Stretching the time span of hominin evolution at Kromdraai (Gauteng,South Africa): Recent discoveries |
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Authors: | José Braga John Francis Thackeray Laurent Bruxelles Jean Dumoncel Jean-Baptiste Fourvel |
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Affiliation: | 1. Computer-assisted Palaeoanthropology Team, UMR 5288 CNRS–Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France;2. Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;3. Laboratoire TRACES, UMR 5608 CNRS, Université Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France;4. School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;5. Institut national d’archéologie préventive, Nîmes, France;6. Department of Quaternary Palaeontology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa |
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Abstract: | The Plio-Pleistocene locality of Kromdraai B has yielded the type specimen of Paranthropus robustus, as well as 27 additional fossil hominin specimens. In a number of both cranial and dental features, the states shown by the Kromdraai Paranthropus are more conservative when compared to the more derived conditions displayed by both South African conspecifics and the post-2.3 Ma eastern African Paranthropus boisei. Since 2014, we excavated the earliest known infilling of the Kromdraai cave system in a previously unexplored area. This new locality provided as yet 2200 identifiable macrovertebrate fossils, including 22 hominins, all tied in the earliest part of the stratigraphic sequence, representing three distinct depositional periods. Since we report here, for the first time, the occurrence of fossil hominins in Members 1 and 2, our discoveries stretch the time span of hominin evolution at Kromdraai and contribute to a better understanding of the origin of Paranthropus in southern Africa. |
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Keywords: | Kromdraai Evolution Hominins Robust australopiths Kromdraai Évolution Homininés Australopithèques robustes |
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