Age and context of mid-Pliocene hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia

Beverly Z. Saylor, Luis Gibert, Alan Deino, Mulugeta Alene, Naomi E. Levin, Stephanie M. Melillo, Mark D. Peaple, Sarah J. Feakins, Benjamin Bourel, Doris Barboni, Alice Novello, Florence Sylvestre, Stanley A. Mertzman and Yohannes Haile-Selassie ()
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Beverly Z. Saylor: Case Western Reserve University
Luis Gibert: Petrologia i Geologia Aplicada Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona
Alan Deino: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Mulugeta Alene: Addis Ababa University
Naomi E. Levin: University of Michigan
Stephanie M. Melillo: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Mark D. Peaple: University of Southern California
Sarah J. Feakins: University of Southern California
Benjamin Bourel: Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE
Doris Barboni: Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE
Alice Novello: Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE
Florence Sylvestre: Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE
Stanley A. Mertzman: Franklin and Marshall College
Yohannes Haile-Selassie: Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Nature, 2019, vol. 573, issue 7773, 220-224

Abstract: Abstract A fossil hominin cranium was discovered in mid-Pliocene deltaic strata in the Godaya Valley of the northwestern Woranso-Mille study area in Ethiopia. Here we show that analyses of chemically correlated volcanic layers and the palaeomagnetic stratigraphy, combined with Bayesian modelling of dated tuffs, yield an age range of 3.804 ± 0.013 to 3.777 ± 0.014 million years old (mean ± 1σ) for the deltaic strata and the fossils that they contain. We also document deposits of a perennial lake beneath the deltaic sequence. Mammalian fossils associated with the cranium represent taxa that were widespread at the time and data from botanical remains indicate that the vegetation in the lake and delta catchment was predominantly dry shrubland with varying proportions of grassland, wetland and riparian forest. In addition, we report high rates of sediment accumulation and depositional features that are typical of a steep topographic relief and differ from younger Woranso-Mille fossil localities, reflecting the influence of active rift processes on the palaeolandscape.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1514-7

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