to regions where australopith fossils were found. The type specimen for genus "Australopithecus" was discovered in 1924, in a lime quarry by workers at Taung, South Africa.
Australopithecus
6467804
Central Africa. It is also of great importance as it is the first fossil to show that there is a geographical "third window", that is, beyond East Africa and South Africa, of early hominin evolution. Australopithecus bahrelghazali Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a fossil hominin discovered in 1995 by a Franco-Chadian team led by the paleontologist Michel Brunet. Two fossils have been described: - A mandibular fragment found at Chad east of the Bahr el Ghazal ("river of gazelles") to about from the fort of Koro Toro, by the Franco-Chadian team of Michel Brunet January 23, 1995 on the site called KT12.
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
71289
light and sustenance. Cave entrances often have typical florae. For instance, in the eastern temperate United States, cave entrances are most frequently (and often densely) populated by the bulblet fern, "Cystopteris bulbifera". Throughout history, primitive peoples have made use of caves. The earliest human fossils found in caves come from a series of caves near Krugersdorp and Mokopane in South Africa. The cave sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai B, Drimolen, Malapa, Cooper's D, Gladysvale, Gondolin and Makapansgat have yielded a range of early human species dating back to between three and one million years ago, including Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba
Cave
4951720
in South Africa, was one of the few scientists to believe Dart. Two weeks after Dart announced the discovery of the Taung Child in "Nature", Broom visited Dart in Johannesburg to see the fossil. After he became a paleontologist in 1933, Broom found adult fossils of "Australopithecus africanus" and discovered more robust fossils, which were eventually renamed "Australopithecus robustus ("AKA "Paranthropus Robustus)". Even after Dart chose to take a break from his work in anthropology, Broom undertook more excavations, and slowly began to find more "Australopithecus africanus" specimens that proved Dart was correct in his analysis of the Taung Child;
Taung Child
4763208
of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, became interested in fossils found at a limestone quarry at Taung near Kimberley, South Africa in 1924. The most promising of these was a skull of an odd ape-like creature presenting human traits at the eye orbits, teeth, and, most importantly, the hole at the base of the skull over the spinal column (the foramen magnum); its placement indicated a human-like upright posture and implied a high probability that this hominid-to-hominin primate had achieved bipedal, as opposed to quadrupedal locomotion. Dart assigned the specimen the name "Australopithecus africanus" ("southern ape of Africa"); it
Australopithecus africanus
5459930
fossils of "Paranthropus robustus" are found only in South Africa, and include the sites of Kromdraai, Swartkrans, Drimolen, Gondolin and Coopers. In the cave at Swartkrans the remains of 130 individuals were discovered. The study made on the dentition of the hominins revealed that the average "P. robustus" rarely lived past 17 years of age. "Paranthropus robustus" was the first discovery of a "robust" species of hominin; it was found well before "P. boisei" and "P. aethiopicus". These three species have alternately been in their own ("Paranthropus") or placed within the genus "Australopithecus". This is partly because in many small
Paranthropus robustus
719323
accept "Australopithecus" as a member of the family tree. Then, in 1997, an almost complete "Australopithecus" skeleton with skull was found in the Sterkfontein caves of Gauteng, South Africa. It is now called "Little Foot" and it is probably around three million years old. It was named "Australopithecus prometheus" which has since been placed within "A. africanus". Other fossil remains found in the same cave in 2008 were named "Australopithecus sediba", which lived 1.9 million years ago. "A. africanus" probably evolved into "A. sediba", which some scientists think may have evolved into "H. erectus", though this is heavily disputed. A
Australopithecus
14585263
Homo gautengensis Homo gautengensis is a hominin species proposed by biological anthropologist Darren Curnoe in 2010. The species is composed of South African hominin fossils previously attributed to "Homo habilis", "Homo ergaster," or, in some cases, "Australopithecus", and is argued by Curnoe to be the earliest species in the genus "Homo". Analysis announced in May 2010 of a partial skull found decades earlier in South Africa's Sterkfontein Caves in Gauteng near Johannesburg identified the species, named "Homo gautengensis" by anthropologist Dr. Darren Curnoe of the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The species has been considered by Lee
Homo gautengensis
18806450
Australopithecus deyiremeda Australopithecus deyiremeda is a proposed species of early hominin among those who lived about 3.5–3.3 million years ago in northern Ethiopia, around the same time and place as several discovered specimens of "Australopithecus afarensis", including the well-known "Lucy", a juvenile specimen. The discoverers believe "A." "deyiremeda" is a new species. If true, some fossils identified as "A. afarensis" may more properly belong to "A." "deyiremeda". Some anthropologists have suggested that the identification of "A. deyiremeda" as a new species requires more evidence than has been obtained thus far. On March 4, 2011, fossils of three jawbones were found
Australopithecus deyiremeda
6467800
Australopithecus bahrelghazali Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a fossil hominin discovered in 1995 by a Franco-Chadian team led by the paleontologist Michel Brunet. Two fossils have been described: - A mandibular fragment found at Chad east of the Bahr el Ghazal ("river of gazelles") to about from the fort of Koro Toro, by the Franco-Chadian team of Michel Brunet January 23, 1995 on the site called KT12. Named after the name of the fossil valley near where it was discovered, cataloged KT12 / H1, the holotype consists of a mandibular fragment, a lower second incisor, both lower canines, and all four of
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
2563796
found by Donald Johanson and colleagues, who, in celebration of their find, repeatedly played the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". "Australopithecus afarensis" fossils have only been discovered within Eastern Africa. Despite Laetoli being the type locality for "A. afarensis", the most extensive remains assigned to the species are found in Hadar, Afar Region of Ethiopia, including the above-mentioned "Lucy" partial skeleton and the "First Family" found at the AL 333 locality. Other localities bearing "A. afarensis" remains include Omo, Maka, Fejej, and Belohdelie in Ethiopia, and Koobi Fora and Lothagam in Kenya. Compared to the modern and
Australopithecus afarensis
2171099
the study both of dinosaurs and of the origin of birds. The first complete specimen was announced in 1861, and ten more "Archaeopteryx" fossils have been found since then. Most of the eleven known fossils include impressions of feathers—among the oldest direct evidence of such structures. Moreover, because these feathers take the advanced form of flight feathers, "Archaeopteryx" fossils are evidence that feathers began to evolve before the Late Jurassic. The hominid "Australopithecus afarensis" represents an evolutionary transition between modern bipedal humans and their quadrupedal ape ancestors. A number of traits of the "A. afarensis" skeleton strongly reflect bipedalism, to
Transitional fossil
4763219
Clarke that it is of the previously unknown species with characters similar to "Paranthropus robustus" and named "Australopithecus prometheus". Instead, the specimen has usually been lumped into "A. africanus" by most scholars.Earlier dating had placed it between 3.0 and 2.0 mya based on combined analyses of palaeomagnetism, electron spin resonance, and faunal dating. The "Makapansgat" fossils have been dated to between 3.0 and 2.6 mya. Those at Sterkfontein currently are dated to between 2.6 and 2.0 mya with the Mrs Ples fossil dating to around 2.0 million years. And Gladysvale fossils were dated between about 2.4 and 2.0 mya. The
Australopithecus africanus
8743043
first description in July 1995 it was said, "The bones are probably an early member of "Australopithecus africanus" or another early species of hominids". After 1998, when a part of the skull had been discovered and uncovered, Clarke pointed out now that the fossils were probably associated with the genus "Australopithecus", but whose 'unusual features' do not match any "Australopithecus" species previously described. Clarke now suggests that Little Foot does not belong to the species "Australopithecus afarensis" or "Australopithecus africanus", but to a unique "Australopithecus" species previously found at Makapansgat and Sterkfontein Member Four, "Australopithecus prometheus". Following the discovery of
Little Foot
13586138
80 m thick that stretches down much of the length and breath of the peninsula. The formation consists of three geological units, called members, from which fossils and artifacts of different periods of human evolution have been excavated. They are: the lowest member, named Hatayae, or the Hata, dated to 2.5 millions of years ago (mya)—and in which fossils of "Australopithecus garhi" were found; the Dakanihylo, or Daka, member, one (1) mya—fossils of Homo erectus were found; and the Herto member, Lower layer at 260 kya, and Upper layers at 160 to 154 kya—fossils of Homo sapiens idaltu were found.
Bouri Formation
18730541
remarked. Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged, who was responsible for the earlier research suggesting "Australopithecus" had made tools, also backed Harmand's conclusions. Lomekwi Lomekwi 3 is the name of an archaeological site in Kenya where ancient stone tools have been discovered dating to 3.3 million years ago, which make them the oldest ever found. In July 2011, a team of archeologists led by Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis of Stony Brook University, United States, were heading to a site near Kenya's Lake Turkana near where "Kenyanthropus platyops" fossils had previously been found. The group made a wrong turn on the way and
Lomekwi
1566275
surrounding region to the forefront of palaeontology. The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4.2 million year old "Ardipithicus ramidus" (Ardi) found by Tim D. White in 1994. The most well known hominid discovery is "Australopithecus afarensis" (Lucy). Known locally as Dinkinesh, the specimen was found in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Region in 1974 by Donald Johanson, and is one of the most complete and best preserved adult Australopithecine fossils ever uncovered. Lucy's taxonomic name refers to the region where the discovery was made. The hominid is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.
Ethiopia
5417676
local Afar language. The traits of "A. garhi" fossils such as BOU-VP-12/130 are somewhat distinctive from traits typically seen in "Australopithecus afarensis" and "Australopithecus africanus". An example of the distinction can be seen when comparing the Hadar maxilla ("A. afarensis") to the Bouri specimen of "A. garhi". The cranial capacity of "A. garhi" measures 450cc, the same size as other australopithecines. The mandible classified by "Asfaw et al." has a morphology generally believed to be compatible with the same species, yet it is possible that another hominin species may have been found within the same deposits. Studies made on the
Australopithecus garhi
3028040
there is a large nesting presence. Numerous early hominin remains have been found at the site over the last few decades. These have been attributed to Australopithecus, early Homo and Paranthropus. Modern excavation of the caves began in the late 1890s by limestone miners who noticed the fossils and brought them to the attention of scientists. In 1936, students of Professor Raymond Dart and Dr. Robert Broom from the University of the Witwatersrand began concerted excavations. The caves yielded the first adult Australopithecine, substantially strengthening Dart's claim that the skull known as the Taung child (an "Australopithecus africanus") was a
Sterkfontein
4814771
climbing was one behavior retained by early hominins until the appearance of the first "Homo" species about 2.5 million years ago. "A. anamensis" shares many traits with "Australopithecus afarensis" and may well be its direct predecessor. Fossil records for "A. anamensis" have been dated to between 4.2 and 3.9 million years ago, with recent findings from stratigraphic sequences dating to about 4.1–4.2 million years ago. Specimens have been found between two layers of volcanic ash, dated to 4.17 and 4.12 million years, coincidentally when "A. afarensis" appears in the fossil record. The fossils (twenty one in total) include upper and
Australopithecus anamensis
719302
can be observed at the site of Laetoli in Tanzania. This site contains hominid footprints that are remarkably similar to those of modern humans and have been dated to as old as 3.6 million years. The footprints have generally been classified as australopith is the only form of prehuman known to have existed in that region at that time. "Australopithecus anamensis", "A. afarensis", and "A. africanus" are among the most famous of the extinct hominins. "A. africanus" was once considered to be ancestral to the genus "Homo" (in particular "Homo erectus"). However, fossils assigned to the genus "Homo" have been
Australopithecus
43347
not ultimately lead to the conclusion that no hominines ever died there. The convenience of the savanna-based theory caused this point to be overlooked for over a hundred years. Some of the fossils found actually showed that there was still an adaptation to arboreal life. For example, Lucy, the famous "Australopithecus afarensis", found in Hadar in Ethiopia, which may have been forested at the time of Lucy’s death, had curved fingers that would still give her the ability to grasp tree branches, but she walked bipedally. “Little Foot,” a nearly-complete specimen of "Australopithecus africanus", has a divergent big toe as
Bipedalism
14452831
site has produced arguably one of the most complete assemblages of early human ancestors ever found, including the most complete skeletons of early hominids yet discovered, and by far the most complete remains of any hominid dating to around 2 million years ago. Over 200 elements have been recovered to date. The partial skeletons are initially described in two papers in the journal "Science" by Berger and colleagues as a new species of early human ancestor called "Australopithecus sediba" (sediba meaning natural spring or well in Sotho). In addition to the fossils revealed initially, rocks collected from the site have
Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
4676872
in better outcomes than casting in children with torus fractures of the distal radius. If a person is doing better after 4 weeks, repeat X rays are not needed. Evidence for greenstick fractures found in the fossil record is studied by paleopathologists, specialists in ancient disease and injury. Greenstick fractures (willow breaks) have been reported in fossils of the large carnivorous dinosaur "Allosaurus fragilis". Greenstick fractures are found in the fossil remains of Lucy, the most famous specimen of "Australopithecus afarensis", discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. Analysis of bone fracture patterns, which include a large number of greenstick fractures in
Greenstick fracture
2730835
the Congo Air Boundary affected the ability of moisture from the Atlantic Ocean to reach eastern Africa, which had a profound influence on the level of Lake Turkana and adjacent water bodies. The archeoastronomical site Namoratunga which has been dated circa 300 B.C. is located near Lake Turkana. Hominin fossils of some of the earliest human ancestors have been found in the Turkana Basin. "Australopithecus anamensis" fossils discovered by Meave Leakey in 1994 date to around 4 million years ago. Richard Leakey has led numerous anthropological expeditions in the area which have led to many important discoveries of hominin remains.
Lake Turkana
4814772
lower jaws, cranial fragments, and the upper and lower parts of a leg bone (tibia). In addition to this, the aforementioned fragment of humerus found thirty years ago at the same site at Kanapoi has now been assigned to this species. In 2006, a new "A. anamensis" find was officially announced, extending the range of "A. anamensis" into north east Ethiopia. Specifically, one site known as Asa Issie provided 30 "A. anamensis" fossils. These new fossils, sampled from a woodland context, include the largest hominid canine tooth yet recovered and the earliest "Australopithecus" femur. The find was in an area
Australopithecus anamensis
10499286
many millions of bones still in place in the cave. Fossils recovered include antelope, giant zebra, carnivores including extinct wolves, monkeys and hominids attributed to "Australopithecus africanus" and early "Homo". Tools have also been found with the most spectacular being an Acheulean handaxe (pictured), recovered from 1 million year old sediments. Gladysvale has become well known for its exceptional horizontally-bedded stratigraphy and has been the site of the testing of many of the absolute dating techniques which have proved successful on the hard to date breccias of the South African fossil-bearing caves. The site is presently divided into three cave
Gladysvale Cave
5780185
Yorktown Subsea of the Outer Banks and inland North Carolina. Dates have been established on the basis of the genera and species of mollusks found. The late Piacenzian may be when the genus "Homo" developed out of the ancestral genus "Australopithecus". While the oldest known fossils unambiguously identified as "Homo habilis" date to just after the end of the Piacenzian (2.58 Ma), a fossilized jawbone that exhibits traits that are transitional between "Australopithecus" and "Homo habilis" was discovered in the Afar Triangle in 2015. The find was made by Ethiopian student Chalachew Seyoum at a site called Ledi-Geraru between the
Piacenzian
8798116
Selam (Australopithecus) Selam (DIK-1/1) is the fossilized skull and other skeletal remains of a three-year-old "Australopithecus afarensis" female hominin, whose bones were first found in Dikika, Ethiopia in 2000 and recovered over the following years. Although she has often been nicknamed Lucy's baby, the specimen has been dated at 3.3 million years ago, approximately 120,000 years older than "Lucy" (dated to about 3.18 mya). The fossils were discovered by Zeresenay Alemseged, and are remarkable for both their age and condition. On 20 September 2006 the journal "Nature" presented the findings of a dig in Dikika, Ethiopia, a few miles south
Selam (Australopithecus)
18806454
This means that everything that has been written about variation, function and the anatomy of "Australopithecus afarensis" from fragmentary remains must now be in doubt." The name "deyiremeda" means "close relative" in the Afar language. Some anthropologists have called for more evidence before reaching a conclusion that "Australopithecus deyiremeda" is a new species. Carol Ward of the University of Missouri, Columbia, said that the fossils “do fall outside of the range of variation of any species described so far,” but that more specimens will be needed to make a valid comparison. She says that "Lucy" would have been accompanied by
Australopithecus deyiremeda
4916689
Pliocene and Pleistocene, have been excavated by French and American teams. Fossils belonging to the genera "Australopithecus" and "Homo" have been found at several archaeological sites, as well as tools made from quartzite, the oldest of which date back to about 2.4 million years ago. Because of this, the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. When they were discovered, it was thought that the tools might have been part of a so-called pre-Oldowan industry, even more primitive than what was found in the Olduvai Gorge. Later research has shown that the crude looks of the tools
Omo River
5417678
possible direct ancestor of more modern hominins. For a long time anthropologists assumed that only members of early genus "Homo" had the ability to produce sophisticated tools. However, the crude ancient tools lack several techniques that are generally seen in later forms Olduwan and Acheulean such as strong rock-outcroppings. In another site in Bouri, Ethiopia, roughly 3,000 stone artifacts had been found to be an estimated 2.5 million years old in age. Australopithecus garhi Australopithecus garhi is a 2.5-million-year-old gracile australopithecine species whose fossils were discovered in 1996 by a paleontologist research team led by Berhane Asfaw and Tim White.
Australopithecus garhi
4248557
the fossil hominin "Lucy" in late fall of 1974. He spotted a right proximal ulna in a gully, followed by an occipital bone, a femur, some ribs, a pelvis, and a lower jaw. Within two weeks, nearly 40% of the hominoid skeleton was identified and cataloged. Lucy is the most famous fossil to have been found at Hadar. Lucy is among the oldest hominin fossils ever discovered and was later given the taxonomic classification "Australopithecus afarensis". (The name 'Lucy' was inspired by the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", by The Beatles, which happened to be playing on the
Hadar, Ethiopia
13017916
Archaeology of Ethiopia Ethiopia has several UNESCO world heritage sites related to archaeology which include: Axum (one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Africa), the Awash Valley where Lucy (Australopithecus) a hominin who lived around 3.2 million years ago was discovered, and Tiya (archaeological site) where Middle Stone Age tools and megaliths have been found. Ethiopia is well known for its significant fossil-bearing beds which have borne some of the oldest and most complete fossil hominids. One well known example is Lucy. Her hominid species "Australopithecus afarensis" is named after the Afar Ethiopian region where it was discovered. Other
Archaeology of Ethiopia
2301895
links below. The oldest types of tetrapod tail-and-foot prints date back to the latter Devonian period. These vertebrate impressions have been found in Ireland, Scotland, Pennsylvania, and Australia. Important human trace fossils are the Laetoli (Tanzania) footprints, imprinted in volcanic ash 3.7 Ma (million years ago) -- probably by an early Australopithecus. Trace fossils are not body casts. The Ediacara biota, for instance, primarily comprises the casts of organisms in sediment. Similarly, a footprint is not a simple replica of the sole of the foot, and the resting trace of a seastar has different details than an impression of a
Trace fossil
20138602
upright when moving along long branches of trees, increasing their reach. Both Lucy, the famous "Australopithecus afarensis" and "Little Foot," the collection of "Australopithecus africanus" foot bones demonstrated features consistent with tree-climbing as well as an upright gait; the former through curved fingers, and the latter via a divergent big toe. Additionally, ancient pollen found in the soil near where these fossils were discovered suggest that the area used to be much more wet and covered in thick vegetation, only recently becoming the arid desert it is now. Savannah hypothesis The savannah hypothesis (or savanna hypothesis) is a formerly widely
Savannah hypothesis
395920
dated to 2.6–2.55 mya. One of the most striking circumstances about these sites is that they are from the Late Pliocene, where previous to their discovery tools were thought to have evolved only in the Pleistocene. Excavators at the locality point out that: The species who made the Pliocene tools remains unknown. Fragments of "Australopithecus garhi", "Australopithecus aethiopicus" and "Homo", possibly "Homo habilis", have been found in sites near the age of the Gona tools. In July 2018, scientists reported the discovery in China of the oldest stone tools outside Africa, estimated at 2.12 million years old. Innovation of the
Stone Age
4814775
microwear on "Australopithecus anamensis" molar fossils show a pattern of long striations. This pattern is similar to the microwear on the molars of gorillas; suggesting that "Australopithecus anamensis" had a similar diet to that of the modern gorilla. The microwear patterns are consistent on all "Australopithecus anamensis" molar fossils regardless of location or time. This shows that their diet largely remained the same no matter what their environment. The earliest dietary isotope evidence in Turkana Basin hominin species comes from the "Australopithecus anamensis". This evidence suggests that their diet consisted primarily of C3 resources, possibly however with a small amount
Australopithecus anamensis
407756
discovered by Mary Leakey in 1959, and named Zinj or Nutcracker Man, the first example of "Paranthropus boisei", and is thought to be over 1.8 million years old. Other finds including "Homo habilis" fossils were subsequently made. At nearby Laetoli the oldest known hominid footprints, the Laetoli footprints, were discovered by Mary Leakey in 1978, and estimated to be about 3.6 million years old and probably made by "Australopithecus afarensis". The oldest hominid fossils ever discovered in Tanzania also come from Laetoli and are the 3.6 to 3.8 million year old remains of "Australopithecus afarensis"—Louis Leakey had found what he
History of Tanzania
4763213
first adult australopithecine, substantially strengthening Dart's claim for Broom. Later, Broom classified an adult endocranial cast having a brain capacity of 485 cc (found by G. W. Barlow) as "Plesianthropus transvaalensis" (near-man from Transvaal). In April 1947, while blasting at Sterkfontein, he and John T. Robinson discovered a skull belonging to a middle-aged female (catalogue number STS 5) which he also classified as "Plesianthropus transvaalensis" (it was dubbed "Mrs. Ples" by Broom's young coworkers although the skull is now thought to have belonged to a young male). Both fossils were later classified as "Australopithecus africanus". Mrs. Ples, whose cranial capacity
Australopithecus africanus
5417675
Australopithecus garhi Australopithecus garhi is a 2.5-million-year-old gracile australopithecine species whose fossils were discovered in 1996 by a paleontologist research team led by Berhane Asfaw and Tim White. The remains are suggested as representing the transitional stage between the "Australopithecus" and "Homo" genera. Tim White was the scientist to find the first of the key "A. garhi" fossils in 1996 in the Bouri Formation, located in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. The species was confirmed and established as "A. garhi" on November 20, 1997 by the Ethiopian paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie. The species epithet ""garhi"" means "surprise" in the
Australopithecus garhi
6665621
Koobi Fora is perhaps best known for its specimens of the genus "Homo", but those of the genus "Australopithecus" also have been found. The following species are represented: "Australopithecus" and "Homo" seem to have coexisted in African regions for several hundred thousand years. One possible explanation is different food sources. It appears that the Australopithecus genus evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago before spreading throughout the continent and eventually becoming extinct somewhat after 2 million years ago. Large quantities of stone tools have been found at Koobi Fora both on the surface and in caches, which have
Koobi Fora
13252452
solve this debate, archaeologists have extensively studied the size of the bones. The sizes of the largest bones found such as humeri and femora were compared. Although they measured different bones, all of the measurements could be used to estimate the size of the femoral head. Then, these measurements were compared to the femoral head of Lucy. The researchers believe that, like Lucy, the fossils probably belong to the species "Australopithecus afarensis". Once the individuals of the "First Family" were determined to be the same species, they became very useful to study the biological phenomenon of sexual dimorphism. The fossils
AL 333
3028042
the remains from the surrounding breccia is ongoing. The skeleton was named "Little Foot", since the first parts found (in 1995, in storage) were the bones of a foot. Excavations continue to this day, and finds now total some 500 hominids, making Sterkfontein one of the richest sites in the world for early hominids. The Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust (PAST), a non-profit trust fund established in 1993, sponsors over 90% of the research undertaken at Sterkfontein and was instrumental in its nomination as a World Heritage Site. The Member 4 deposits containing the "Australopithecus africanus" fossils have been dated to between
Sterkfontein
2637042
on the other hand, lacks the waisting associated with apes and climbing, and still present in "Australopithecus". "Oreopithecus" share the specialised orientation at the carpometacarpal joint with "A. afarenis" and the marked groove for the flexor pollicis longus with "A. africanus". It is thus likely that the hand morphology of "Oreopithecus" is derived for apes and convergent for early hominins. Oreopithecus Oreopithecus is an extinct hominoid primate from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy; (from the Greek ὄρος, oros and πίθηκος, pithekos, meaning "hill-ape"). It existed in the Tusco-Sardinian area when
Oreopithecus
2125054
the Leakeys in 1941, 1953, 1955 and 1957. Louis and Mary Leakey are responsible for most of the excavations and discoveries of the hominin fossils in Olduvai Gorge. In July 1959, at the FLK site (initials of Louis' first wife Frida Leakey, and K for "korongo", the Swahili language word for gully), Mary Leakey found the skull of "Zinjanthropus" or "Australopithecus boisei". In addition to an abundance of faunal remains the Leakeys found stone tools Mary classified as Oldowan. In May 1960, at the FLK North-North site, the Leakeys' son Jonathan found the mandible that proved to be the type
Olduvai Gorge
19000013
anterior and lateral portion of the ventral carapace. The appendages are attached to the soft ventral integument of the plate. The general outline of the carapace was quadrate with an elongate trapezoidal outline. The most of the fossils of the Winneshiek Shale of Decorah, where the fossils of "Pentecopterus" have been found, were recovered in 2010 from the upper 4 m section of the from the mentioned site of Iowa. Other samples were collected from blocks eroded during flooding, which are assumed to have been sourced from the uppermost 2–3 m. The total number of fossils found is over 5,000,
Pentecopterus
20521668
Herefordopterus Herefordopterus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. "Herefordopterus" is classified as part of the family Hughmilleriidae, a basal family in the highly derived Pterygotioidea superfamily of eurypterids. Fossils of the single and type species, "H. banksii", have been discovered in deposits of Silurian age in Herefordshire and Shropshire, England. The genus is named after Herefordshire, where most of the "Herefordopterus" fossils have been found. The specific epithet honors Richard Banks, who found several well-preserved specimens, including the first "Herefordopterus" fossils. "Herefordopterus" is classified in Hughmilleriidae, a pterygotioid family that is differentiated by their streamlined
Herefordopterus
20947420
Turkana. Allia Bay The Allia Bay is a region on the east side of Lake Turkana in Kenya. The site is known for yielding its first hominid fossils in 1982 with further findings to this day, all of which have been identified as part of "Australopithecus anamensis" but possibly related to "Australopithecus afarensis". Notable people with findings at Allia Bay include Richard Leakey, Meave Leakey, Craig Feibel, Ian McDougall, Alan Walker. The geographic coordinates of Allia Bay are 3°35′4″N, 36°16′4″E. As a set of isolate exposures it forms the southernmost region of Koobi Fora. One of its distinct features is
Allia Bay
20947417
Allia Bay The Allia Bay is a region on the east side of Lake Turkana in Kenya. The site is known for yielding its first hominid fossils in 1982 with further findings to this day, all of which have been identified as part of "Australopithecus anamensis" but possibly related to "Australopithecus afarensis". Notable people with findings at Allia Bay include Richard Leakey, Meave Leakey, Craig Feibel, Ian McDougall, Alan Walker. The geographic coordinates of Allia Bay are 3°35′4″N, 36°16′4″E. As a set of isolate exposures it forms the southernmost region of Koobi Fora. One of its distinct features is the
Allia Bay
16304840
Michigan fossil hunting Michigan is a state within the United States that is not known for fossiliferous rocks, but there are some localities where fossils may be found. Most are from the Late Devonian period, others are from the Late Pleistocene period, the Silurian period, and Carboniferous periods. However, small amounts of Precambrian period fossils consisting of stromotolites, metazoans and algal can be found in Precambrian outcrops located in Michigans Upper Peninsula. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/MFP_5_Fill_In_The_Blanks_301808_7.pdf The oldest megascopic fossils found in Michigan have been found in the Negaunee iron formation near Palmer, MI at the Empire Mine. The fossils are of a
Michigan fossil hunting
11446363
the Temeside Shale, England, where the type species has been discovered, fossils of several organisms have been found, most of them eurypterids such as "Erettopterus gigas", "Salteropterus abbreviatus" and "Nanahughmilleria pygmaea", but also indeterminate species of the osteostracid "Hemicyclaspis" and the thelodontid "Logania". "Parahughmilleria" fossils have also been discovered in the United States, Russia, Luxembourg, Canada and Scotland. Parahughmilleria Parahughmilleria (meaning "near "Hughmilleria"") is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of "Parahughmilleria" have been discovered in deposits of the Devonian and Silurian age in the United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, Luxembourg and Great Britain, and
Parahughmilleria
8578991
clearly showed that this fossil, reference AL 129-1, was an upright walking hominin. This fossil was later dated at more than three million years old—much older than other hominin fossils known at the time. The site lay about from the site where "Lucy" subsequently was found, in a rock stratum deeper than that in which the Lucy fragments were found. The team returned for the second field season the following year and found hominin jaws. Then, on the morning of 24 November 1974, near the Awash River, Johanson abandoned a plan to update his field notes and joined graduate student
Lucy (Australopithecus)
194418
been the subject of controversial debate since its original proposal. A main argument for its classification as the first "Homo" ("human") species was its use of flaked stone tools. However, evidence for earlier tool use by undisputed members of "Australopithecus" has been found in the 1990s. There has been scholarly debate regarding its placement in the genus "Homo" rather than the genus "Australopithecus". The small size and rather primitive attributes have led some experts (Richard Leakey among them) to propose excluding "H. habilis" from the genus "Homo" and placing them instead in "Australopithecus" as "Australopithecus habilis". Louis Leakey (father of
Homo habilis
8798119
it might be better to place Selam in the "A. africanus" line, since it has more human traits than most "A. afarensis" (see Homininae). Examination of the shoulder blade and arms of this specimen has lent support to the idea that "Australopithecus afarensis" climbed extensively. Selam (Australopithecus) Selam (DIK-1/1) is the fossilized skull and other skeletal remains of a three-year-old "Australopithecus afarensis" female hominin, whose bones were first found in Dikika, Ethiopia in 2000 and recovered over the following years. Although she has often been nicknamed Lucy's baby, the specimen has been dated at 3.3 million years ago, approximately 120,000
Selam (Australopithecus)
18849687
Kanapoi Kanapoi is a paleontological site in the Kenyan Rift Valley, to the southwest of Lake Turkana. Fossils were first found at Kanapoi in the 1960s by a Harvard expedition, and later by expeditions from the National Museums of Kenya. Fossils at Kanapoi were deposited in sediments formed by lake margins, rivers and deltas between 3.4 - 4.2 Million years ago (Ma). Kanapoi fossils include a diverse array of fish, turtles, crocodiles, primates including likely human ancestors, elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, rodents, horses, hippos, pigs and a variety of herbivores and carnivores. The hominin "Australopithecus anamensis" appears in Kanapoi between 3.9
Kanapoi
8321215
Wings concluded that this idea was incorrect: gastroliths are found with only a small percentage of sauropod fossils; where they have been found, the amounts are too small and in many cases the stones are too soft to have been effective in grinding food; most of these gastroliths are highly polished, but gastroliths used by modern animals to grind food are roughened by wear and corroded by stomach acids; hence the sauropod gastroliths were probably swallowed accidentally. On the other hand, he concluded that gastroliths found with fossils of advanced theropod dinosaurs such as "Sinornithomimus" and "Caudipteryx" resemble those of
Physiology of dinosaurs
1275969
the tools was by dating volcanic ash layers in which the tools were found and dating the magnetic signature (pointing north or south due to reversal of the magnetic poles) of the rock at the site. Grooved, cut and fractured animal bone fossils, made by using stone tools, were found in Dikika, Ethiopia near (200 yards) the remains of Selam, a young "Australopithecus afarensis" girl who lived about 3.3 million years ago. The earliest stone tools in the life span of the genus "Homo" are Mode 1 tools, and come from what has been termed the Oldowan Industry, named after
Stone tool
20952522
was found at Asa Issie and Aramis 14, both located in Middle Awash. Fossils found at Asa Issie include “2 partial maxillary dentitions, a partial metatarsal shaft, a foot phalanx, a hand phalanx, 4 vertebral fragments, and a proximal femur” belonging to at least 2 specimens. The cheek teeth of Au. anamensis are much larger than that of Ar. Ramidus, but approximately equal to Au. afarensis. Both individuals have relatively large canines and thicker molar enamel than Ar. Ramidus. There is little postcranial evidence for Au. Anamensisfound at Asa Issie. The hand phalanx is similar to those of Australopithecus and
Middle Awash Project
557061
specimens were collected in the 1920s. Fossils of "Pan" species were not described until 2005. Existing chimpanzee populations in West and Central Africa do not overlap with the major human fossil sites in East Africa. However, "Pan" fossils have now been reported from Kenya. This would indicate that both humans and members of the "Pan" clade were present in the East African Rift Valley during the Middle Pleistocene. According to A. Zihlman, bonobo body proportions closely resemble those of "Australopithecus", leading evolutionary biologist Jeremy Griffith to suggest that bonobos may be a living example of our distant human ancestors. German
Bonobo
2053098
as "Australopithecus africanus" and "Australopithecus sediba". Tim D. White of the University of California also challenged the findings, asking, "How can practitioners in this field possibly expect to be able to accurately identify fossil species based upon a few teeth, jaws, and lower faces in light of what we know about the great variation found among different individuals in a single living species?" Leakey replied, "I would challenge Tim to find any primate in which you would see the same degrees of variation as those that we are seeing between our new fossils and KNM-ER 1802". KNM-ER 1802 is a
Homo rudolfensis
6471830
visitors; and the Koobi Fora Museum. Koobi Fora Spit with the facilities of the Koobi Fora research Center are to the north, but are accessible through guided tours. The most famous remains from the park are the Australopithecus and early homo fossils. These have been moved to Nairobi, but fossil non-humanoids are on display in the museum. Sibiloi National Park Sibiloi National Park lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. Established in 1973 by the government of Kenya for the protection of wildlife and palaeontological sites there, it covers 1570 km² and is internationally known for
Sibiloi National Park
13586140
and gastropod shells, and mudstone. It was deposited in a floodplain alongside river delta channels and a shallow fluctuating lake dated to around 2.5 mya. In the Hatayae member have been found the remains of "Australopithecus garhi", the most complete specimen of which is BOU-VP-12/130. According to Asfaw and White, et al. (1999), that species is "..descended from "Australopithecus afarensis" and is a candidate ancestor for early Homo." Excavations in general have failed to disclose large numbers of stone tools. The likely explanation is the lack of raw materials on lake margins, which, in turn, is likely due to the
Bouri Formation
18806455
australopithecines adapted to a variety of ecological niches. Tim D. White has argued that more evidence is needed before concluding that the variation in fossils is not merely diversity within "Australopithecus afarensis". William Kimbel, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University says the distinctions between the specimen and "A. afarensis" "are pretty subtle." Australopithecus deyiremeda Australopithecus deyiremeda is a proposed species of early hominin among those who lived about 3.5–3.3 million years ago in northern Ethiopia, around the same time and place as several discovered specimens of "Australopithecus afarensis", including the well-known "Lucy", a juvenile specimen. The discoverers believe "A." "deyiremeda"
Australopithecus deyiremeda
8020838
81840, has in 1978 been dug up in Nancy, France. "Dorygnathus" fossils were often found in the spoil heaps where unusable rock was dumped from slate quarries worked by local farmers. Most fossils were found in two major waves, one during the twenties, the other during the eighties of the twentieth century. Since then the rate of discovery has slowed considerably because the demand for slate has strongly diminished and many small quarries have closed. At present over fifty specimens have been collected, many of them are preserved in the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, as
Dorygnathus
8754732
with the fossils of dicynodonts "Eodicynodon sp". and the dinocephalians "Tapinocaninus" and "Australosyodon nyaphuli" being most commonly found. The preservation of these fossil taxa are good with the majority of fossils being found in the mudstone layers. This is especially true of the reddish-brown mudstones containing calcareous nodules. Interestingly, dinocephalian fossils have been more commonly found in the sandstones, and fossil fragments have been found in the mudstone-clast conglomerates. However, tantalizing remains of more numerous fossil species have been found to date, hinting at the true level of fossil diversity that could be discovered in the future. The fragmented material
Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone
4763210
especially in British academia, that the Piltdown Man recently found in England was the likely progenitor of the human lineage. (Piltdown man was later exposed as a forgery.) Sir Arthur Keith was an anatomist and anthropologist fellow in 1924, and a scientist whose personal prejudice looked to Europe—not to Asia or Africa—as the place where the early hominins would be shown to have emerged. He dismissed Dart's claim, suggesting instead that the Taung child skull belonged to a young ape, most likely an infant gorilla or chimpanzee. Keith's persistence in denouncing the possibility of "Australopithecus" while justifying the plausibility of
Australopithecus africanus
14452787
the "Australopithecus sediba" fossils. These critics continue to ascribe to "A. africanus" the status of precursor to the genus "Homo". Criticism has been raised in a news report on the find in "Nature", suggesting that the authors of the initial description failed to take into account the wealth of variation within "A. africanus" when defining the finds as an independent species. Additionally, the basing of the description of the species largely on the skeleton of a juvenile specimen has been subject to criticism, given that there is no certain way of saying to what extent adults would differ from juvenile
Australopithecus sediba
14699682
than "Turfanosuchus" and "Yonghesuchus", which were considered successive sister taxa to Archosauria. In most recent analyses, "Yonghesuchus" has been recovered as in a well supported clade, the Gracilisuchidae within the Pseudosuchia, along with "Gracilisuchus" and "Turfanosuchus". Yonghesuchus Yonghesuchus is an extinct genus of Late Triassic archosaur reptile. Remains have been found from the early Late Triassic Tongchuan Formation in Shanxi, China. It is named after Yonghe County, the county where fossils were found. Currently only one species, "Y. sangbiensis", is known. The specific name refers to Sangbi Creek, as fossils were found in one of its banks. "Yonghesuchus" is known
Yonghesuchus
4652711
found in caves formed in a gigantic tufa flow coming off the dolomitic bedrock of the Kalahari escarpment. The Taung Child is among the most important early human fossils ever discovered. It was the first hominid to be discovered in Africa, a species later named "Australopithecus africanus", supporting Charles Darwin's concepts that the closest living relatives of humans are the African apes. It furthermore demonstrated significant differences between reality and the fake skull of a proposed human ancestor from England known as the Piltdown Man or "Eoanthropus". The little skull is hypothesized to be from an approximately three to three
Taung
2575318
Meganthropus Meganthropus is a name commonly given to several large jaw and skull fragments found at the Sangiran site near Surakarta in Central Java, Indonesia. The original scientific name was Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, and while it is commonly considered invalid today, the genus name has survived as something of an informal nickname for the fossils. As of 2005, the taxonomy and phylogeny for the specimens are still uncertain, although most paleoanthropologists consider them related to "Homo erectus" in some way. However, the names "Homo palaeojavanicus" and even "Australopithecus palaeojavanicus" are sometimes used as well, indicating the classification uncertainty. Of particular interest
Meganthropus
10586393
by Charles Darwin in 1871. Modern humans evolved from a lineage of upright-walking apes that has been traced back over to "Sahelanthropus". The first known stone tools were made about , apparently by "Australopithecus garhi", and were found near animal bones that bear scratches made by these tools. The earliest hominines had chimpanzee-sized brains, but there has been a fourfold increase in the last 3 Ma; a statistical analysis suggests that hominine brain sizes depend almost completely on the date of the fossils, while the species to which they are assigned has only slight influence. There is a long-running debate
Evolutionary history of life
130739
species "Australopithecus deyiremeda" is claimed to have been discovered living at the same time period of "Au. afarensis". There is debate if Au. deyiremeda is a new species or is "Au. afarensis." "Australopithecus prometheus", otherwise known as Little Foot has recently been dated at 3.67 million years old through a new dating technique, making the genus "Australopithecus" as old as "afarensis". Given the opposable big toe found on Little Foot, it seems that he was a good climber, and it is thought given the night predators of the region, he probably, like gorillas and chimpanzees, built a nesting platform at
Human evolution
306192
context. After the fossils were found in 2000, they were held at the Kipsaraman village community museum, but the museum was subsequently closed. Since then, according to the Community Museums of Kenya chairman Eustace Kitonga, the fossils are stored at a secret bank vault in Nairobi. If "Orrorin" proves to be a direct human ancestor, then australopithecines such as "Australopithecus afarensis" ("Lucy") may be considered a side branch of the hominid family tree: "Orrorin" is both earlier, by almost 3 million years, and more similar to modern humans than is "A. afarensis". The main similarity is that the "Orrorin" femur
Orrorin
7579422
and five mya. However, the larger community of scientists provide several estimates for periods of divergence that imply a greater range for this event, "see" CHLCA: human-chimpanzee split. A recent find of "Australopithecus anamensis" is dated to about 4.2 million years ago, which separates it only 200 thousand years from an earlier fossil of the more primitive "Ardipithecus ramidus" (at 4.4 million years ago). "Australopithecus garhi" fossils are dated as recent as the very early Pleistocene, or 2.5 mya; fossils of "Homo erectus" in the Daka member at the site (at 1 mya) and "Homo sapiens idaltu" (at 160 ka
Middle Awash
13100973
specimen from the Milk River Formation. Isolated remains had been found earlier and assigned to "Brachychampsa" and "Leidyosuchus"; some of these fossils probably belong to "Gichristosuchus". Although the specimen is not large, the ornamentation of the skull surfaces and bone fusion indicate it was an adult. Based on previous research, Wu and Brinkman suggested that their new genus was the most derived neosuchian that wasn't within Eusuchia, the group including all living crocodilians. Gilchristosuchus Gilchristosuchus (meaning "Gilchrist [the owners of the ranch where the type specimen was found] crocodile") is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodyliform. Its fossils have been
Gilchristosuchus
16844021
LH 4 LH 4 or Laetoli Hominid 4 is the catalogue number of a fossilized mandible which was discovered by Mary Leakey in 1974 from Laetoli, Tanzania. Mary Leakey and her team, Johanson and White, found between 1974 and 1977 forty-two hominid teeth associated with a jawbone. One of them was LH-4, a fine specimen with nine teeth. White described the fossils, and LH-4 was assigned as the "name-bearer" of the new species. The specimen is 2.9–3.9 million years old and is mandible of an adult "Australopithecus afarensis" with all molars present and a fairly large canine. Most anterior teeth
LH 4
15659181
Alcidae, but have since been removed to other clades: "Hydrotherikornis" (late Eocene) is a procellariiform and "Petralca" (Late Oligocene) is a loon. Most extant genera are known to exist since the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene (c. 5 may). Miocene fossils have been found in both California and Maryland, but the greater diversity of fossils and tribes in the Pacific leads most scientists to conclude that it was there they first evolved, and it is in the Miocene Pacific that the first fossils of extant genera are found. Early movement between the Pacific and the Atlantic probably happened to the
Pan-Alcidae
1180636
facilitates terrestrial feeding from grasses, trees, and bushes. Given the many benefits of bipedality which depends on a particularly formed spine, it is likely that selection for bipedalism played a large role in the development of the spine as we see it today, in spite of the potential for "scoliotic deviations". According to the fossil record, scoliosis may have been more prevalent among earlier hominids such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus, when bipedality was first emerging. Their fossils indicate that there may have been selection over time for a slight reduction in lumbar length to what we see today, favoring
Scoliosis
8743049
features of the fossil, he also believed it likely that "Australopithecus" spent parts of their days searching for food in the trees. At the end of 2008, Clarke published a reconstruction of the circumstances which allowed the fossil to remain so unusually well preserved in contrast to other bones found in the same cave, which apparently had been washed over longer periods of time in their final storage location. The fossil also shows no damage by predators so the assumption can be made that the fossils were not moved to the cave to be fed on by predators. However, individual
Little Foot
43337
walk bipedally on the sea floor using two of their arms, allowing the remaining arms to be used to camouflage the octopus as a mat of algae or a floating coconut. There are at least twelve distinct hypotheses as to how and why bipedalism evolved in humans, and also some debate as to when. Bipedalism evolved well before the large human brain or the development of stone tools. Bipedal specializations are found in "Australopithecus" fossils from 4.2-3.9 million years ago, although "Sahelanthropus" may have walked on two legs as early as seven million years ago. Nonetheless, the evolution of bipedalism
Bipedalism
307114
denisova". Hominin fossils not belonging either to "Homo neanderthalensis" or to "Homo sapiens" species, found in the Altai Mountains and Indonesia, were radiocarbon dated to BP and BP respectively. For the duration of the Paleolithic, human populations remained low, especially outside the equatorial region. The entire population of Europe between 16,000 and 11,000 BP likely averaged some 30,000 individuals, and between 40,000 and 16,000 BP, it was even lower at 4,000–6,000 individuals. Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. The early paleolithic hominins, "Australopithecus", were the first users of stone tools. Excavations in Gona, Ethiopia have produced thousands
Paleolithic
4763214
is only about 485 cubic centimetres (cc), was one of the first fossils to reveal that upright walking (bipedal locomotion) had evolved well before any significant growth in brain size. And, in comparison to modern apes, Dart noted as with the Taung child the lack of facial (prognathous) projection, a characteristic shared with advanced hominines. In 1997, paleoanthropologist Ronald J. Clarke began extracting the remains of a near-complete skeleton of "Australopithecus" named Little Foot (StW 573), which was previously discovered in the cave system at Sterkfontein; extraction or preparation and analysis of the specimen has been nearing completion in 2018.
Australopithecus africanus
8265014
half kilometres from the site where the knee joint had been discovered, where Johanson found the first fossil fragment of Lucy (Australopithecus). AL 129-1 AL 129-1 is a fossilized knee joint of the species "Australopithecus afarensis". It was discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia by Donald Johanson in November 1973. It is estimated to be 3.4 million years old. Its characteristics include an elliptical Lateral condyle and an oblique femoral shaft like that found in humans, indicating bipedalism. French geologist Maurice Taieb discovered the Hadar Formation in 1968. He then formed the IARE, inviting notably Johanson, an American anthropologist and founding director
AL 129-1
14452785
cranial capacity is estimated at around , about one-third of that of modern humans (). A well-preserved and articulated ankle of "A. sediba" is mostly humanlike in form and function and possesses some evidence for a humanlike arch and Achilles tendon. However, "A. sediba" is apelike in possessing a more gracile calcaneal body and a more robust medial malleolus than expected. This shows that "A. sediba" may have practiced a unique combination of bipedalism and arboreality. As opposed to the authors of the initial description, who interpreted both fossils as a possible transitional species between "Australopithecus" and "Homo", other palaeoanthropologists
Australopithecus sediba
1531581
Research Laboratory with it. Later another excavator found a skull. More specimens were found. Black would frequently examine these late into the night. Most of the original bones were lost in the process of shipping them out of China for safe-keeping during the beginning of World War II. The Japanese gained control of the Peking Union Medical Center during the war, where the laboratory containing all the fossils was ransacked and all the remaining specimens were confiscated. To this day, the fossils have not been found and no one is sure if they were stolen or legitimately lost. Only the
Davidson Black
16939392
the second edition to her book Hunting for Fossils most of the little research on Hawaii's fossils record had already gone out of print. She recommended that would-be amateur fossil hunters in Hawaii consult staff of a local museum for clues on where to hunt due to the rarity of fossils and the lack of easily accessible information on them. The oldest of the Hawaiian islands is Kauai, of the archipelago's northwest. Kauai preserves lava flows that formed slightly more than five million years ago. No non-avian dinosaur fossils have ever been found in Hawaii because the volcanic activity responsible
Paleontology in Hawaii
8754534
"Howesia browni", and archosauriformes "Erythrosuchus africanus" and "Euparkeria capensis, later also with first dinosaurs (including Dinosaurus)". In addition, the dicynodont species "Kannemeyeria" is found from Subzones B – C, anomodonts,and several theracephalian species are found throughout. Plant fossils such as "Dicroidium", "Dadoxylon", and "Schizoneura" are likewise found. Finally, numerous temnospondyl amphibian species, fishes, rare occurrences of molluscs, and ichnofossils of arthropod trackways and vertebrate burrows have been discovered. Many of the cynodont species that are found in the "Cynognathus" Assemblage Zone have been found in formations in different countries which correlate in age. Most notably "Diademodon" fossils have been found
Cynognathus Assemblage Zone
2705077
is continuing debate on delineating "Homo" from "Australopithecus"—or, indeed, delineating "Homo" from "Pan", as one body of scientists argue that the two species of chimpanzee should be classed with genus "Homo" rather than "Pan". Even so, classifying the fossils of "Homo" coincides with evidences of: 1) competent human bipedalism in "Homo habilis" inherited from the earlier "Australopithecus" of more than four million years ago, (see Laetoli); and 2) human tool culture having begun by 2.5 million years ago. From the late-19th to mid-20th centuries, a number of new taxonomic names including new generic names were proposed for early human fossils;
Homo
723220
Despite their fragile, gelatinous bodies, fossils thought to represent ctenophores – apparently with no tentacles but many more comb-rows than modern forms – have been found in Lagerstätten as far back as the early Cambrian, about . Nevertheless, a recent molecular phylogenetics analysis concludes that the common ancestor originated approximately 350 million years ago ± 88 million years ago, conflicting previous estimates which suggests it occurred after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Because of their soft, gelatinous bodies, ctenophores are extremely rare as fossils, and fossils that have been interpreted as ctenophores have been found only in lagerstätten, places where the
Ctenophora
16304957
in herds, much like modern elephants. Along with mammoths, specimens of mastodons with marks from stone tools have been found, which means that they were probably hunted. This was by far the largest beaver ever to live, growing up to 7 feet long. Only five sites have ever been recovered, and most of what has been found is parts of the skull and lower jaw. Only one specimen of this animal has been found in Michigan, an antler that was found in Berrien County. There are seven sites in Michigan where this animal has been found, and it is believed
Pleistocene fossils in Michigan
12513802
a genus of freshwater snail, have also been found. While compression fossils of insects are found in the overlying Vectis Formation, all insect fossils in the Wessex formation are found as inclusions in amber. Amber can be found present as a rare component in other plant debris beds in the Wessex formation both on the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Purbeck, however the only significant concentration and where all of the inclusions have been found is a lag channel in the L6 plant debris horizon just south-east of Chilton Chine. Only two species from the amber have been
Wessex Formation
19962714
in the Middle Pleistocene or approximately 1.66 – 0.7 Ma. In 2003 another human species was found at Liang Bua cave in Flores, eastern Indonesia. The fossils consist of cranial and some post-cranial remains of one individual, and a premolar from another individual in older deposits. The species was recognized as distinct from "H. erectus" and "H sapiens" on the basis of anatomical differences (including much smaller body size), and named "Homo floresiensis". It has been suggested that the brain volume of these individuals was approximately around 400 cm, similar to the African "Australopithecus afarensis". However, "H. floresiensis" remains were
Archaic humans in Southeast Asia
8232484
not dinosaurs but large aquatic lizards that could reach lengths of up to 45 feet. They were carnivorous and would have been the top of the food chain in the Coon Creek area. Coon Creek has been named as one of the country's top twelve fossils sites for several reasons (Noble 1996). • The fossils are found in their original state. The hard shells have not been permeated by groundwater and not replaced by minerals. • The number of fossils is stupendous. Many times you will literally find fossils on top of fossils. Most fossil sites require concentrated efforts to
Coon Creek Formation
14452780
not believe what he saw—a hominid clavicle. Upon turning the block over, "sticking out of the back of the rock was a mandible with a tooth, a canine, sticking out. And I almost died", he later recalled. The fossil turned out to belong to a juvenile male, whose skull was discovered in March 2009 by Berger's team. The find was announced to the public on April 8, 2010. Also found at the Malapa archeological site were a variety of animal fossils, including saber-toothed cats, mongooses, and antelopes. Berger and geologist Paul Dirks speculated that the animals might have fallen into
Australopithecus sediba
12913827
strata where fossils of "Santanichthys" were gathered from date back to the Aptian stage of the Cretaceous period. A large part of this faunal assemblage are masses of fossilized fish found at semi-regular intervals, including shoals of "Santanichthys" in various states of preservation. Aside from the Santana, "Santanichthys" fossils have also been found in other Cretaceous deposits in Brazil. The Cretaceous deposits of the Brazilian Riachuelo Formation, specifically the Taquari Member have yielded specimens of "Santanichthys". Fossils of the taxon have also been unearthed from the Codo Formation in the Parnaiba Basin of Northeastern Brazil. The type specimen, DGM-DNPM 647P
Santanichthys