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 and Joseph Mohan
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Zeresenay Alemseged: University of Chicago
Jonathan G. Wynn: National Science Foundation
Denis Geraads: MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP 38
Denne Reed: University of Texas at Austin
W. Andrew Barr: The George Washington University
René Bobe: University of Oxford
Shannon P. McPherron: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Alan Deino: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Mulugeta Alene: Addis Ababa University
Mark J. Sier: Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3
Diana Roman: Carnegie Institution for Science
Joseph Mohan: University of Maine

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Several hypotheses posit a link between the origin of Homo and climatic and environmental shifts between 3 and 2.5 Ma. Here we report on new results that shed light on the interplay between tectonics, basin migration and faunal change on the one hand and the fate of Australopithecus afarensis and the evolution of Homo on the other. Fieldwork at the new Mille-Logya site in the Afar, Ethiopia, dated to between 2.914 and 2.443 Ma, provides geological evidence for the northeast migration of the Hadar Basin, extending the record of this lacustrine basin to Mille-Logya. We have identified three new fossiliferous units, suggesting in situ faunal change within this interval. While the fauna in the older unit is comparable to that at Hadar and Dikika, the younger units contain species that indicate more open conditions along with remains of Homo. This suggests that Homo either emerged from Australopithecus during this interval or dispersed into the region as part of a fauna adapted to more open habitats.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16060-8

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