Contemporaneity of Australopithecus , Paranthropus , and early Homo erectus in South Africa

Abstract

Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus. These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.

Complexities of assessing palaeocave stratigraphy: reconstructing site formation of the ∼2.61 Ma Drimolen Makondo fossil site

“…The level of erosion at DMK may provide further insight into this, as exposure and ongoing deterioration of Pliocene sites has since caused their complete removal from the current land surface. In addition, assessments at DMK have uncovered a unique accumulation of faunal remains (Rovinsky et al, 2015;Herries et al, 2018); as well as coprolites, pollen and potential vegetal tissue as part of this study, and vegetal tissue at DMQ (Herries et al, 2020). This is comparable to isolate findings of a pollen and wood tissue fragments within a coprolite identified at Malapa (Bamford et al, 2010), and woody tissue fragments identified at Sterkfontein Member 4 (Bamford, 1999).…”

“…However, sediment infilled DMK at ∼2.61 Ma soon after the DMK formation of the basal flowstone, based on US-ESR combined with U-Pb and palaeomagnetism (Herries et al, 2018). This is unlike DMQ, where sediments infilled the cave significantly after the formation of the basal flowstone (∼600 ka) (Herries et al, 2020).…”

Materiality, Agency and Evolution of Lithic Technology: an Integrated Perspective for Palaeolithic Archaeology

“…A final reason why materiality thinking promises to open up fruitful research avenues in Palaeolithic studies is the comparative, multispecies nexus provided by archaeological investigations of the deep past: The material record of the Palaeolithic is the only entry point to a past where hominin biocultural diversity was a decisive factor. It features multiple hominin species or demes of which several Homo and possibly Australopithecus groups regularly produced and utilised stone tools (Harmand et al 2015;Shea 2017;Herries et al 2020). Archaeological and palaeoanthropological research has shown that this heightened hominin diversity was the status quo in human evolution until at least 100,000 years ago and likely until much later (e.g.…”

Den Urmenschen auf den Zahn gefühlt

“…Das könnte sich aber bald ändern, denn von H. erectus sind zahlreiche Skelettfunde bekannt. Fundorte gibt es von Iberien bis nach Indonesien und neuerdings sogar in Südafrika, wo H. erectus vor zwei Millionen Jahren gleichzeitig mit zwei anderen Hominiden auftrat . Da Zähne oft gut erhalten bleiben und somit reichlich Probenmaterial für die Zahnproteomik zur Verfügung steht, bleibt zu hoffen, dass H. erectus und andere Arten, die bisher allein aufgrund von anatomischen Details eingeordnet werden, demnächst auch einen mit molekularer Sequenzinformation belegten Platz im Stammbaum unserer Evolution finden.…”