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- Gorongosa by the sea: First Miocene fossil sites from the Urema Rift, central Mozambique, and their coastal paleoenvironmental and paleoecological contextsPublication . Habermann, Jörg M.; Alberti, Matthias; Aldeias, Vera; Alemseged, Zeresenay; Archer, Will; Bamford, Marion; Biro, Dora; Braun, David R.; Capelli, Cristian; Cunha, Eugenia; da Silva, Maria Ferreira; Luedecke, Tina; Madiquida, Hilario; Martinez, Felipe I.; Mathe, Jacinto; Negash, Enquye; Paulo, Luis M.; Pinto, Maria; Stalmans, Marc; Regala, Frederico Tata; Wynn, Jonathan G.; Bobe, Rene; Carvalho, SusanaThe East African Rift System (EARS) has played a central role in our understanding of human origins and vertebrate evolution in the late Cenozoic of Africa. However, the distribution of fossil sites along the rift is highly biased towards its northern extent, and the types of paleoenvironments are primarily restricted to fluvial and lacustrine settings. Here we report the discovery of the first fossil sites from the Urema Rift at Gorongosa National Park (central Mozambique) at the southern end of the EARS, and reconstruct environmental contexts of the fossils. In situ and surface fossils from the lower member of the Mazamba Formation, estimated to be of Miocene age, comprise mammals, reptiles, fishes, invertebrates, palms, and dicot trees. Fossil and geological evidence indicates a coastal-plain paleoenvironmental mosaic of riverine forest/woodland and estuarine habitats that represent the first coastal biomes identified in the Neogene EARS context. Receiving continental sediment from source terranes west of today's Urema Graben, estuarine sequences accumulated prior to rifting as compound incised-valley fills on a low-gradient coastal plain following transgression. Modern environmental analogues are extremely productive habitats for marine and terrestrial fauna, including primates. Thus, our discoveries raise the possibility that the Miocene coastal landscapes of Gorongosa were ecologically-favorable habitats for primates, providing relatively stable maritime climate and ecosystem conditions, year-round freshwater availability, and food both from terrestrial and marine sources. The emerging fossil record from Gorongosa is beginning to fill an important gap in the paleobiogeography of Africa as no fossil sites of Neogene age have previously been reported from the southernmost part of the EARS. Furthermore, this unique window into past continental-margin ecosystems of central Mozambique may allow us to test key paleobiogeographic hypotheses during critical periods of primate evolution.
- The first Miocene fossils from coastal woodlands in the southern East African RiftPublication . Bobe, René; Aldeias, Vera; Alemseged, Zeresenay; Anemone, Robert L.; Archer, Will; Aumaître, Georges; Bamford, Marion K.; Biro, Dora; Bourlès, Didier L.; Doyle Boyd, Melissa; Braun, David R.; Capelli, Cristian; d’Oliveira Coelho, João; Habermann, Jörg M.; Head, Jason J.; Keddadouche, Karim; Kupczik, Kornelius; Lebatard, Anne-Elisabeth; Lüdecke, Tina; Macôa, Amélia; Martínez, Felipe I.; Mathe, Jacinto; Mendes, Clara; Paulo, Luis Meira; Pinto, Maria; Presnyakova, Darya; Püschel, Thomas A.; Regala, Frederico; Sier, Mark; Ferreira da Silva, Maria Joana; Stalmans, Marc; Carvalho, SusanaThe 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.
- Quantifying traces of tool use: a novel morphometric analysis of damage patterns on percussive toolsPublication . Caruana, Matthew V.; Carvalho, Susana; Braun, David R.; Presnyakova, Darya; Haslam, Michael; Archer, Will; Bobe, René; Harris, John W. K.Percussive technology continues to play an increasingly important role in understanding the evolution of tool use. Comparing the archaeological record with extractive foraging behaviors in nonhuman primates has focused on percussive implements as a key to investigating the origins of lithic technology. Despite this, archaeological approaches towards percussive tools have been obscured by a lack of standardized methodologies. Central to this issue have been the use of qualitative, non-diagnostic techniques to identify percussive tools from archaeological contexts. Here we describe a new morphometric method for distinguishing anthropogenically-generated damage patterns on percussive tools from naturally damaged river cobbles. We employ a geomatic approach through the use of three-dimensional scanning and geographical information systems software to statistically quantify the identification process in percussive technology research. This will strengthen current technological analyses of percussive tools in archaeological frameworks and open new avenues for translating behavioral inferences of early hominins from percussive damage patterns.