Fossils and artifacts recovered from the middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar depression sample the Middle Pleistocene transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. Ar/Ar ages, biostratigraphy, and tephrachronology from this area indicate that the Pleistocene Bodo hominid cranium and newer specimens are approximately 0.6 million years old. Only Oldowan chopper and flake assemblages are present in the lower stratigraphic units, but Acheulean bifacial artifacts are consistently prevalent and widespread in directly overlying deposits. This technological transition is related to a shift in sedimentary regime, supporting the hypothesis that Middle Pleistocene Oldowan assemblages represent a behavioral facies of the Acheulean industrial complex.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.8009220DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

homo erectus
8
oldowan assemblages
8
middle awash
8
awash valley
8
middle pleistocene
8
african homo
4
erectus radiometric
4
radiometric ages
4
ages young
4
young oldowan
4

Similar Publications

Questions about when early members of the genus adapted to extreme environments like deserts and rainforests have traditionally focused on . Here, we present multidisciplinary evidence from Engaji Nanyori in Tanzania's Oldupai Gorge, revealing that thrived in hyperarid landscapes one million years ago. Using biogeochemical analyses, precise chronometric dating, palaeoclimate simulations, biome modeling, fire history reconstructions, palaeobotanical studies, faunal assemblages, and archeological evidence, we reconstruct an environment dominated by semidesert shrubland.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Shared intentionality may have been favored by persistence hunting in .

Behav Brain Sci

January 2025

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC,

Shared intentionality is the derived hominin motivation and skills to align mental states. Research on the role of interdependence in the phylogeny of shared intentionality has only considered the archeological record of . But ethnographic and fossil data must be considered, too.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Taxonomic revision of the SK 15 mandible based on bone and tooth structural organization.

J Hum Evol

January 2025

Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044, China.

The hominin mandible SK 15 was discovered in April 1949 in Swartkrans Member 2, dated to ∼1.4 Ma. Albeit distorted on the right side, the left and right corpus of SK 15 are relatively low and thick, even compared to most Early to Middle Pleistocene Homo specimens.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

For much of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, multiple hominin species coexisted in the same regions of eastern and southern Africa. Due to the limitations of the skeletal fossil record, questions regarding their interspecific interactions remain unanswered. We report the discovery of footprints (~1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!