Journal ArticleDOI
A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) Depression of Eritrea
Ernesto Abbate,Andrea Albianelli,A. Azzaroli,Marco Benvenuti,Berhane Tesfamariam,Piero Bruni,Nicola Cipriani,Ronald J. Clarke,G. Ficcarelli,Roberto Macchiarelli,Giovanni Napoleone,Mauro Papini,Lorenzo Rook,Mario Sagri,Tewelde Medhin Tecle,D. Torre,Igor M. Villa +16 more
TLDR
The cranium was found in a succession of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine deposits and is associated with a rich mammalian fauna of early to early-middle Pleistocene age, which means the human remains can be dated at ∼1 million years before present.Abstract:
One of the most contentious topics in the study of human evolution is that of the time, place and mode of origin of Homo sapiens1,2,3. The discovery in the Northern Danakil (Afar) Depression, Eritrea, of a well-preserved Homo cranium with a mixture of characters typical of H. erectus and H. sapiens contributes significantly to this debate. The cranium was found in a succession of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine deposits and is associated with a rich mammalian fauna of early to early-middle Pleistocene age. A magnetostratigraphic survey indicates two reversed and two normal magnetozones. The layer in which the cranium was found is near the top of the lower normal magnetozone, which is identified as the Jaramillo subchron. Consequently, the human remains can be dated at ∼1 million years before present.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior.
Sally McBrearty,Alison S. Brooks +1 more
TL;DR: The African Middle and early Late Pleistocene hominid fossil record is fairly continuous and in it can be recognized a number of probably distinct species that provide plausible ancestors for H. sapiens, and suggests a gradual assembling of the package of modern human behaviors in Africa, and its later export to other regions of the Old World.
Journal ArticleDOI
African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene
TL;DR: In this paper, the best dated and most complete African mammal fossil databases indicate African faunal assemblage and speciation changes during the Pliocene-Pleistocene interval (the last ca. 5.3 million years) were mediated by changes in African climate or shifts in climate variability.
Journal ArticleDOI
Natural history of Homo erectus.
TL;DR: It is argued that H. erectus is a hominin, notable for its increased body size, that originates in the latest Pliocene/earliest Pleistocene of Africa and quickly disperses into Western and Eastern Asia and is also an increasingly derived homin in with several regional morphs sustained by intermittent isolation, particularly in Southeast Asia.
Journal ArticleDOI
Human evolution: taxonomy and paleobiology
Bernard Wood,Brian G. Richmond +1 more
TL;DR: This review begins by setting out the context and the scope of human evolution, and sets out the formal nomenclature, history of discovery, and information about the characteristic morphology, and its behavioural implications, of the species presently included in the human clade.
Journal ArticleDOI
Brain size and encephalization in early to Mid-Pleistocene Homo.
TL;DR: It is apparent that the (significant) increase in volume documented for the Middle Pleistocene individuals is not simply a consequence of larger body mass, and Encephalization quotient values confirm this finding.
References
More filters
Book ChapterDOI
A revised Cenozoic geochronology and chronostratigraphy
TL;DR: Cande and Kent as mentioned in this paper presented a revised (integrated magnetobiochronologic) Cenozoic time scale (IMBTS) based on an assessment and integration of data from several sources.
Journal ArticleDOI
Atmospheric effects of the Mt Pinatubo eruption
TL;DR: The eruption of Mt Pinatubo in June 1991 caused the largest perturbation this century to the participate content of the stratosphere, which put an end to several years of globally warm surface temperatures as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
The thickness, volume and grainsize of tephra fall deposits
TL;DR: In this paper, an improved empirical method for the plotting of field data and the calculation of tephra fall volumes is presented, where two new quantitative parameters are proposed which describe the rates of thinning of the deposit (bt the thickness half distance) and the maximum clast size (bc the clast half distance).
Journal ArticleDOI
A Hominid from the Lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Spain: Possible Ancestor to Neandertals and Modern Humans
J. M. Bermúdez de Castro,Juan Luis Arsuaga,Juan Luis Arsuaga,Eudald Carbonell,Eudald Carbonell,Antonio Rosas,Antonio Rosas,Ignacio Martínez,Ignacio Martínez,Marina Mosquera,Marina Mosquera +10 more
TL;DR: Human fossil remains recovered from the TD6 level of the lower Pleistocene cave site of Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, exhibit a unique combination of cranial, mandibular, and dental traits and are suggested as a new species of Homo-H.
Journal ArticleDOI
Another look at the calculation of fallout tephra volumes
Judy Fierstein,Manuel Nathenson +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used straight lines on plots of log thickness versus area 1/2 to calculate the volumes of fallout tephra layers, which is the most geologically reasonable method because most deposits thin exponentially from source.