The Pleistocene fauna (other than Primates) from Asbole, lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia, and its environmental and biochronological implications

The Asbole area in the Lower Awash Valley yielded a diverse fauna of large and small mammals, associated with an Acheulean industry. The most notable forms are a potentially new species of herpestid, a large collection of Kolpochoerus majus, and the earliest known Bos in Africa. Biochronologically, this fauna belongs to the earliest Middle Pleistocene, and is roughly contemporaneous with the Bodo site further south. Paleoenvironmentally, the fauna suggests a mosaic of landscapes among which humid environments, grasslands and forests, are predominant.     

Re-Appraisal of <Emphasis Type="Italic">‘Felis’ pamiri</Emphasis> Ozansoy, 1959 (Carnivora,Felidae) from the Upper Miocene of Turkey: the Earliest Pantherin Cat?

Although the divergence of the Panthera clade from other Felidae might be as old as the earliest middle Miocene, its fossil record before the Pliocene is virtually non-existent. Here we reassess the affinities of a felid from the early upper Miocene of Turkey, known by well-preserved associated upper and lower dentitions. We conclude that it belongs to the same genus (Miopanthera Kretzoi, 1938) as the middle Miocene ‘Styriofelis’ lorteti (Gaillard, 1899), and that this genus is close to, if not part of, the Panthera clade.     

Pleistocene Hominins as a Resource for Carnivores: A c. 500,000-Year-Old Human Femur Bearing Tooth-Marks in North Africa (Thomas Quarry I,Morocco)

In many Middle Pleistocene sites, the co-occurrence of hominins with carnivores, who both contributed to faunal accumulations, suggests competition for resources as well as for living spaces. Despite this, there is very little evidence of direct interaction between them to-date. Recently, a human femoral diaphysis has been recognized in South-West of Casablanca (Morocco), in the locality called Thomas Quarry I. This site is famous for its Middle Pleistocene fossil hominins considered representatives of Homo rhodesiensis. The bone was discovered in Unit 4 of the Grotte à Hominidés (GH), dated to c. 500 ky and was associated with Acheulean artefacts and a rich mammalian fauna. Anatomically, it fits well within the group of known early Middle Pleistocene Homo, but its chief point of interest is that the diaphyseal ends display numerous tooth marks showing that it had been consumed shortly after death by a large carnivore, probably a hyena. This bone represents the first evidence of consumption of human remains by carnivores in the cave. Whether predated or scavenged, this chewed femur indicates that humans were a resource for carnivores, underlining their close relationships during the Middle Pleistocene in Atlantic Morocco.     

Digital data collection in paleoanthropology

Understanding patterns of human evolution across space and time requires synthesizing data collected by independent research teams, and this effort is part of a larger trend to develop cyber infrastructure and e‐science initiatives. 1 At present, paleoanthropology cannot easily answer basic questions about the total number of fossils and artifacts that have been discovered, or exactly how those items were collected. In this paper, we examine the methodological challenges to data integration, with the hope that mitigating the technical obstacles will further promote data sharing. At a minimum, data integration efforts must document what data exist and how the data were collected (discovery), after which we can begin standardizing data collection practices with the aim of achieving combined analyses (synthesis). This paper outlines a digital data collection system for paleoanthropology. We review the relevant data management principles for a general audience and supplement this with technical details drawn from over 15 years of paleontological and archeological field experience in Africa and Europe. The system outlined here emphasizes free open‐source software (FOSS) solutions that work on multiple computer platforms; it builds on recent advances in open‐source geospatial software and mobile computing.     

On some spiral-horned antelopes (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae) from the Late Miocene of Turkey, with remarks on their distribution

Examination of some collections from several late Miocene Turkish localities allows us to describe and definitely identify for the first time several species of spiral-horned antelopes in this country:Palaeoreas lindermayeri, Protragelaphus skouzesi, Prostrepsiceros zitteli andNisidorcas sp. During the first part of the late Miocene, several endemic species are restricted to central Anatolia, while more widespread taxa appear in the later part of this period, suggesting a decrease in provinciality of this area.     

A new hominin from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation, Dikika, Ethiopia, and its geological context

In this paper we report for the first time hominin remains from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation at Dikika, in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, dating to greater than 3.4 Ma. The new fossil, DIK-2-1, is a fragment of a left mandible and associated dentition. The mandible is attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. However, the new fossil exhibits some metric and morphological features that have not previously been seen in the A. afarensis hypodigm, increasing the already impressive degree of variation in the mandibular sample of the species.     

Evidence for a Late Pliocene faunal transition based on a new rodent assemblage from Oldowan locality Hadar A.L. 894, Afar Region, Ethiopia

The time interval between 3 Ma and 2 Ma marks several important transitions in human evolution, including the extinction of Australopithecus afarensis, the origin of the genus Homo, and the appearance of concentrated stone tool assemblages forming recognizable archaeological sites. The period also marks important changes in Earth’s climatic history, with the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation starting sometime between 2.8 Ma and 2.5 Ma, and it remains an unresolved question in paleoanthropology whether or not the global climatic events influenced in whole or in part, local terrestrial paleoenvironments in Africa and, through this, the course of human evolution.Changes in the terrestrial mammalian faunas of East Africa during this time interval are an important source of data about terrestrial paleoenvironments, and it has been argued that during this time period the mammalian faunas of Africa experienced a sudden pulse in the extinction and origination of taxa. The data corroborating this Turnover Pulse Hypothesis derive from both large mammal and micromammal data, though the fossil record of the former is much more abundant in this interval. New micromammal fossils recovered from ca. 2.4 Ma deposits at locality A.L. 894, low in the Busidima Formation in the Hadar study area of the Afar region, Ethiopia, reveal a significant faunal turnover when compared with previously published material from older 3.2 Ma micromammal assemblages from the Hadar Formation deposits. The results support the hypothesis of a major faunal transition, but larger sample sizes and more extensive temporal sampling are needed to refine the time and rate of change within this interval at Hadar.     

A New Rhinoceros, Victoriaceros kenyensis gen. et sp. nov., and Other Perissodactyla from the Middle Miocene of Maboko, Kenya

The middle Miocene site of Maboko (Lake Victoria, Kenya), dated to ca. 15 Ma, has yielded one of the best collection of rhinos in Africa. The most common taxon, Victoriaceros kenyensis n.gen., n.sp., is represented by an almost perfect skull (whose main features are the large nasal horn, an orbit located very anteriorly and with a prominent border, and very broad zygomatic arches) and numerous limb bones, probably belonging to only a few individuals. Characters of the teeth and skull support an assignment to the subfamily Elasmotheriinae, a group best known in the middle and upper Miocene, but whose monophyly is disputable, as some of their tooth characters could be adaptations to a grazing diet (in agreement with their distribution in the Maboko beds). In any case, Victoriaceros clearly differs from other East African middle Miocene rhinos, whose diversity is far greater than currently assumed. A few other specimens attest to the occurrence at Maboko of at least one other species, perhaps close to the brachypotheres; a single calcaneum is tentatively assigned to the Chalicotheriidae.