Información del artículo Excavación de urgencia en el yacimiento paleontológico Fuentenueva-1, (O... more Información del artículo Excavación de urgencia en el yacimiento paleontológico Fuentenueva-1, (Orce, Granada).
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, 2015
KSD-VP-1/1, a partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis , was excavated from Pliocene strata... more KSD-VP-1/1, a partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis , was excavated from Pliocene strata at Korsi Dora, 3.3 km southeast of the confluence of the Waki and Mille rivers in the northwestern part of the Woranso-Mille paleoanthropological research site. A tuff collected from ~2.7 m below the fossil horizon, at the bottom of a trench dug 25 m to the east of the fossil excavation, yielded an 40Ar/39Ar age of 3.60 ± 0.03 Ma for anorthoclase feldspar. Strata in the trench and the fossil excavation site comprise a single normal magnetozone interpreted as part of the normal subchron C2An.3n, immediately above the Gauss/Gilbert paleomagnetic transition. Geologic mapping and tephrochemical analyses combined with paleomagnetic data place the fossil horizon and the trench section into local and regional stratigraphic context by constraining the partial skeleton to be younger than the Kilaytoli tuff (KT), a ~4 m thick vitric ash with an anorthoclase feldspar age of 3.570 ± 0.014 Ma. This unit is widely recognized at Korsi Dora, in collection areas north of the Waki-Mille confluence and outside the field area. The KT correlates with the Lokochot Tuff of the Omo-Turkana Basin in Kenya. Sedimentological features of the mudstone and sandstone in and near the excavation site are consistent with deposition in a floodplain or floodplain lake proximal to a stream channel.
We studied 36 plates and bones from Cueva Victoria (Murcia), which belong to several individuals ... more We studied 36 plates and bones from Cueva Victoria (Murcia), which belong to several individuals of a taxon of terrestrial turtle. From these remains, we would estimate the morphology of its caparace and plastron, and assign them to Chersine hermanni. We found no aquatic turtles, such as Mauremys leprosa or Emys orbicularis, which are typical species in other Quaternary sites of the Iberian Peninsula. Cueva Victoria is currently interpreted as a hyena’s den. Although the tortoise remains in this site could have been introduced by the hyenas as it is the case for other taxa, there are no tooth marks in the turtle remains supporting this hypothesis.
Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades,... more Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades, particularly after the naming of Australopithecus bahrelghazali and Kenyanthropus platyops in addition to the well-known species Australopithecus afarensis. Further analyses continue to support the proposal that several hominin species co-existed during this time period. Here we recognize a new hominin species (Australopithecus deyiremeda sp. nov.) from 3.3-3.5-million-year-old deposits in the Woranso-Mille study area, central Afar, Ethiopia. The new species from Woranso-Mille shows that there were at least two contemporaneous hominin species living in the Afar region of Ethiopia between 3.3 and 3.5 million years ago, and further confirms early hominin taxonomic diversity in eastern Africa during the Middle Pliocene epoch. The morphology of Au. deyiremeda also reinforces concerns related to dentognathic (that is, jaws and teeth) homoplasy in Plio-Pleistocene hominins, and shows that som...
Two of the studied outcrops (Barranco Las Lumbres and Barranco de la Losa) present a diatom flora... more Two of the studied outcrops (Barranco Las Lumbres and Barranco de la Losa) present a diatom flora dominated by Epithemia adnata – Epithemia turgida a littoral epiphytic on aquatic plants and Navicula halophila. These diatom assemblages are typical for fresh to slightly brackish water in a shallow and alkaline lake. These deposits represent two different episodes with positive hydrologic balance (Late Miocene, and latest Pliocene). The sedimentary laminations reflect a climate of seasonal contrast. These lake deposits are interstratified with alluvial deposits and represent permanent paleolakes with a low bathymetric coefficient developed during two wet periods of time. The oldest of these lake episodes, the Las Lumbres site is dated by fauna as Late Miocene (Turolian); the younger paleolake episode, the de la Losa site is dated by magnetostratigraphy at 2.2 to 1.9 Ma (latest Pliocene). The outcrops (Barranco Sin Agua) identified in a marginal setting to the paleo-Lake Baza developed...
Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have... more Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have distinctive morphologies that reflect the development of technological skills during the Pleistocene epoch. In Africa, large cutting tools (hand-axes and bifacial chopping tools) became part of Palaeolithic technology during the Early Pleistocene ( approximately 1.5 Myr ago). However, in Europe this change had not been documented until the Middle Pleistocene (<0.5 Myr ago). Here we report dates for two western Mediterranean hand-axe sites that are nearly twice the age of the supposed earliest Acheulian in western Europe. Palaeomagnetic analysis of these two sites in southeastern Spain found reverse polarity magnetozones, showing that hand-axes were already in Europe as early as 0.9 Myr ago. This expanded antiquity for European hand-axe culture supports a wide geographic distribution of Palaeolithic bifacial technology outside of Africa during the Early Pleistocene.
ABSTRACT In this article, there is a discussion about out-of-Africa models of Homo dispersal, con... more ABSTRACT In this article, there is a discussion about out-of-Africa models of Homo dispersal, considering new findings, specially a new site with Oldowan industry in Morocco (Ain-Beni-Mathar), found in 2005 by some of the authors (Gibert J, Gibert L, and El Hamouti). There is also a critical of the models of Homo dispersal only based on carrion consumption. We also discuss some objections about two human remains from Orce sites (VM-1960 and BL-0) based on morphometric data (that, in any case, move these remains away from genus Homo), on authority criteria and ad hoc hypothesis, ignoring the decisive anatomical data.
Comunicar La Ciencia En El Siglo Xxi I Congreso Sobre Comunicacion Social De La Ciencia 25 26 Y 27 De Marzo De 1999 Granada Espana Vol 2 2000 Isbn 84 930639 2 4 Pags 634 639, 2000
Información del artículo Excavación de urgencia en el yacimiento paleontológico Fuentenueva-1, (O... more Información del artículo Excavación de urgencia en el yacimiento paleontológico Fuentenueva-1, (Orce, Granada).
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, 2015
KSD-VP-1/1, a partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis , was excavated from Pliocene strata... more KSD-VP-1/1, a partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis , was excavated from Pliocene strata at Korsi Dora, 3.3 km southeast of the confluence of the Waki and Mille rivers in the northwestern part of the Woranso-Mille paleoanthropological research site. A tuff collected from ~2.7 m below the fossil horizon, at the bottom of a trench dug 25 m to the east of the fossil excavation, yielded an 40Ar/39Ar age of 3.60 ± 0.03 Ma for anorthoclase feldspar. Strata in the trench and the fossil excavation site comprise a single normal magnetozone interpreted as part of the normal subchron C2An.3n, immediately above the Gauss/Gilbert paleomagnetic transition. Geologic mapping and tephrochemical analyses combined with paleomagnetic data place the fossil horizon and the trench section into local and regional stratigraphic context by constraining the partial skeleton to be younger than the Kilaytoli tuff (KT), a ~4 m thick vitric ash with an anorthoclase feldspar age of 3.570 ± 0.014 Ma. This unit is widely recognized at Korsi Dora, in collection areas north of the Waki-Mille confluence and outside the field area. The KT correlates with the Lokochot Tuff of the Omo-Turkana Basin in Kenya. Sedimentological features of the mudstone and sandstone in and near the excavation site are consistent with deposition in a floodplain or floodplain lake proximal to a stream channel.
We studied 36 plates and bones from Cueva Victoria (Murcia), which belong to several individuals ... more We studied 36 plates and bones from Cueva Victoria (Murcia), which belong to several individuals of a taxon of terrestrial turtle. From these remains, we would estimate the morphology of its caparace and plastron, and assign them to Chersine hermanni. We found no aquatic turtles, such as Mauremys leprosa or Emys orbicularis, which are typical species in other Quaternary sites of the Iberian Peninsula. Cueva Victoria is currently interpreted as a hyena’s den. Although the tortoise remains in this site could have been introduced by the hyenas as it is the case for other taxa, there are no tooth marks in the turtle remains supporting this hypothesis.
Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades,... more Middle Pliocene hominin species diversity has been a subject of debate over the past two decades, particularly after the naming of Australopithecus bahrelghazali and Kenyanthropus platyops in addition to the well-known species Australopithecus afarensis. Further analyses continue to support the proposal that several hominin species co-existed during this time period. Here we recognize a new hominin species (Australopithecus deyiremeda sp. nov.) from 3.3-3.5-million-year-old deposits in the Woranso-Mille study area, central Afar, Ethiopia. The new species from Woranso-Mille shows that there were at least two contemporaneous hominin species living in the Afar region of Ethiopia between 3.3 and 3.5 million years ago, and further confirms early hominin taxonomic diversity in eastern Africa during the Middle Pliocene epoch. The morphology of Au. deyiremeda also reinforces concerns related to dentognathic (that is, jaws and teeth) homoplasy in Plio-Pleistocene hominins, and shows that som...
Two of the studied outcrops (Barranco Las Lumbres and Barranco de la Losa) present a diatom flora... more Two of the studied outcrops (Barranco Las Lumbres and Barranco de la Losa) present a diatom flora dominated by Epithemia adnata – Epithemia turgida a littoral epiphytic on aquatic plants and Navicula halophila. These diatom assemblages are typical for fresh to slightly brackish water in a shallow and alkaline lake. These deposits represent two different episodes with positive hydrologic balance (Late Miocene, and latest Pliocene). The sedimentary laminations reflect a climate of seasonal contrast. These lake deposits are interstratified with alluvial deposits and represent permanent paleolakes with a low bathymetric coefficient developed during two wet periods of time. The oldest of these lake episodes, the Las Lumbres site is dated by fauna as Late Miocene (Turolian); the younger paleolake episode, the de la Losa site is dated by magnetostratigraphy at 2.2 to 1.9 Ma (latest Pliocene). The outcrops (Barranco Sin Agua) identified in a marginal setting to the paleo-Lake Baza developed...
Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have... more Stone tools are durable reminders of the activities, skills and customs of early humans, and have distinctive morphologies that reflect the development of technological skills during the Pleistocene epoch. In Africa, large cutting tools (hand-axes and bifacial chopping tools) became part of Palaeolithic technology during the Early Pleistocene ( approximately 1.5 Myr ago). However, in Europe this change had not been documented until the Middle Pleistocene (<0.5 Myr ago). Here we report dates for two western Mediterranean hand-axe sites that are nearly twice the age of the supposed earliest Acheulian in western Europe. Palaeomagnetic analysis of these two sites in southeastern Spain found reverse polarity magnetozones, showing that hand-axes were already in Europe as early as 0.9 Myr ago. This expanded antiquity for European hand-axe culture supports a wide geographic distribution of Palaeolithic bifacial technology outside of Africa during the Early Pleistocene.
ABSTRACT In this article, there is a discussion about out-of-Africa models of Homo dispersal, con... more ABSTRACT In this article, there is a discussion about out-of-Africa models of Homo dispersal, considering new findings, specially a new site with Oldowan industry in Morocco (Ain-Beni-Mathar), found in 2005 by some of the authors (Gibert J, Gibert L, and El Hamouti). There is also a critical of the models of Homo dispersal only based on carrion consumption. We also discuss some objections about two human remains from Orce sites (VM-1960 and BL-0) based on morphometric data (that, in any case, move these remains away from genus Homo), on authority criteria and ad hoc hypothesis, ignoring the decisive anatomical data.
Comunicar La Ciencia En El Siglo Xxi I Congreso Sobre Comunicacion Social De La Ciencia 25 26 Y 27 De Marzo De 1999 Granada Espana Vol 2 2000 Isbn 84 930639 2 4 Pags 634 639, 2000
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