Australopithecus sediba at 1.977 Ma and Implications for the Origins of the Genus Homo
Abstract
Newly exposed cave sediments at the Malapa site include a flowstone layer capping the sedimentary unit containing the Australopithecus sediba fossils. Uranium-lead dating of the flowstone, combined with paleomagnetic and stratigraphic analysis of the flowstone and underlying sediments, provides a tightly constrained date of 1.977 ± 0.002 million years ago (Ma) for these fossils. This refined dating suggests that Au. sediba from Malapa predates the earliest uncontested evidence for Homo in Africa.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- September 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.1203697
- Bibcode:
- 2011Sci...333.1421P
- Keywords:
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- ANTHRO