Lower Pliocene Hominid Remains from Sterkfontein

2003/04/25 by T. C. Partridge, Darryl E. Granger, Marc W. Caffee +1 · 6 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Cave #Geology #Paleontology #Breccia #Archaeology #Geography

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1081651

openalex publication_date 2003/04/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Cosmogenic aluminum-26 and beryllium-10 burial dates of low-lying fossiliferous breccia in the caves at Sterkfontein, South Africa, show that associated hominid fossils accumulated in the Lower Pliocene. These dates indicate that the skeleton StW 573 and newly discovered specimens from Jacovec Cavern have much the same age: approximately 4 million years. These specimens are thus of an age similar to Australopithecus anamensis from East Africa.

Citations

• Spatially Averaged Long-Term Erosion Rates Measured from in Situ-Produced Cosmogenic Nuclides in Alluvial Sediment

Cited by

• Speleology and magnetobiostratigraphic chronology of the GD 2 locality of the Gondolin hominin-bearing paleocave deposits, North West Province, South Africa
• The pectoral girdle of StW 573 (‘Little Foot’) and its implications for shoulder evolution in the Hominina
• The Earliest South African Hominids
• StW 573 <b><i>Australopithecus prometheus</i></b>: Its Significance for an Australopith Bauplan
• Dart and the Taung juvenile: making sense of a century-old record of hominin evolution in Africa
• Sterkfontein [wikipedia]