Stratigraphic, chronological and behavioural contexts of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia

J. Desmond Clark, Yonas Beyene, Giday WoldeGabriel, William K. Hart, Paul R. Renne, Henry Gilbert, Alban Defleur, Gen Suwa, Shigehiro Katoh, Kenneth R. Ludwig, Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Berhane Asfaw and Tim D. White ()
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J. Desmond Clark: The University of California
Yonas Beyene: Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage
Giday WoldeGabriel: EES-6/MS D462, Los Alamos National Laboratory
William K. Hart: Miami University
Paul R. Renne: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Henry Gilbert: University of California
Alban Defleur: CNRS UMR 6569 du CNRS, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie, Faculté de Médecine
Gen Suwa: The University Museum, The University of Tokyo
Shigehiro Katoh: Hyogo Museum of Nature and Human Activities
Kenneth R. Ludwig: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Jean-Renaud Boisserie: CNRS UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers
Berhane Asfaw: Rift Valley Research Service
Tim D. White: Berkeley Geochronology Center

Nature, 2003, vol. 423, issue 6941, 747-752

Abstract: Abstract Clarifying the geographic, environmental and behavioural contexts in which the emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens occurred has proved difficult, particularly because Africa lacked adequate geochronological, palaeontological and archaeological evidence. The discovery of anatomically modern Homo sapiens fossils at Herto, Ethiopia1, changes this. Here we report on stratigraphically associated Late Middle Pleistocene artefacts and fossils from fluvial and lake margin sandstones of the Upper Herto Member of the Bouri Formation, Middle Awash, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. The fossils and artefacts are dated between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago by precise age determinations using the 40Ar/39Ar method. The archaeological assemblages contain elements of both Acheulean and Middle Stone Age technocomplexes. Associated faunal remains indicate repeated, systematic butchery of hippopotamus carcasses. Contemporary adult and juvenile Homo sapiens fossil crania manifest bone modifications indicative of deliberate mortuary practices.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01670

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