1998/01/01 by Andy I.R. Herries, Jesse M. Martin, A. B. Leece +25 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Archaeology #Art #Australopithecus #Biological evolution #Biology #Context (archaeology) #Crania #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Evolutionary biology #Geography #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Historical and Literary Analyses #Hominidae #Homo erectus #Humanities #Medieval European Literature and History #Medieval Literature and History #Paleontology #Philosophy #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Postcrania #Taxon #Zoology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.aaw7293
openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24
Understanding the extinction of <i>Australopithecus</i> and origins of <i>Paranthropus</i> and <i>Homo</i> in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early <i>Homo</i> specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of <i>Paranthropus robustus</i>, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to <i>Homo erectus</i> These crania also show that <i>Homo</i>, <i>Paranthropus</i>, and <i>Australopithecus</i> were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.