Faunal turnover at Mille-Logya (Plio-Pleistocene, Ethiopia) reflects in situ environmental change: implications for the origins of Homo

Barr, W. Andrew; Geraads, Denis; Reed, Denne; Bobe, Rene; Wynn, Jonathan; Alemseged, Zeresenay

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/16554

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The lower Awash Valley of Ethiopia preserves a significant record of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar and Dikika in addition to the earliest fossil yet attributed to Homo from Ledi-Geraru at 2.8 Ma. However, understanding the context of the extinction of A. afarensis and the origin of Homo is hampered by the limited preservation of sediments between 2.9 – 2.3 Ma in the region. The Mille-Logya Project (MLP) preserves fossiliferous sediments post-dating 2.9 Ma. Here we present a quantitative analysis of the MLP mammalian fauna and explore implications of MLP faunal change for the origin of Homo.