Establishing a scientific narrative of human origins requires a better understanding of the geological processes that facilitated the fossilization and recovery of hominins and associated fauna that inform us about our human ancestors’ past environments. Paleoanthropologists rely on geologists, particularly volcanologists, geochemists, sedimentologists, and geochronologists, to help them tease out the depositional and preservation history of fossils. Here, we provide an overview of how geology has contributed to major paleoanthropological discoveries from select Plio–Pleistocene localities in eastern Africa, Tanzania (Oldupai* (Olduvai) Gorge and Laetoli), Kenya (Allia Bay, Kanapoi, and Koobi Fora), and Ethiopia (Hadar, Woranso-Mille, and Dikika) over the past 75 years of research.
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Research Article|
April 01, 2023
The Dawn of Humanity: What Can Paleoanthropologists and Geoscientists Learn from One Another?
Charles Musiba;
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Instituto Superior Politécnico de Tecnologias e Ciências (ISPTEC), Luanda, Angola
E-mail: [email protected]
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Agness Gidna;
Department of Cultural Heritage and GeoParks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Ngorongoro, Tanzania
E-mail: [email protected]
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Mulugeta Alene
School of Earth Sciences, Arat Kilo Campus, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
E-mail: [email protected]
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Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Instituto Superior Politécnico de Tecnologias e Ciências (ISPTEC), Luanda, Angola
Department of Cultural Heritage and GeoParks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Ngorongoro, Tanzania
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
First Online:
20 Jun 2023
Online ISSN: 1811-5217
Print ISSN: 1811-5209
Copyright © 2023 by the Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
Elements (2023) 19 (2): 75–81.
Article history
First Online:
20 Jun 2023
Citation
Charles Musiba, Agness Gidna, Mulugeta Alene; The Dawn of Humanity: What Can Paleoanthropologists and Geoscientists Learn from One Another?. Elements 2023;; 19 (2): 75–81. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.19.2.75
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Afar Depression
- Africa
- anthropology
- artifacts
- Awash Valley
- biogeography
- Cenozoic
- Chordata
- chronostratigraphy
- correlation
- East Africa
- East African Rift
- Ethiopia
- Eutheria
- geochronology
- Hadar
- history
- Hominidae
- Kenya
- Laetoli
- Mammalia
- Neogene
- Olduvai Gorge
- paleoclimatology
- paleoenvironment
- paleolakes
- Pleistocene
- Pliocene
- Primates
- Quaternary
- simians
- Tanzania
- Tertiary
- Tetrapoda
- Theria
- Turkana Basin
- Vertebrata
Latitude & Longitude
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