A new archaic Homo sapiens fossil from Lake Eyasi, Tanzania
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Date
2008-06
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Abstract
The Kohl Larsen expeditions to Lake Eyasi (Tanzania) in
the early 20th century discovered the remains of three hominid
skulls, one of them fairly complete (Eyasi 1), of unknown
Middle Pleistocene age (Mehlman, 1984, 1989). The lack of
chronological control resulted in the exclusion of these remains
from the mainstream of discussions concerning the
emergence of Homo sapiens. Since then, a hominid mandible
and occipital fragments have been discovered (Mehlman,
1989; Brauer and Mabulla, 1996). Recently a new frontal
bone was retrieved from the lake sediments in association
with a core and flake industry classified within the early
MSA (Middle Stone Age) tradition (Domı´nguez-Rodrigo
et al., 2007). All these specimens come from the areas of
Northeast Bay and West Bay into which the fossiliferous Eyasi
region can be divided (Mehlman, 1987, 1989; Fig. 1).
Lake Eyasi is an asymmetric lacustrine basin in relation to
the Tanzanian Divergence Zone of the Gregory Rift. It is situated
south of the Crater Highlands and is formed by a tectonic
step constituted by the escarpment resulting from a northwest
fault. A flexure zone can be documented to the east where
the Proterozoic and Archaean basement outcrops (Ebinger
et al., 1997). The Eyasi lake basin adopted its modern form
about 1 million years ago (Pickering, 1961; Mac Intyr
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Citation
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Mabulla, A., Luque, L., Thompson, J.W., Rink, J., Bushozi, P., Díez-Martin, F. and Alcala, L., 2008. A new archaic Homo sapiens fossil from Lake Eyasi, Tanzania. Journal of human evolution, 54(6), pp.899-903.