These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with "Australopithecus africanus". There followed species including "Australopithecus sediba", "Homo ergaster", "Homo erectus", "Homo rhodesiensis", "Homo helmei", "Homo naledi" and modern humans ("Homo sapiens"). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years. Various researchers have located pebble tools within the Vaal River valley.
Prehistoric archaeology
South Africa
South Africa | Prehistoric archaeology
Hominid species; Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, etc. "Australopithecus sediba", "Homo ergaster", "Homo erectus", "Homo rhodesiensis" "Australopithecus sediba", "Homo ergaster", "Homo erectus", "Homo rhodesiensis", "Homo helmei", "Homo naledi" and modern humans Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis
what is massospondylus?
user
Genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur
assistant
who discovered this species?
user
Joseph Millard Orpen
assistant
where was it found?
user
Upper Elliot Formation at Harrismith, South Africa
assistant
what other historic species have been discovered in the country mentioned above?
user
These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with "Australopithecus africanus". There followed species including "Australopithecus sediba", "Homo ergaster", "Homo erectus", "Homo rhodesiensis", "Homo helmei", "Homo naledi" and modern humans ("Homo sapiens"). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years. Various researchers have located pebble tools within the Vaal River valley.
South Africa | Prehistoric archaeology
South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human-fossil sites in the world. Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been branded "the Cradle of Humankind". The sites include Sterkfontein, one of the richest sites for hominin fossils in the world. Other sites include Swartkrans, Gondolin Cave Kromdraai, Coopers Cave and Malapa. Raymond Dart identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the Taung Child (found near Taung) in 1924. Further hominin remains have come from the sites of Makapansgat in Limpopo Province, Cornelia and Florisbad in the Free State Province, Border Cave in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Klasies River Mouth in Eastern Cape Province and Pinnacle Point, Elandsfontein and Die Kelders Cave in Western Cape Province.
South Africa | Prehistoric archaeology
To this extent, Dart made note of the amalgamations of large mammal bone fragments in australopithecine-bearing caves which are now attributed to hyena activity, but Dart proposed that the bones were evidence of what he named the "osteodontokeratic culture" produced by australopithecine hunters, manufacturing weapons using the long bones, teeth, and horns of large hoofed prey: Broom set out to find an adult specimen, which he discovered in Sterkfontein Cave in 1936. However, he classified it as a new species, ""A. transvaalensis"", and in 1938 moved it into a new genus as ""Plesianthropus transvaalensis"". He also discovered the robust australopithecine "Paranthropus robustus", showing evidence of a wide diversity of Early Pleistocene "man-apes".
Australopithecus africanus | Research history
A 2007 palaeontological study done in greater Matjhabeng began a programme of excavation of an early Pliocene locality. With an estimated age of 4.0–3.5 Ma, the locality also represents the only well-documented, river-deposited Pliocene locality in the central interior of southern Africa. After three years of excavation, a diverse fauna that includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals was recovered. Mammals ranged in size from rodents to mammoths, including an array of proboscideans, perissodactyls and artiodactyls, alongside rare carnivores. In total, 29 taxa, including the oldest Ancylotherium and Megalotragus fossils in southern Africa were recovered. Some of the taxa from Matjhabeng are shared with Langebaanweg, and others with Makapansgat, confirming the intermediate status of this locality.
Welkom | Fossils of Matjhabeng
At the Blombos cave Professor Raymond Dart discovered the skull of a 2.51 million year old Taung Child in 1924, the first example of "Australopithecus africanus" ever found. Following in Dart's footsteps Robert Broom discovered a new much more robust hominid in 1938 "Paranthropus robustus" at Kromdraai, and in 1947 uncovered several more examples of "Australopithecus africanus" at Sterkfontein. In further research at the Blombos cave in 2002, stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago. This has been interpreted as the earliest example ever discovered of abstract art or symbolic art created by "Homo sapiens".
History of South Africa | Prehistory
Beginning in the 1930s, some of the most ancient hominin remains of the time dating to 3.8–2.9 million years ago were recovered from East Africa. Because "Australopithecus africanus" fossils were commonly being discovered throughout the 1920s and 40s in South Africa, these remains were provisionally classified as "Australopithecus" aff. "africanus". In 1948, German palaeontologist Edwin Hennig proposed classifying these remains into a new genus, ""Praeanthropus"", but he failed to give a species name. In 1950, German anthropologist Hans Weinhert proposed classifying a jawbone from the headwaters of the Gerusi River (near Laetoli) as "Meganthropus africanus", but this was largely ignored.
Australopithecus afarensis | Research history
Many more species of early hominid have come to light in recent decades. The oldest is Little Foot, a collection of footbones of an unknown hominid between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, discovered at Sterkfontein by Ronald J. Clarke. An important recent find was that of 1.9 million year old "Australopithecus sediba", discovered in 2008. In 2015, the discovery near Johannesburg of a previously unknown species of "Homo" was announced, named "Homo naledi". It has been described as one of the most important paleontological discoveries in modern times.
History of South Africa | Prehistory
Around 2.07 million years ago, just before the arrival of "P. robustus" and "H. erectus", "A. africanus" became extinct in the Cradle of Humankind. It is possible that South Africa was a refuge for "Australopithecus" until the beginning of major climatic variability and volatility, and, perhaps, competition with "Homo" and "Paranthropus".
Australopithecus africanus | Palaeoecology
A total of 209 non-hominin fossils were recovered alongside the hominins in facies D and E in 2010, and taxa identified from these are: the sabre-toothed cat "Dinofelis barlowi", the leopard, the African wild cat, the black-footed cat, the brown hyena, the cape fox, the mongooses "Atilax mesotes" and "Mungos", a genet, an African wild dog, a horse, a pig, a klipspringer, a "Megalotragus" antelope, a large alcelaphine antelope, a relative of the harnessed bushbuck, a relative of the greater kudu, and a hare. Today, the black-footed cat and cape fox are endemic to South African grass-, bush-, and scrublands.
Australopithecus sediba | Palaeoecology
"Somalirhynchia africana" lived during the late Jurassic in the Ethiopian Faunal Province, which consisted of the areas now known as Ethiopia, Somalia, Israel, Jordan, Yemen, Kenya, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. It also occurred in India which Kiessling defines as part of the Southwestern Tethys Faunal Province. Fossils of "S. africana" are known from the Upper Jurassic of Egypt (Callovian: Jabal al-Magharah/Zohar Formation,), Eritrea, Ethiopia (Callovian: Grande Ilalame; Oxfordian: Mt. Guresu; Early Oxfordian: Mt. Ualinsi; Late Oxfordian: Antalo Limestone; Early Kimmeridgian: Mt. Condudo), India (Callovian: Kachchh), Israel (Middle to Late Callovian: Hamakhtesh Hagadol), Kenya (Oxfordian: Mombasa-Buni, Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian: Baricho), Saudi Arabia (Oxfordian: Shaqra Group/Hanifa Formation, Wadi al Furayshah), Somalia (Callovian: Gerigoan; Callovian/Oxfordian: Daghani, Jirba Range, Madashon, Bihendula, Inda Ad), Tunisia (Callovian/Kimmeridgian: Tazerdunet/Tataouine; Callovian/Oxfordian: Foum Tataouine, Bir Remtha; Middle/Late Callovian: Ksar Beni Soltane), Yemen (Callovian/Oxfordian: Al Ma'abir, Jebel Billum).
Somalirhynchia | Distribution
Malapa Cave is currently above sea level. "A. sediba" lived alongside "P. robustus" and "H. ergaster"/"H. erectus". Because "A. africanus" went extinct around this time, it is possible that South Africa was a refugium for "Australopithecus" until about 2 million years ago with the beginning of major climatic variability and volatility, and potentially competition with "Homo" and "Paranthropus".
Australopithecus sediba | Palaeoecology
The specimens were collected from various different localities in the Luangwa Basin, but were all from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation. This formation is believed to overlap in time with the "Cistecephalus" Assemblage Zone (AZ) and "Daptocephalus" AZ of the Karoo Basin in South Africa, which have been dated to the Wuchiapingian to early Changhsingian in the Late Permian. The specimens are housed at both the Evolutionary Studies Institute in South Africa and at the National Heritage Conservation Commission in Lusaka, Zambia.
Kembawacela | History of discovery
In September 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the earliest known drawing by "Homo sapiens", which is estimated to be 73,000 years old, much earlier than the 43,000 years old artifacts understood to be the earliest known modern human drawings found previously. There is a significant body of rock painting in the region around Matobo National Park of Zimbabwe dating from as early as 6000 BCE to 500 CE. Significant San rock paintings exist in the Waterberg area above the Palala River and around Drakensberg in South Africa, some of which are considered to derive from the period 8000 BCE.
Prehistoric art | Southern Africa
Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, suggesting that domesticated cattle were present by around 3,500 years ago. Rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho. Handoga, dated to the fourth millennium BCE, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths and plain ceramics used by early nomadic pastoralists with domesticated cattle.
Djibouti | Prehistory
Around 10,000 BCE, African hunter-gatherer societies developed microlith technologies. Composite microlithic tools were useful for harvesting wild grasses and also permitted the production of fine shell and bone fish hooks, which may have allowed for the exploitation of a broader range of food resources. Some of the earliest pottery in Africa has also been found in the Sahara and is associated with hunter/gatherer populations. In 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the prehistoric sites of Taforalt and Afalou in the Maghreb were analyzed for ancient DNA. All of the specimens belonged to maternal clades associated with either North Africa or the northern and southern Mediterranean littoral, indicating gene flow between these areas since the Epipaleolithic.
African archaeology | Later Stone Age Africa
Africa has the longest record of human habitation in the world. The first hominins emerged 6-7 million years ago, and among the earliest anatomically modern human skulls found so far were discovered at Omo Kibish, Jebel Irhoud, and Florisbad. European archaeology, as well as that of North Africa, is generally divided into the Stone Age (comprising the Lower Paleolithic, the Middle Paleolithic, the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic), the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. For Africa south of the Sahara, African archaeology is classified in a slightly different way, with the Paleolithic generally divided into the Early Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age, and the Later Stone Age.
African archaeology | Introduction
The third species, "A. recki", probably gave rise to the extant form "A. marsupialis" during the Pleistocene, about 100,000 years ago. Fossils have been reported from Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene sites in northern, southern, and eastern Africa. Fossils dating back to 80 and 100 thousand years ago have been excavated at Herolds Bay Cave (Western Cape Province, South Africa) and Florisbad (Free State), respectively.
Springbok | Taxonomy and evolution
The area of the Gebel Qatrani Formation in the Faiyum Depression where most of the well-preserved specimens of "E. africanum" and "E. gavialoides" were found was also deposited in a fluvial paleoenvironment, although much older. Other fossils found from the formation include those of turtles, crocodiles, hyaenodontids, proboscideans such as "Phiomia", "Palaeomastodon", and "Moeritherium", the Embrithopodan "Arsinoitherium", numerous species of hyraxes, artiodactyls, as well as some of the earliest simian primates such as "Apidium", "Catopithecus", "Oligopithecus", and "Aegyptopithecus". Discoveries from this formation have added greatly to the understanding of mammalian evolution in Africa. The presence of this type of fauna suggests a humid, tropical climate existed in Egypt during the Oligocene.
Eogavialis | Paleoecology
erectus" species.
Sub-Saharan Africa | Prehistory
Serenichthys kowiensis is a fossil species of coelacanth described in 2015 from near Grahamstown in South Africa. Some 30 complete specimens of this new species were found in the black shale lagerstätte on Waterloo Farm, preserved by the mud of an ancient estuary dating back to the Famennian stage of the Late Devonian some 360 million years ago. In an article published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society and jointly authored by paleontologists Michael Coates of the University of Chicago and Robert Gess from the University of the Witwatersrand, the find is described as the earliest coelacanth to be discovered from Africa.
Serenichthys | Introduction
The holotype of "C. rhodesiensis" (QG1) has been recovered in Upper Elliot Formation in South Africa, as well as the Chitake River bonebed quarry at the Forest Sandstone Formation in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). In South Africa, several individuals were collected in 1985 from mudstone deposited during the Hettangian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 201 to 199 million years ago. In Zimbabwe, twenty-six individuals were collected in 1963, 1968 and 1972 from yellow sandstone deposited during the Hettangian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 201 to 199 million years ago.
Coelophysis rhodesiensis | Provenance and occurrence
Prehistoric remains starting from about 1.7 million years were discovered in the excavations, within about 60 layers of soil within which were found human bones and remains of ancient animals. These include some of the oldest remains found outside Africa, and more than 10,000 ancient stone tools. The site also features rock surfaces in which the prehistoric man lived during the Pleistocene period. As a result of geologic breakage and foldage activity, the rock surfaces are now inclined at an angle of 70 degrees. It is thought that the area used to feature a pristine lake along which Homo erectus lived after his exodus from Africa.
Ubeidiya | Findings
The "Tritylodon" fossils in South Africa are found concentrated mainly in an area about 11,000 km² (4,250 mi²). They have been found in floodplain deposits of the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation (upper Karoo Supergroup). In this area there have been so many findings it has been named the Tritylodon Acme Zone. The fossil findings have all been in the Orange Free State of South Africa. The genus "Tritylodon" of the Tritylodonts is restricted to the South African forms: "Tritylodon longaevus" and "Tritylodon maximus". It is suggested that "T. maximus" is either a large "T. longeavus" or a closely related species.
Tritylodon | Fossils
By 4 million years ago, several australopithecine hominid species had developed throughout Southern, Eastern and Central Africa. They were tool users, and makers of tools. They scavenged for meat and were omnivores. By approximately 3.3 million years ago, primitive stone tools were first used to scavenge kills made by other predators and to harvest carrion and marrow from their bones. In hunting, "Homo habilis" was probably not capable of competing with large predators and was still more prey than hunter. "H. habilis" probably did steal eggs from nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey (cubs and older animals).
History of Africa | Paleolithic
Scientists researching the periods before written historical records were made have established that the territory of what is now referred to generically as South Africa was one of the important centers of human evolution. It was inhabited by Australopithecines since at least 2.5 million years ago. Modern human settlement occurred around 125,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, as shown by archaeological discoveries at Klasies River Caves. The first human habitation is associated with a DNA group originating in a northwestern area of southern Africa and still prevalent in the indigenous Khoisan (Khoi and San). Southern Africa was later populated by Bantu-speaking people who migrated from the western region of central Africa during the early centuries AD.
History of South Africa | Prehistory
The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. South Africa's prehistory has been divided into two phases based on broad patterns of technology namely the Stone Age and Iron Age. After the discovery of hominins at Taung and australopithecine fossils in limestone caves at Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdraai these areas were collectively designated a World Heritage site. The first inhabitants of South Africa are collectively referred to as the Khoisan, the Khoi Khoi and the San separately. These groups were displaced or sometimes absorbed by migrating Africans (Bantus) during the Bantu expansion from Western and Central Africa.
History of South Africa | Introduction
In 1845, amateur geologists William Guybon Atherstone and Andrew Geddes Bain discovered several fossils near Dassieklip, Cape Province, in the Bushman's River Valley. This was the first dinosaur find in Africa and in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1849 and 1853, Bain sent some of the fossils to palaeontologist Richard Owen for identification. Among them was an upper jaw Bain referred to as the "Cape "Iguanodon"", so the site was named "Iguanodonhoek". Atherstone published a short paper about the discovery in 1857, but lamented in 1871 that it had thus far received no attention in London. In 1876 Owen named a series of specimens from the collection "Anthodon serrarius", basing the generic name on the resemblance of the teeth to a flower.
Paranthodon | History of discovery
It has been suggested, based on the Afro-Indian distribution, that the ancestral species of this and other genera "Chirodisca" and "Rhinogaster", evolved in Eurasia and spread to Africa 5-7 million years ago when the Tethys sea closed and thus their ancestors would have been part of the late Miocene Hipparion fauna.
Formiscurra | Introduction
The species can be found in the eastern half of Africa, from southern Sudan, and South-Sudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Late Holocene fossil spores have been found in the Nile delta, among "Cyperus papyrus". It may have gone extinct with the demise of large areas of papyrus reeds, due to the reclaim of these swamps for agriculture.
Azolla nilotica | Distribution
"Blikanasaurus" was first discovered by a partial hindlimb (epipodium and pes) found in the lower Elliot Formation (LEF) at the foot of Blikana mountain in Herschel, Eastern Cape of South Africa around 1965. In the early 2000s, a second specimen - consisting of only a right metatarsal - was recovered from lower Elliot Formation deposits on the farm, Damplaats, in Ladybrand of the eastern Free State. A possible ilium that has been attributed to "Blikanasaurus" was found recently, although this remains to be confirmed.
Blikanasaurus | History of discovery
Before World War II, several more sites bore "A. africanus" fossils. A detailed monograph by Broom and palaeoanthropologist Gerrit Willem Hendrik Schepers in 1946 regarding these australopithecines from South Africa, as well as several papers by British palaeoanthropologist Sir Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, had turned around scientific opinion, garnering wide support for "A. africanus" classification as a human ancestor. In 1947, the most complete skull was discovered, STS 5 ("Mrs. Ples"). Wider acceptance of "A. africanus" prompted re-evaluation of Piltdown Man in 1953 and again in 1955, revealing its falsehood. In 1949, Dart recommended splitting a presumed-female facial fragment from Makapansgat, South Africa, (MLD 2) into a new species as ""A.
Australopithecus africanus | Research history
Theropithecus oswaldi is an extinct species of "Theropithecus" from the early to middle Pleistocene of Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Spain, Morocco and Algeria. It appears to have been a specialised grazer. The species went extinct in South Africa around 1.0 Ma.
Theropithecus oswaldi | Introduction
The species was described by Robert Gess of Wits University in the journal "African Invertebrates". The specific epithet derives from "", the isiXhosa word for "south", sometimes used for South Africa. The shale containing the fossil was discovered as far back as 1985 during construction of the N2 bypass outside Grahamstown. The site consists of black carbonaceous shale formed from anaerobic mud deposited in a marine estuary on the Agulhas Sea. A variety of organic remains are found in this setting, including algae, terrestrial plants and fish. Invertebrate remains are of small bivalves, ostracods, clam shrimp, and a eurypterid. Fossil material has been greatly compressed and original tissue replaced by metamorphic mica altered to chlorite during uplift.
Gondwanascorpio | Introduction
In 1924, South African anatomist Raymond Dart and Scottish geologist Robert Burns Young were called to a limestone quarry in Taung, South Africa, by the Northern Lime Company to collect monkey fossils. They suspected the area might bear archaic human remains like "Homo rhodesiensis" from Kabwe, Zambia (at the time Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia) discovered in 1921. Instead, they recovered a 2.8 million year old juvenile skull, Taung child, seemingly a transitional fossil between apes and humans. Most notably, it had a small brain size yet was apparently bipedal. Dart named the specimen "Australopithecus africanus". At this time, great apes were classified into the family Pongidae encompassing all non-human fossil apes, and Hominidae encompassing humans and ancestors.
Australopithecus africanus | Research history
Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the human species originating from the continent. During the mid-20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago (BP=before present). Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern man, such as "Australopithecus afarensis" (radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BP, "Paranthropus boisei" (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BP) and "Homo ergaster" (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BP) have been discovered. After the evolution of "Homo sapiens" approximately 350,000 to 260,000 years BP in Africa, the continent was mainly populated by groups of hunter-gatherers.
Africa | Prehistory
White in the 1990s, including "Ardipithecus ramidus" and "Ardipithecus kadabba". In 2013, fossil skeletons of "Homo naledi", an extinct species of hominin assigned (provisionally) to the genus "Homo", were found in the Rising Star Cave system, a site in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind region in Gauteng province near Johannesburg. , fossils of at least fifteen individuals, amounting to 1,550 specimens, have been excavated from the cave. The species is characterized by a body mass and stature similar to small-bodied human populations, a smaller endocranial volume similar to "Australopithecus", and a cranial morphology (skull shape) similar to early "Homo" species.
Human evolution | The East African fossils
On May 10, 1941, the Hunterian Museum was demolished by a German bomb, destroying all the fossils; only casts remain. Because the plaster casts of the lost type specimen fossils were not adequate to accurately diagnose a genus and species under modern taxonomic practices and for research purposes, Yates and Barrett (2010) designated BP/1/4934, a skull and a largely complete postcranial skeleton in the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, as the neotype specimen. "Massospondylus" remains have been found in the Upper Elliot Formation, the Clarens Formation, and the Bushveld Sandstone of South Africa and Lesotho, as well as the Forest Sandstone of Zimbabwe.
Massospondylus | History of discovery
"Progalesaurus" was originally discovered by Roger M. H. Smith in 1998. The specimen was found in the Sneeuberg mountains near New Lootsberg Pass in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. "Progalesaurus" was first described in 2004 by Christian A. Sidor and Roger M. H. Smith in their paper titled, “"A New Galesaurid (Therapsida: Cynodontia) From the Lower Triassic of South Africa.”" Although no other specimen of "Progalesaurus" has been found as of yet, Sidor and Smith's findings have been included in many papers on the Permian-Triassic extinction event, cynodont diversity, and the paleoenvironment of South Africa.
Progalesaurus | Discovery and history
Extinct species within this genus include: Extinct species within this genus lived from the Eocene epoch to recent, beginning around 37.2 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Africa (Libya, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia, Chad, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Sudan), Saudi Arabia, and Slovakia.
Lates | Extinct species
The type material BP/1/5243 for "Dracovenator" was discovered at the "Upper Drumbo Farm" locality in the upper Elliot Formation which is part of the Stormberg Group in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was collected by James Kitching and Regent "Lucas" Huma in sandstone that was deposited during the Hettangian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 201 to 199 million years ago. The paratype material BP/1/5278 (originally assigned to "Syntarsus rhodesiensis") was discovered in 1981, also at the Elliot Formation in pinkish-maroon silty mudstone that was deposited in Hettangian sediments. Both the holotype and paratype specimen were housed in the fossil collection of the Evolutionary Studies Institute, part of the School of Geosciences of the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dracovenator | Discovery
Several sites from South Africa seem to show "Dinofelis" may have hunted and killed "Australopithecus africanus", since the finds mingle fossilized remains of "Dinofelis", hominids, and other large contemporary animals. In South Africa, "Dinofelis" remains have been found near "Paranthropus" fossil skulls, a few with precisely spaced canine holes in their crania, so it is possible "Dinofelis" preyed on robust hominids as well. This may been rare, however, as carbon isotope ratios contradict this.
Dinofelis | Paleobiology
In 2008, palaeoanthropologist Ronald J. Clarke recommended reviving ""A. prometheus"" to house the StW 573 nearly-complete skeleton ("Little Foot"), StS 71 cranium, StW 505 cranium, StW 183 maxilla, StW 498 maxilla and jawbone, StW 384 jawbone, StS 1 palate, and MLD 2. The validity of this is debated. At the time, these remains were dated to 3.3 million years ago in the Late Pliocene. In 2019, Clarke and South African palaeoanthropologist Kathleen Kuman redated StW 573 to 3.67 million years ago, making it the oldest "Australopithecus" specimen from South Africa. They considered its antiquity further evidence of species distinction, drawing parallels with "A.
Australopithecus africanus | Research history
They were dispersed throughout much of Southern and Southeastern Africa. There was also a significant back-migration of bearers of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroup L0 towards eastern Africa between 120 and 75 kya. Rito et al. (2013) speculate that pressure from such back-migration may even have contributed to the dispersal of East African populations out of Africa at about 70 kya. During the Middle Stone Age, the climate fluctuated between glacial, rainy, and increasingly humid causing the early hunter-gatherers of South Africa to adapt their technological advancements, movements, and foraging strategies. Blombos Cave contains personal ornaments and what are presumed to be the tools used for the production of artistic imagery, as well as bone tools.
Early history of South Africa | Middle Stone Age
The Paleogene was warmer than our time, and the climate in today's temperate latitudes was by then indeed more like that in today's Southeast Asia. "Afrocorynus" contains presently two described species, which are only known to occur in the mountains and hills that extend on the southern coast of South Africa, between Mosselbay in the west, Grahamstown in the east, and the Karoo inland. "Hispodes" occurs in similar habitat extending eastwards and inland, with the single described species ("H. spicatus") found hitherto only in the Katberg region, and an undescribed species known from the Drakensberg escarpment south of Tzaneen.
Metrioxenini | Distribution and ecology
Contact and interaction between hunter/gatherer, pastoralist, and incoming farming communities remains an important topic of interest in African archaeology today. In 2014, ancient DNA analysis of a 2,330-year-old male forager's skeleton in southern Africa found that the specimen belonged to the L0d2c1c mtDNA haplogroup. This maternal clade is today most closely associated with the Ju, a subgroup of the indigenous San people, which points to population continuity in the region. In 2016, a Late Iron Age desiccated mummy from the Tuli region in northern Botswana was also found to belong to haplogroup L0. In central Nigeria, West Africa, around 1,500 BCE, the Nok culture developed on the Jos Plateau.
African archaeology | Metal-using Africa
In the Djurab desert in northern Chad in central Africa, "Tchadailurus" seems to have lived alongside fellow machairodonts "Lokotunjailurus", "Amphimachairodus" and early representatives of the genus "Megantereon" as well as four other cat species. In addition to these other cats, animals such as crocodiles, three-toed horses, fish, monkeys, hippos, aardvarks, turtles, rodents, giraffes, snakes, antelopes, pigs, mongooses, foxes, hyenas, otters, honey badgers and the hominid "Sahelanthropus" dwelled here, providing ample food. Based on these and other fossils, it is theorized that the Djurab was once the shore of a lake, generally forested close to the waters with savannah-like areas some distance away.
Tchadailurus | Paleoecology
In 1968 on a nearby farm a number of very well preserved fossilised footsteps were discovered dating back 250 million years to the Permian Period, most notable of which is a very well preserved "Bradysaurus" footprint. Since then a number of fossilised remains of other pre-dinosaur creatures such as Pareiasaurs, Dinocephalians, and Therapsids have been discovered in an area regarded as one of the best paleontological sites in South Africa. Fossils of some of the following Permian period reptiles have been found in the area:
Fraserburg | Fossil deposits
The earliest fossil record dates back to nearly 0.7 million years ago. Fossils of the red hartebeest have been found in Elandsfontein, Cornelia (Free State) and Florisbad in South Africa, as well as in Kabwe in Zambia. In Israel, hartebeest remains have been found in northern Negev, Shephelah, Sharon Plain and Tel Lachish. This population of the hartebeest was originally limited to the open country of the southernmost regions of the southern Levant. It was probably hunted in Egypt, which affected the numbers in the Levant, and disconnected it from its main population in Africa.
Hartebeest | Evolution
The South African Karoo Supergroup is a fossil-rich series of bedded shales that was continuously deposited beginning in the late Carboniferous through the early Jurassic. Though a diverse assemblage of dicynodonts appears early on in the Beaufort Group, the immediately preceding Ecca was long understood to be barren of fossils, despite a lack of geological evidence for a change in paleoenvironment from Ecca to Beaufort. From 1964 to 1970, the farmer Roy Oosthuizen, whose land was located in an area firmly established as Upper Ecca (Middle Permian), collected a number of nodules containing the remains of several therapsids, including several small dicynodonts and the partial skull that is the type specimen of "Eodicynodon".
Eodicynodon | Discovery and geology
Further, he found that the breakage patterns from faunal remains at Swartkrans were consistent with large carnivore damage upon bone, such as leopards and hyenas. During Brain's excavations, he found a partial skull-cap of a juvenile "Paranthropus robustus" (SK 54) bearing two puncture marks (1970). Brain found that these punctures aligned perfectly with the spacing of the canines in a leopard mandible. He then summarized the findings of his research spanning nearly 20 years in the authoritative volume entitled, "" (1981) (named after Washburn's famous article, see above), which corroborated Washburn's hypothesis that early Australopiths were not, in fact, responsible for associated fossil accumulations found throughout southern Africa.
Osteodontokeratic culture | The birth of African cave taphonomy
In South Africa, a notable and rare find came to light in 1924. In a limestone quarry at Taung, Professor Raymond Dart discovered a remarkably well-preserved juvenile specimen (face and brain endocast), which he named "Australopithecus africanus" ("Australopithecus" meaning "Southern Ape"). Although the brain was small (410 cm³), its shape was rounded, unlike that of chimpanzees and gorillas, and more like a modern human brain. In addition, the specimen exhibited short canine teeth, and the foramen magnum was more anteriorly placed, suggesting a bipedal mode of locomotion. All of these traits convinced Dart that the Taung child was a bipedal human ancestor, a transitional form between ape and human.
Paleoanthropology | Africa
"A. broadleyi" was first found in Limpopo province, South Africa.
Afroedura broadleyi | Geographic range
Phylogenetic analysis done by Ashley Kruger suggests that a likely origin for burnetiamorphs could be southern Africa. The base and oldest burnetiamorphs are found in South Africa.
Burnetia | Paleoenvironment
The pre-Bantu peoples migrating southwards from around the year 30,000 BC were nomadic hunters who favoured caves as dwellings. Before the rise of the Nguni peoples along the east and southern coasts and central areas of Africa these nomadic hunters were widely distributed. It is thought they entered South Africa at least 10 years ago. They have left many signs of life, people toilets and rocks ('Bushman' paintings) depicting hunting, domestic and magic-related art. There is a stylistic unity across the region and even with more ancient art in the Tassili n'Ajjer region of northern Africa, and also in what is now desert Chad but was once a lush landscape.
South African art | Paleolithic Rock Art
In hunting, "H. habilis" was most likely not capable of competing with large predators and was more prey than hunter, although "H. habilis" probably did steal eggs from nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey such as cubs and older animals. The tools were classed as Oldowan. Roughly 1.8 million years ago, "Homo ergaster" first appeared in the fossil record in Africa. From "Homo ergaster", "Homo erectus" (upright man) evolved 1.5 million years ago. Some of the earlier representatives of this species were small-brained and used primitive stone tools, much like "H. habilis".
Sub-Saharan Africa | Prehistory
During the Late Miocene, East Africa, the Sahara, the Middle East, and Southern Europe all appear to have been predominantly seasonal sclerophyllous evergreen woodland environments. Nakali appears to have been dominated by C3 (forest) plants. "Nakalipithecus" is known from the Upper Beds, which comprise lakeside or riverine deposits. Climate change caused the expansion of grasslands in Africa from 10–7 milling years ago, likely fragmenting populations of forest-dwelling primates, leading to extinction. Nakali has also yielded a black rhino specimen, the pig "Nyanzachoerus", an antelope, the hippo "Kenyapotamus", the rhino "Kenyatherium", the giraffe "Palaeotragus", the horse "Hipparion", the elephants "Deinotherium" and (possibly) "Choerolophodon", and the colobine monkey "Microcolobus".
Nakalipithecus | Palaeobiology
The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Dating from 75,000 years ago, these small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. One of the defining characteristics of our species is the making of art (from Latin 'ars' meaning worked or formed from basic material). The scattered tribes of Khoisan peoples moving into South Africa from around 10,000 BC had their own fluent art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings.
Culture of South Africa | Art
On the Uitzoek farm, 10 km north of Cornelia, fossils were discovered in Pleistocene alluvial deposits by Van Hoepen in the 1920s and 1930s. These fossils include extinct mammal forms such as a donkey-sized pig ("Metridiochoerus modestus"), the three-toed horse ("Eurygnathohippus cornelianus") only previously found in Tanzania, the giant buffalo ("Synerus antiquus"), Bondi's springbok ("Antidorcas bondi"), and the giant wildebeest ("Megolotragus eucornutus"). Acheulian Stone Age tools such as handaxes and cleavers have also been found here. Recent research document excavations of a fossil bone bed, possibly resulting from the accumulation by hyaenas and redepostion by dongas (i.e., gullies). Associated with the fossil bone bed were a human ("Homo sp".) tooth and Acheulian artifacts.
Cornelia, Free State | Fossil discoveries
The Hofmeyr Skull is a specimen of a 36,000-year-old human skull that was found in 1952 near Hofmeyr, South Africa. Osteological analysis of the cranium by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology indicates that the specimen is morphologically distinct from recent groups in subequatorial Africa, including the local Khoisan populations . The Hofmeyr fossil instead has a very close affinity with other Upper Paleolithic skulls from Europe. Some scientists have interpreted this relationship as being consistent with the Out-of-Africa theory, which hypothesizes that at least some Upper Paleolithic human groups in Africa, Europe and Asia should morphologically resemble each other.
African archaeology | Later Stone Age Africa
Uraha is an Early Stone Age site in Uraha Hill, northern Malawi. It is part of the Chiwondo Beds site which is where the fossil remains were found on the lake beds. It is known for the discovery of a jawbone of an ancient human dating to 2.4 million years ago. This specimen is one of the oldest occurrences of the genus "Homo" and is assumed to be of the species "Homo rudolfensis". The recovery of this bone helped create a connection between sites of East and South Africa. There were no stone tools found but, animal fossils revealed a pattern of habitat change between about 4 and 1.5 million years ago when the land became more of a grassland.
Archaeology of Malawi | Uraha
From 12 January 2009 the remains of the largest dinosaurs to ever be found on South African soil were discovered in Clarens, a small town in Free State (province). Dr Jonah Choineire, a senior researcher at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, said the remains of the large creature were found between the border of Lesotho and South Africa just outside of Clarens. The remains were discovered at a construction site of the Ingula Pump and Storage Scheme, developed by Eskom Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Mr Gavin Anderson, the project archaeologist, together with Dr Gideon Groenewald, a geologist/palaeontologist, was requested to assist with the recording of fossil finds at the construction site.
Clarens, Free State | Discovery of fossils
Many species have been named, although most are no longer considered valid. "M. carinatus", named by Richard Owen, is the type species. Other named species include: "M. browni" Seeley, 1895, "M. harriesi" Broom 1911, "M. hislopi" Lydekker, 1890, "M. huenei" Cooper, 1981, "M. kaalae" Barrett 2009, "M. rawesi" Lydekker, 1890, and "M. schwarzi" Haughton, 1924. "M. browni", "M. harriesi", and "M. schwarzi" were all found in the Upper Elliot Formation of Cape Province, South Africa. All three are based on fragmentary material, and were regarded as indeterminate in the most recent review. "M. browni" is based on two cervical, two back, and three caudal vertebrae and miscellaneous hind limb elements.
Massospondylus | Species
africanus" remains from various sites. Initially, anthropologists were largely hostile to the idea that these discoveries were anything but apes, though this changed during the late 1940s. In 1950, evolutionary biologist Ernst Walter Mayr said that all bipedal apes should be classified into the genus "Homo", and considered renaming "Australopithecus" to "Homo transvaalensis". However, the contra view taken by Robinson in 1954, excluding australopiths from "Homo", became the prevalent view. The first australopithecine fossil discovered in eastern Africa was an "A. boisei" skull excavated by Mary Leakey in 1959 in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Since then, the Leakey family has continued to excavate the gorge, uncovering further evidence for australopithecines, as well as for "Homo habilis" and "Homo erectus".
Australopithecus | Research history
This new genus was described in the 23 June 2015 issue of 'Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society' in an essay titled 'A new basal sauropodiform from South Africa and the phylogenetic relationships of basal sauropodomorphs'. A portion of the left foot and four partial skeletons, including several pieces of spine and limbs, were excavated from the Elliot Formation in the late 1930s in the Zastron district in South Africa, some from the Lesotho border. Until a few years ago these formed part of the large fossil collection curated by the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) at Wits University. When finally studied, the remains were thought to be those of the dinosaur "Aardonyx".
Sefapanosaurus | Description
"Aulacephalodon" specimens have been found in both the Madumabisa Mudstone "Formation" of Zambia and the "Cistecephalus" zone sediments of South Africa. Though geographically different localities, the specimens found at both locations are not found to be morphologically distinct from each other. The terrain of the "Cistecephalus" zone is thought to be a lowland composed of vast floodplains, with many traversing streams that crossed the landscape. The climate of the Beaufort Group during the Late Permian was semi-arid, with seasonal rainfall. While the overall climate of the "Cistecephalus" zone was not suitable for diverse environments, this zone was the height of genetic diversity of dicynodonts.
Aulacephalodon | Paleoecology
Daouitherium ("Sidi Daoui beast" from the name of the site where it was discovered) is an extinct genus of early proboscideans (a group including modern elephants and their extinct relatives) that lived during the early Eocene (Ypresian stage) some 55 million years ago in North Africa. Remains of this animal, fragments of jaws and teeth, have been found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. It is estimated to have weighed between , making it one of the earliest large mammals known from Africa and one of the oldest known proboscideans. Another estimate gives a weight of .
Daouitherium | Introduction
The identification of a fossil skull at Mojokerta, Pernung Peninsula on Java, dated to 1.8 mya, as "H. erectus", suggests that the African finds are not the earliest to be found in Africa, or that, in fact, erectus did not originate in Africa after all but on the plains of Asia. The outcome of the issue waits for more substantial evidence. Erectus was found also at Dmanisi, Georgia, from 1.75 mya in association with pebble tools.
Stone Age | Oldowan out of Africa
Theledectes is an extinct genus of theledectine procolophonid parareptile from middle Triassic (early Anisian stage) deposits of Free State Province, South Africa.The type species, Theledectes perforatus, is based on the holotype BP/1/4585, a flattened skull. This skull was collected by the South African palaeontologist, James W. Kitching from Hugoskop in the Rouxville District and referred to subzone B of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of the Burgersdorp Formation, Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin). The genus was first named by Sean P. Modesto and Ross J. Damiani in 2003. However, the species was initially assigned to the genus "Thelegnathus" (now considered to be a "nomen dubium") by C.E.
Theledectes | Introduction
The oldest specimens of "Pachycrocuta" were found in the late Miocene of Baringo County (Kenya). Fossil remains have been found broadly in Eurasia and southern and eastern Africa. Most material consists of fragmented remains, usually of the skull, but a cache of very comprehensive bone material was unearthed at the famous Zhoukoudian site, which probably represents the remains of animals using these caves as lairs for many millennia. At the western end of their former range, at Venta Micena in southeastern Spain, a huge assemblage of Pleistocene fossils also represents a den. Other proposed species, "P. robusta" and "P. pyrenaica", are less well researched; the former may simply be an exceptionally large European paleosubspecies of the brown hyena, "Hyaena brunnea".
Pachycrocuta | Fossils
The first evidence of pottery and agriculture (sheep) in South Africa can be found in the period of 350-150 BCE, while metals date back to the 52-252 CE period. The earliest occurrence of cattle farming was in the 5th century CE and the Iron Age reached modern-day Kwa-Zulu Natal around 700 CE. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c.11th - 13th century CE) was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers. This saw the beginnings of South Africa's gold and ivory trade and the production of jewelry and art. The Golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe was discovered on a royal grave at the site of Mapungubwe Hill, and was on display at the British Museum as part of an exhibition celebrating the art of South Africa.
Economic history of South Africa | Early history
Humans in North Africa (Nazlet Sabaha, Egypt) are known to have dabbled in chert mining, as early as ~100,000 years ago, likely for use as tools.
Prehistoric North Africa | Early and middle Paleolithic
Most "Lystrosaurus" fossils have been found in the Balfour and Katberg Formations of the Karoo basin in South Africa; these specimens offer the best prospects of identifying species because they are the most numerous and have been studied for the longest time. As so often with fossils, there is debate in the paleontological community as to exactly how many species have been found in the Karoo basin. Studies from the 1930s to 1970s suggested a large number (23 in one case). However, by the 1980s and 1990s, only six species were recognized in the Karoo: "L. curvatus", "L. platyceps", "L.
Lystrosaurus | Species found in Africa
His description was published in "Illustrations of the zoology of South Africa", an account of the natural history objects he collected during his expedition into the interior of South Africa in 1834-36. It was also described by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1858 and named "Hoplophycis lalandi".
Genypterus capensis | Introduction
The earliest inhabitants of central North Africa have left behind significant remains: early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa, for example, were found in Ain el Hanech, in Setif (c. 200,000 BCE); in fact, more recent investigations have found signs of Oldowan technology there, and indicate a date of up to 1.8 million BC. Some studies have placed the earliest settlement of homo sapiens in North Africa to around 160,000 years ago. According to some sources, North Africa was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic flake-tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 130,000 BCE, are called Aterian(after the site Bir el Ater, south of Annaba) and are marked by a high standard of workmanship, great variety, and specialization.
Prehistoric North Africa | Early and middle Paleolithic
The tools were classed as Oldowan.
History of Africa | Paleolithic
The first fossils of the species were described in a monograph published by a French scientist in 1918. It was not until 2014, however, that the fossils were identified as a unique species from further specimens collected at Wadi Moghra in the Qattara Depression of Egypt. The fossils have been deposited at the Cairo Geological Museum, Cairo University, and Duke University. At the site, six species of anthracotheres were discovered, but this sample was unlike other family members because of "a series of tiny holes on either side of its jaw that held the nerves providing sensation to the chin and lower lip." The National Science Foundation supported the research.
Jaggermeryx | Discovery
Byneskranskop is an archaeological site in present-day South Africa where the coastal plain meets the southern Cape Fold Belt. Neolithic human remains have been discovered in caves at the site. Carbon dating of the remains indicates the bodies date from 3,000 to 2,000 years BCE. Remains of tortoises at this site and a dig at Die Kelders, have been used to assess a correlation between tortoise size and human population, with a decrease in tortoise sizes as the human population grows. 166,000 stone artefacts were recovered from the site during the first dig. These were dated as far back as 12,000 years BCE.
Byneskranskop | Introduction
The two discoverers received immediate recognition, and the fish became known as a "living fossil". The 1938 coelacanth is still on display in the East London, South Africa, museum. However, as the specimen had been stuffed, the gills and skeleton were not available for examination, and some doubt therefore remained as to whether it was truly the same species. Smith began a hunt for a second specimen that would take more than a decade.
West Indian Ocean coelacanth | First discovery in South Africa
The Early Stone Age (ESA), which spanned from approximately 2.6 million years ago (mya) - 280,000 years ago (ya), describes a period in African prehistory in which the first stone tools were developed, including both Oldowan and Acheulean. Early sites along the East African Rift include Lomekwi in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, and Olduvai Gorge farther south in modern-day Tanzania. The earliest hominids were discovered in Ethiopia and titled "Ardipithecus ramidus". The diverging species of hominin are known as australopithecines and were first discovered in Olduvai. Australopithecines and their fossils include "Paranthropus boisei", the most famous being know and “Zinj” or “Nutcracker man” by Mary Leakey, the archaeologist who found it.
African archaeology | Early Stone Age Africa
The eastern European genus "Pontoceros" is another example, although this animal has been found in early Pleistocene beds of the Mygdonia basin. This suggests that spiral-horned antelopes have emigrated from Africa and into Eurasia during a latter period in their evolutionary history. In addition, undescribed fossils found in South Asia could be related to spiral-horned antelopes. Fossils from Africa have been recovered in places such as Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, but they are sometimes consist of fragmented pieces of leg bone and horn. The oldest known of these species is "Tragelaphus moroitu" which has been found in the late Miocene to early Pliocene deposits of the Asa Koma, Kuseralee and the Middle Awash deposits in the horn of Africa.
Tragelaphini | The fossil record
Abrictosaurus (; "wakeful lizard") is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period of what is now southern Africa. It was a small bipedal herbivore or omnivore, approximately 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, and weighing less than 45 kilograms (100 pounds). This dinosaur is known from the fossil remains of only two individuals, found in the Upper Elliot Formation of Qacha's Nek District in Lesotho and Cape Province in South Africa. The Upper Elliot is thought to date from the Hettangian and Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic Period, approximately 200 to 190 million years ago. This formation is thought to preserve sand dunes as well as seasonal floodplains, in a semiarid environment with sporadic rainfall.
Abrictosaurus | Introduction
South African australopithecines appear to lived in an area with a wide range of habitats. At Sterkfontein, fossil wood belonging to the liana "Dichapetalum cf. mombuttense" was recovered. The only living member of this tree genus in South Africa is "Dichapetalum cymosum", which grows in dense, humid gallery forests. In modern day, "D. mombuttense" only grows in the Congolian rainforests, so its presence could potentially mean the area was an extension of this rainforest. The wildlife assemblages indicate a mix of habitats such as bush savanna, open woodland, or grassland. The shrub "Anastrabe integerrima" was also found, which today only grows on the wetter South African coastline.
Australopithecus africanus | Palaeoecology
Africanacetus is an extinct genus of ziphiid cetacean known from skulls found in seafloor sediments of Late Miocene to Early Pliocene age off the coasts of South Africa (Banzare Bank) and Brazil (São Paulo Ridge).
Africanacetus | Introduction
Trade with the Near East and Europe led to strong mercantile empires growing such as the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum. Various states and polities also developed in West Africa including Ife, the Kingdom of Benin, Igbo Ukwu, Djenné-Djenno, Ghana Empire, Bono State and the Ashanti Empire. Bantu peoples in southern Africa built the impressive site of Great Zimbabwe between the 10th and 15th centuries CE. The north of the continent had close cultural and economic ties with the Classical and medieval Mediterranean. Cattle herding became important in the Horn of Africa and huge earthwork enclosures were built to corral the animals.
African archaeology | Historical Africa
In 1995, two specimens were recovered from Koro Toro, Bahr el Gazel, Chad: KT12/H1 or "Abel" (a jawbone preserving the premolars, canines, and the right second incisor) and KT12/H2 (an isolated first upper premolar). They were discovered by the Franco-Chadian Paleoanthropological Mission, and reported by French palaeontologist Michel Brunet, French geographer Alain Beauvilain, French anthropologist Yves Coppens, French palaeontologist Emile Heintz, Chadian geochemist engineer Aladji Hamit Elimi Ali Moutaye, and British palaeoanthropologist David Pilbeam. Based on the wildlife assemblage, the remains were roughly dated to the middle to late Pliocene 3.5–3 million years ago. This caused the describers to preliminarily assign the remains to "Australopithecus afarensis", which inhabited Ethiopia during that time period, barring more detailed anatomical comparisons.
Australopithecus bahrelghazali | Research history
it contains fourteen species, all found in South Africa:
Afrarchaea | Species
It is thought that ancestral bovids had a diploid chromosome number of 58 which has reduced in "Tetracerus" to 38 through a process of concatenation of some chromosomes. Fossils of "Protragoceros labidotus" and "Sivoreas eremita" dating back to the late Miocene have been discovered in the Ngorora formation (Kenya). fossils from the same period have also been excavated in the eastern Mediterranean region. Other Miocene fossils of boselaphines discovered are of "Miotragocerus", "Tragocerus" and "Tragoportax". Fossils of "Miotragoceros" are not apparent in Africa (only "M. cyrenaicus" has been reported from the continent), but have significant presence in the Shiwalik Hills in India and Pakistan, as do several "Tragoportax" species.
Four-horned antelope | Evolution
Many bones (250 bones per square metre) of recently extinct vertebrates have been found in the Mare aux Songes swamp in Mauritius, including bones of the Dodo bird ("Raphus cucullatus") and "Cylindraspis" giant tortoise. An analysis of these remains suggests a process of artidification began in the southwest Indian Ocean began around 4,000 year ago. Mammalian megafauna once widespread in the MPA was driven to near extinction in the early 20th century. Some species have been successfully recovered since then — the population of white rhinoceros ("Ceratotherium simum simum") increased from less than 20 individuals in 1895 to more than 17,000 as of 2013.
Indian Ocean | Biodiversity
"P. boisei" remains have been found predominantly in what were wet, wooded environments, such as wetlands along lakes and rivers, wooded or arid shrublands, and semiarid woodlands, with the exception of the savanna-dominated Malawian Chiwondo Beds. During the Pleistocene, there seems to have been coastal and montane forests in Eastern Africa. More expansive river valleys–namely the Omo River Valley–may have served as important refuges for forest-dwelling creatures. Being cut off from the forests of Central Africa by a savanna corridor, these East African forests would have promoted high rates of endemism, especially during times of climatic volatility. Australopithecines and early "Homo" likely preferred cooler conditions than later "Homo", as there are no australopithecine sites that were below in elevation at the time of deposition.
Paranthropus boisei | Palaeoecology
The holotype specimen of "Heterodontosaurus tucki" (SAM-PK-K337) was discovered during the British–South African expedition to South Africa and Basutoland (former name of Lesotho) in 1961–1962. Today, it is housed in the Iziko South African Museum. It was excavated on a mountain at an altitude of about , at a locality called Tyinindini, in the district of Transkei (sometimes referred to as Herschel) in the Cape Province of South Africa. The specimen consists of a crushed but nearly complete skull; associated postcranial remains mentioned in the original description could not be located in 2011. The animal was scientifically described and named in 1962 by palaeontologists Alfred Walter Crompton and Alan J.
Heterodontosaurus | History of discovery
Duinefontein 1 and 2 are early prehistoric archaeological sites near Cape Town in South Africa They have produced Acheulean stone tools and animal bones dating between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago. It was not a settlement site, but instead seems to have been a waterside location where animals could be hunted or scavenged when they died by hominids. The hominids used the tools to butcher the animals, although many of the animal bones from the site represent killings by other carnivores. One context, from Duinefontein 2, dated by optically stimulated luminescence dating to 270,000 BP contained ochre that must have been introduced to the site by people and which may have been used as body adornment.
Duinefontein | Introduction
Hua Liu "et al." analyzed autosomal microsatellite markers dating to about 56,000 years ago. They interpret the paleontological fossil as an isolated early offshoot that retracted back to Africa. The discovery of stone tools in the United Arab Emirates in 2011 at the Faya-1 site in Mleiha, Sharjah, indicated the presence of modern humans at least 125,000 years ago, leading to a resurgence of the "long-neglected" North African route.
Recent African origin of modern humans | Northern Route dispersal
Africanaspis is an extinct genus of groenlandaspidid placoderm known from two species, Africanaspis doryssa, named in 1997 from fossils discovered in South Africa and Africanaspis edmountaini, named from fossils described from South Africa during 2017. "A. edmountaini" is only known from juvenile specimens. Both species are known from the Witpoort Formation.
Africanaspis | Introduction
Fossils of the animal now known as "Uranocentrodon" were first discovered in a sandstone quarry in the Normandien Formation near Senekal in Free State, South Africa. The first example of these fossils was a fragmentary skull excavated by a local family. Subsequent excavations and searches undertaken by various parties unearthed more specimens which hailed from the quarry. Among these specimens included three nearly complete skeletons overlapping each other. The initial skull was determined to belong to the same individual as one of the skeletons. The skull and three skeletons were acquired by the Transvaal Museum and given the designations TM 75, TM 75d, and TM75h by E.C.N.
Uranocentrodon | History and specimens
The people of Christian Ethiopia produced impressive rock-cut monolithic churches such as that of St George at Lalibela during the 13th century and the first Portuguese forts appeared soon after this, penetrating as far south as Zambia.
African archaeology | Historical Africa
McHenry travels regularly to Africa to extend his knowledge of human origins, focusing his studies on the fossil remains of australopithecines. The best-known of which are the 3.2-million-year-old remains of 'Lucy', discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson of the Institute for Human Origins. According to McHenry, "The earlier species (Lucy) is more primitive in its skull and teeth, but has human-like body proportions," whereas "the later species, africanus, with more human-like skull and teeth, has the more ape-like body proportions--big arms, small legs."
Henry McHenry | Study of African ancestors
"Homo sapiens" appear for the first time in the archaeological record around 300-270,000 years ago in Africa. They soon developed a more advanced method of flint tool manufacture involving striking flakes from a prepared core. This permitted more control over the size and shape of finished tool and led to the development of composite tools, projectile points and scrapers, which could be hafted onto spears, arrows or handles. In turn, this technology permitted more efficient hunting such as that demonstrated by the Aterian industry. It was during the late Middle Pleistocene that many groups began to migrate away from eastern Africa, especially southward.
African archaeology | Middle Stone Age Africa
The scientific community took 20 more years to widely accept "Australopithecus" as a member of the human family tree. In 1997, an almost complete "Australopithecus" skeleton with skull was found in the Sterkfontein caves of Gauteng, South Africa. It is now called "Little Foot" and it is around 3.7 million years old. It was named "Australopithecus prometheus" which has since been placed within "A. africanus". Other fossil remains found in the same cave in 2008 were named "Australopithecus sediba", which lived 1.9 million years ago. "A. africanus" probably evolved into "A. sediba", which some scientists think may have evolved into "H.
Australopithecus | Research history
There are two extant species: A prehistoric relative, "Ephippiorhynchus pakistanensis", has been described from Late Miocene fossils found in Pakistan. At about the same time, another now-extinct species occurred in eastern to central Africa.
Ephippiorhynchus | Species
The ancient Taforalt individuals carried the mtDNA haplogroups U6, H, JT and V, which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period.
African archaeology | Later Stone Age Africa