iScience (Sep 2023)
The first Miocene fossils from coastal woodlands in the southern East African Rift
- René Bobe,
- Vera Aldeias,
- Zeresenay Alemseged,
- Robert L. Anemone,
- Will Archer,
- Georges Aumaître,
- Marion K. Bamford,
- Dora Biro,
- Didier L. Bourlès,
- Melissa Doyle Boyd,
- David R. Braun,
- Cristian Capelli,
- João d’Oliveira Coelho,
- Jörg M. Habermann,
- Jason J. Head,
- Karim Keddadouche,
- Kornelius Kupczik,
- Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard,
- Tina Lüdecke,
- Amélia Macôa,
- Felipe I. Martínez,
- Jacinto Mathe,
- Clara Mendes,
- Luis Meira Paulo,
- Maria Pinto,
- Darya Presnyakova,
- Thomas A. Püschel,
- Frederico Tátá Regala,
- Mark Sier,
- Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva,
- Marc Stalmans,
- Susana Carvalho
Affiliations
- René Bobe
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique; Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal; Corresponding author
- Vera Aldeias
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
- Zeresenay Alemseged
- Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Robert L. Anemone
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Anthropology, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA
- Will Archer
- Max Planck Partner Group, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Geology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
- Georges Aumaître
- ASTER TEAM, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
- Marion K. Bamford
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Dora Biro
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK
- Didier L. Bourlès
- ASTER TEAM, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
- Melissa Doyle Boyd
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- David R. Braun
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA; Technological Primate Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Cristian Capelli
- Dipartimento delle Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università di Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
- João d’Oliveira Coelho
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
- Jörg M. Habermann
- GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
- Jason J. Head
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
- Karim Keddadouche
- ASTER TEAM, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
- Kornelius Kupczik
- Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard
- Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement de Géosciences de l'Environnement, CEREGE - UM 34 Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Collège de France, INRAE, OSU Institut Pythéas, Technopole Environnement Arbois - Méditerranée, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, Les Milles-Aix en Provence BP80, 13545 AIX en Provence, Cedex 04, France
- Tina Lüdecke
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; Emmy Noether Group for Hominin Meat Consumption, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany; Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
- Amélia Macôa
- Departamento de Arqueologia e Antropologia, Faculdade de Letras e Ciências Sociais, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique
- Felipe I. Martínez
- Escuela de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Jacinto Mathe
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Clara Mendes
- Departamento de Arqueologia e Antropologia, Faculdade de Letras e Ciências Sociais, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique
- Luis Meira Paulo
- AESDA – Associação de Estudos Subterrâneos e Defesa do Ambiente, Torres Vedras, Portugal
- Maria Pinto
- AESDA – Associação de Estudos Subterrâneos e Defesa do Ambiente, Torres Vedras, Portugal
- Darya Presnyakova
- CNRS Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
- Thomas A. Püschel
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Division, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6LA, UK
- Frederico Tátá Regala
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
- Mark Sier
- CENIEH, 09002 Burgos, Spain; Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, the Netherlands
- Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; ONE - Organisms and Environment Group, Cardiff University, School of Biosciences, Sir Martin Evans Building, c5:15, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Marc Stalmans
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique
- Susana Carvalho
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique; Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal; Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 26,
no. 9
p. 107644
Abstract
Summary: The Miocene was a key time in the evolution of African ecosystems witnessing the origin of the African apes and the isolation of eastern coastal forests through an expanding arid corridor. Until recently, however, Miocene sites from the southeastern regions of the continent were unknown. Here, we report the first Miocene fossil teeth from the shoulders of the Urema Rift in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. We provide the first 1) radiometric ages of the Mazamba Formation, 2) reconstructions of paleovegetation in the region based on pedogenic carbonates and fossil wood, and 3) descriptions of fossil teeth. Gorongosa is unique in the East African Rift in combining marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates, reptiles, terrestrial mammals, and fossil woods in coastal paleoenvironments. The Gorongosa fossil sites offer the first evidence of woodlands and forests on the coastal margins of southeastern Africa during the Miocene, and an exceptional assemblage of fossils including new species.
