First hominin from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation, Dikika, Ethiopia

Zeresenay Alemseged (1) , Jonathan Wynn (2) , William Kimbel (3) , Denné Reed (4) , Denis Geraads (5) , René Bobe (6)

1 Department of Human Evolution [Leipzig]
2 Department of Geography and Geosciences [St. Andrews]
3 Institute of Human Origins & Department of Anthropology
4 Department of Paleobiology [Washington]
5 DEHIPE - Dynamique de l'évolution humaine : individus, populations, espèces [Paris]
6 Department of Anthropology [New York University]

In this paper we report for the first time hominin remains from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation at
Dikika, in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, dating to greater than 3.4 Ma. The new fossil, DIK-2-1, is a fragment of a left
mandible and associated dentition. The mandible is attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. However, the new fossil
exhibits some metric and morphological features that have not previously been seen in the A. afarensis hypodigm,
increasing the already impressive degree of variation in the mandibular sample of the species.

Mots clés: Australopithecus afarensis; Hadar Formation; Dikika; Ethiopia; Pliocene; Hominin evolution

Domaines: Etudes de l'environnement; Paléontologie; Anthropologie biologique

Zeresenay Alemseged, Jonathan Wynn, William Kimbel, Denné Reed, Denis Geraads, et al.. First hominin from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation, Dikika, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution, 2005, 49, pp.499-514. ⟨halshs-00009681⟩