Dental Remains Of Equatorius Africanus From Kipsaramon, Tugen Hills, Baringo District, Kenya
Anthropology; baringo; dentition; Equatorius; evolution; Evolutionary Biology; hominoid genus; hominoids; kenyapithecus; Kipsaramon; middle miocene; Miocene; Muruyur; pasalar; sexual dimorphism; western kenya
Forty-one isolated large hominoid teeth, as well as most of the mandibular and three maxillary teeth associated with a partial skeleton, were recovered from middle Miocene Muruyur sediments near Kipsaramon in the Tugen Hills, Baringo District, Kenya. The isolated teeth were collected as surface finds and the skeleton was excavated in situ at locality BPRP#122 dated between 15(.)58 Ma and 15(.)36 Ma. The majority of the teeth recovered at BPRP#122 are referable to a minimum of five individuals of the hominoid Equatorius africanus. Three of the teeth, however, are provisionally assigned to Nyanzapithecus sp. The new hominoids from Kipsaramon add to an increasing inventory of specimens that suggest greater large hominoid taxonomic diversity from the middle Miocene of Kenya than was previously recognized. It is suggested that there are two large-bodied hominoid species present at Mabako, only one of which is assignable to Equatorius. (C) 2002 Academic Press.
Kelley J; Ward S; Brown B; Hill A; Duren D L
Journal of Human Evolution
2002
2002-01
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2001.0504" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1006/jhev.2001.0504</a>
Earliest Homo
baringo; calibration; east; fossil hominids; kenya; pliocene; region; Science & Technology - Other Topics; turkana
THE origin of our own genus, Homo, has been tentatively correlated with worldwide climatic cooling documented at about 2.4 Myr (million years) (refs 1-5). It has also been conjectured that members of Homo made the first stone tools, currently dated at 2.6 - 2.4 Myr (refs 6-8). But fossil specimens clearly attributable to Homo before about 1.9 Myr have been lacking. In 1967 a fossil hominoid temporal bone (KNM-BC1) from the Chemeron Formation of Kenya was described as family Hominidae gen. et sp. indet. 9. Although a surface find, its provenance within site JM85 (BPRP site K002) was established and a stratigraphic section provided indicating the specimen's position 9. This evidence has been affirmed (see for example refs 10-12) but the exact age of the fossil was never determined, and the absence of suitable comparative hominid material has precluded a more definitive taxonomic assignment. Here we present Ar-40/Ar-39 age determinations on material from the hominid site indicating an age of 2.4 Myr. In addition, comparative studies allow us to assign KNM-BC1 to the genus Homo, making it the earliest securely known fossil of our own genus found so far.
Hill A; Ward S; Deino A; Curtis G; Drake R
Nature
1992
1992-02
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/355719a0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1038/355719a0</a>
Anatomy And Age Of The Lothagam Mandible
Anthropology; baringo; dating; east-africa; Evolutionary Biology; faunal change; fossil hominids; hominidae; kenya; late miocene; lothagam; mandible; pliocene; tanzania
Hill A; Ward S; Brown B
Journal of Human Evolution
1992
1992-06
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2484(92)90079-o" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1016/0047-2484(92)90079-o</a>