Fossils from Mille-Logya, Afar, Ethiopia, elucidate the link between Pliocene environmental changes and Homo origins

Zeresenay Alemseged; Jonathan G. Wynn; Denis Geraads; Denne Reed; W. Andrew Barr; René Bobe; Shannon P. McPherron; Alan Deino; Mulugeta Alene; Mark J. Sier; Diana Roman; Joseph Mohan

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16060-8

Nature Communications (May 2020)

Fossils from Mille-Logya, Afar, Ethiopia, elucidate the link between Pliocene environmental changes and Homo origins

Zeresenay Alemseged,
Jonathan G. Wynn,
Denis Geraads,
Denne Reed,
W. Andrew Barr,
René Bobe,
Shannon P. McPherron,
Alan Deino,
Mulugeta Alene,
Mark J. Sier,
Diana Roman,
Joseph Mohan

Affiliations

Zeresenay Alemseged: Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago
Jonathan G. Wynn: Division of Earth Sciences, National Science Foundation
Denis Geraads: CR2P, Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP 38
Denne Reed: Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
W. Andrew Barr: Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology. Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University
René Bobe: Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford
Shannon P. McPherron: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Alan Deino: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Mulugeta Alene: School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University
Mark J. Sier: CENIEH, Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3
Diana Roman: Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science
Joseph Mohan: Climate Change Institute, University of Maine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16060-8
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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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.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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