Pubblicazione scientifica

First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo)

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
produzione e cattura	modalità di utilizzo delle reti/attrezzi da pesca sistemi di individuazione sottomarini (es. ecoscandaglio, ecc.)

RIASSUNTO

Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the discovery of an isolated upper molar (#Ish25) from the Western Rift Valley site of Ishango in Central Africa in a derived context, overlying beds dated to between ca. 2.6 to 2.0 Ma. We used µCT imaging to compare its external and internal macro-morphology to upper molars of australopiths, and fossil and recent Homo. We show that the size and shape of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) surface discriminate between Plio-Pleistocene and post-Lower Pleistocene hominins, and that the Ishango molar clusters with australopiths and early Homo from East and southern Africa. A reassessment of the archaeological context of the specimen is consistent with the morphological evidence and suggest that early hominins were occupying this region by at least 2 Ma.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 10/01/2014

AUTORI

CREVECOEUR ISABELLE
SKINNER MATTHEW M
BAILEY SHARA E
GUNZ PHILIPP
BORTOLUZZI SILVIA
BROOKS ALISON S
BURLET CHRISTIAN
CORNELISSEN ELS
DE CLERCK NORA
MAUREILLE BRUNO
SEMAL PATRICK
VANBRABANT YVES
WOOD BERNARD

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199 de la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture Environnement et Anthropologie (UMR 5199 - PACEA) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Université de Bordeaux Talence France
Laboratori di Antropologia Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica “Leo Pardi” Università di Firenze Florence Italy
DEPT ANTHROPOLOGY UNIV COLLEGE LONDON LONDON UK
MAX PLANCK INST EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY DEPT HUMAN EVOLUTION LEIPZIG GERMANY
CTR STUDY OF HUMAN ORIGINS DEPT ANTHROPOLOGY NEW YORK UNIV NEW YORK NEW YORK USA
CTR ADV STUDY OF HOMINID PALEOBIOLOGY DEPT ANTHROPOLOGY GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV WASHINGTON DC USA
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF BELGIUM ROYAL BELGIAN INST NATURAL SCIENCES BRUSSELS BELGIUM
SECTION OF PREHISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY ROYAL MUSEUM FOR CENTRAL AFRICA TERVUREN BELGIUM
MICROTOMOGRAPHY CT RSCH GROUP UNIV ANTWERP WILRIJK BELGIUM
ANTHROPOLOGY & PREHISTORY ROYAL BELGIAN INST NATURAL SCIENCES BRUSSELS BELGIUM
UNIV DELAWARE USA

RIVISTA

PLoS ONE, 9(1), e84652

IMPACT FACTOR

2,870

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