Abstract

Several hypotheses posit a link between the origin of Homo and climatic and environmental shifts between 3 and 2.5 Ma. Here we report on new results that shed light on the interplay between tectonics, basin migration and faunal change on the one hand and the fate of Australopithecus afarensis and the evolution of Homo on the other. Fieldwork at the new Mille-Logya site in the Afar, Ethiopia, dated to between 2.914 and 2.443 Ma, provides geological evidence for the northeast migration of the Hadar Basin, extending the record of this lacustrine basin to Mille-Logya. We have identified three new fossiliferous units, suggesting in situ faunal change within this interval. While the fauna in the older unit is comparable to that at Hadar and Dikika, the younger units contain species that indicate more open conditions along with remains of Homo. This suggests that Homo either emerged from Australopithecus during this interval or dispersed into the region as part of a fauna adapted to more open habitats.

Key events in human evolution are thought to have occurred between 3 and 2.5 Ma, but the fossil record of this period is sparse. Here, Alemseged et al. report a new fossil site from this period, Mille-Logya, Ethiopia, and characterize the geology, basin evolution and fauna, including specimens of Homo.

Details

Title
Fossils from Mille-Logya, Afar, Ethiopia, elucidate the link between Pliocene environmental changes and Homo origins
Author
Zeresenay, Alemseged 1 ; Wynn, Jonathan G 2 ; Geraads Denis 3 ; Denne, Reed 4 ; Andrew Barr W 5 ; Bobe René 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; McPherron, Shannon P 7 ; Deino, Alan 8 ; Mulugeta, Alene 9 ; J Sier Mark 10   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Roman, Diana 11 ; Mohan, Joseph 12 

1  University of Chicago, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Chicago, USA (GRID:grid.170205.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7822) 
2  National Science Foundation, Division of Earth Sciences, Alexandria, USA (GRID:grid.431093.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 1958 7073) 
3  MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP 38, CR2P, Sorbonne Universités, PARIS Cedex 05, France (GRID:grid.431093.c) 
4  University of Texas at Austin, Department of Anthropology, Austin, USA (GRID:grid.89336.37) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9924) 
5  The George Washington University, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology. Department of Anthropology, Washington, USA (GRID:grid.253615.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9510) 
6  University of Oxford, Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Anthropology, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948); Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique (GRID:grid.4991.5); Universidade do Algarve, Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Faro, Portugal (GRID:grid.7157.4) (ISNI:0000 0000 9693 350X) 
7  Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany (GRID:grid.419518.0) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 1813) 
8  Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, USA (GRID:grid.272976.f) 
9  Addis Ababa University, School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (GRID:grid.7123.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 1250 5688) 
10  Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, CENIEH, Burgos, Spain (GRID:grid.7123.7); University of Oxford, Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948) 
11  Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Washington, USA (GRID:grid.418276.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2323 7340) 
12  University of Maine, Climate Change Institute, Orono, USA (GRID:grid.21106.34) (ISNI:0000000121820794) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16060-8
ProQuest document ID
2404625341
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.