THE FIRST AUSTRALOPITHECINE 2,500 KILOMETERS WEST OF THE RIFT-VALLEY (CHAD)

被引:173
作者
BRUNET, M
BEAUVILAIN, A
COPPENS, Y
HEINTZ, E
MOUTAYE, AHE
PILBEAM, D
机构
[1] CNAR, NDJAMENA, CHAD
[2] COLL FRANCE, CHAIRE PALEOANTHROPOL & PREHIST, F-75005 PARIS, FRANCE
[3] CNRS, F-75794 PARIS 16, FRANCE
[4] DRGM, NDJAMENA, CHAD
[5] HARVARD UNIV, DEPT ANTHROPOL, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1038/378273a0
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The first sites with Pliocene and Pleistocene mammals west of the Rift Valley in Central Africa in northern Chad mere reported in 1959 (ref. 1), and documented the presence of mixed savannah and woodland habitats. Further sites(2) and a probable Homo erectus cranio-facial fragment(3) mere subsequently discovered. In 1993 a survey of Pliocene and Pleistocene formations in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Province of Chad (B.E.T.) led to the discovery of 17 new sites in the region of Bahr el Ghazal (classical Arabic for River of the Gazelles) near Koro Toro. One site, KT 12 (15 degrees 58'10'' N, 18 degrees 52'46'' E) yielded an australopithecine mandible associated with a fauna biochronologically estimated to be 3.0-3.5 Myr old. Australopithecine species described since 1925 are known from southern Africa and from sites spread along the eastern Rift Valley from Tanzania to Ethiopia (Fig. 1). This new find from Chad, which is most similar in morphology to Australopithecus afarensis(4), documents the presence of an early hominid a considerable distance, 2,500 km, west of the Rift Valley.
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页码:273 / 275
页数:3
相关论文
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