Preliminary geology and palaeontology of the Bodo D'ar hominid Site, Afar, Ethiopia

Kalb, Jon E.; Wood, Craig B.; Smart, Charles C.; Oswald, Elizabeth B.; Mabrete, Assefa; Tebedge, Sleshi; Whitehead, Paul F.

doi:10.1016/0031-0182(80)90052-8

Cited by 41 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Kalb and his Rift Valley Research Mission in Ethiopia made the first paleontological investigations and set up a stratigraphic framework (Kalb et al, 1982a(Kalb et al, -d,1984. During this time the Pleistocene Bod0 hominid was discovered (Conroy et al, 1978;Kalb et al, 1980). Subsequent work by a group led by Clark found even older hominids that border on the time boundary set for this paper.…”

Section: Geologymentioning

confidence: 93%

Origin of the hominidae: The record of african large hominoid evolution between 14 my and 4 my

Hill

Ward

1988

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

127

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The Hominidae probably originated in Africa sometime between 14 my and 4 my ago. Unfortunately the fossil evidence from this time period and region is relatively poor. We regard only 11 specimens as unambiguous hominoids, and none preserves a great amount of anatomy. They come from a very restricted geographical region. Two are from Ethiopia and the rest from Kenya, where most have been found in the Tugen Hills succession west of Lake Baringo. No unequivocal fossil evidence of ancestral Gorilla or Pan has yet been recognised. The oldest hominid yet known-in the sense used here-probably dates to greater than 5.6 my. One especially interesting question in the paleobiology of the hominoidea, as in other taxa, is the relation of extrinsic factors to speciation. To resolve this issue, diagnostic and well-dated specimens are necessary. However, they need not be anatomically spectacular. Fragmentary specimens, although imperfect anatomically, can be just as effective as more complete material in defining taxonomic branching points. The origin of Hominidae, or at least bipedalism, has been conjecturally associated with a regional environmental change from tropical forest to widespread grassland. Evidence accumulating from various parts of Africa, particularly the Tugen Hills, suggests this was not an abrupt transition. The pattern of habitats was probably patchy in space and time. This may have been a factor in the origin and development of the hominid clade. Much progress has recently been made, but further hominoid specimens, coupled with environmental information from well-calibrated sequences, is necessary to elucidate the nature and causes of cladistic branching within the superfamily .Some perennial problems in human evolution are the basic ones. Where did the first hominid species diverge from other hominoids? When did this event take place? What did the first hominid look like? And what were the proximate causes of the divergence and subsequent radiation of the Hominidae?It is easier to answer some of these questions than others, at least in a general way. With regard to the location of human evolution, selective quotation often attributes to Darwin the perception, now believed to be correct, that hominids evolved in Africa. In The Descent of Man (1871), having pointed out the general relation between extinct and extant species in each great region of the world, Darwin writes with typical caution:"It is therefore probable that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct apes closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee; and as these two species 0 1988 Alan R. Liss, Inc. [Vol. 31, 1988 are now man's nearest allies, it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere." YEARBOOK OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGYOf course, at that time the fossil record of our early progenitors was somewhat sparse, but not nonexistent, and Darwin was even more circumspect and astute than this isolated reference implies. In the less-cited following passage he continues: "But it is usele...

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Section: Geologymentioning

confidence: 93%

Origin of the hominidae: The record of african large hominoid evolution between 14 my and 4 my

Hill

Ward

1988

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

127

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“…These include Bodo in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia. The Bodo cranium, and later a broken parietal from a second individual, were found with Acheulean artifacts (Kalb et al, 1980;Clark et al, 1984). The face and front of the braincase are reasonably complete, and Bodo is like Homo erectus in some of its features (Figure 3).…”

Section: Dispersal Of Homo Erectusmentioning

confidence: 96%

Middle pleistocene humans from africa

Rightmire

2000

Hum. Evol.

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“…120 Occipital sagittal chord -106 87 89 --94 92 -92 Occipital sagittal arc -136 111 ---125 114 -128 Occipital angle -106 111 ---106 114 -97 Lambda-inion chord -70 61 60 58 -67 61 62 65 Inion-opisthion chord -55 45 54 --46 49 -55 Occipital scale sands containing mammalian bones and later Acheulean tools. [5][6][7] Fauna from the Bodo site has been compared to that from Bed IV at Olduvai Gorge and Olorgesailie in Kenya, and an early Middle Pleistocene date is indicated. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar measurements support this biochronology, and the evidence points to an age of about 600 thousand years (Ka) for the Bodo hominins.…”

Section: Morphology Of Key Specimensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Homo in the middle pleistocene: Hypodigms, variation, and species recognition

Rightmire

2008

Evolutionary Anthropology

172

130

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It is generally accepted that modern humans evolved in Africa. This consensus has emerged in the last two decades, as molecular evidence has been coupled with findings from paleontology and prehistory. Patterns of DNA variation in living populations, morphology of fossils, and archeological traces can all be read to show that our species has deep roots in Africa and began to disperse into other regions only late in the Pleistocene. There are still questions about the timing of these dispersals and the extent to which modern people replaced or exchanged genes with other, more archaic groups, but new problems are now coming more clearly into focus. These relate to the ancestry of Homo sapiens in the Middle Pleistocene. In this essay, I emphasize the evidence available from Middle Pleistocene localities in Africa and Europe, exploring variation among individuals, composition of hypodigms, species‐level taxonomy, and evolutionary relationships of the hominin populations. One obvious difficulty is that the fossils are scarce. For the most part, only incomplete crania are available from African localities. The record is more comprehensive for the Sima de los Huesos in Spain, but principally crania and jaws are known from other European sites. This means that skull traits and measurements must provide the basis for sorting individuals to groups and building differential diagnoses. For much of the material, dating is still poorly controlled, although a few of the most important assemblages can now be placed more securely within a Middle Pleistocene chronological framework. Despite these constraints, it is possible to point toward tentative solutions.

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Preliminary geology and palaeontology of the Bodo D'ar hominid Site, Afar, Ethiopia

Cited by 41 publications

References 10 publications

Origin of the hominidae: The record of african large hominoid evolution between 14 my and 4 my

Origin of the hominidae: The record of african large hominoid evolution between 14 my and 4 my

Middle pleistocene humans from africa

Homo in the middle pleistocene: Hypodigms, variation, and species recognition

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