Abstract
Palaeontological evidence and comparative molecular studies of modern hominoids suggest that major evolutionary changes occurred in the African Hominoidea between 14 Myr and 4 Myr1–3. Unfortunately, very few relevant fossils are known from that time interval4–13. Rocks exposed in the fault scarps of the Tugen Hills in the north Kenya Rift Valley west of Lake Baringo are important as the major known outcrops of fossiliferous sediments spanning this otherwise poorly known time period13,14. As reported here, a new fossil hominid from Tabarin, within this sequence, establishes the presence of the family in Africa as much as 5 Myr ago. Before this find the oldest well-documented occurrence of hominids was the Australopithecus afarensis material from Laetoli, Tanzania15. The Tabarin specimen is up to one million years nearer the divergence point between hominids and the African apes. In several features it resembles A. afarensis rather than other hominoids.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sarich, V. M. & Wilson, A. C. Science 158, 1200–1203 (1967).
Andrews, P. & Cronin, J. E. Nature 297, 541–546 (1982).
Sibley, C. G. & Ahliquist, J. E. J. molec. Evol. 20, 2–15 (1984).
Patterson, P. Nature 212, 577–581 (1966).
Patterson, P. & Howells, W. W. Science 156, 64–66 (1967).
Patterson, P., Behrensmeyer, A. K. & Sill, W. D. Nature 266, 918–921 (1970).
Bishop, W. W. & Chapman, G. R. Nature 226, 914–918 (1970).
Pickford, M. Nature 256, 279–284 (1975).
Pickford, M., Johanson, D. C., Lovejoy, C. O., White, T. D. & Aronson, J. L. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 60, 337–346 (1983).
Pickford, M. in New Interpretations of Ape and Human Ancestry, 421–439 (Plenum, New York, 1983).
Clark, D. et al. Nature 307, 423–428 (1984).
Ishida, H., Pickford, M., Nakaya, H. & Nakano, Y. African Study Monographs Suppl. Issue 2, 73–85 (1984).
Hill, A. et al. J. hum. Evol. (submitted).
Bishop, W. W., Chapman, G. R., Hill, A. & Miller, J. A. Nature 233, 389–394 (1971).
Leakey, M. D. et al. Nature 262, 460–466 (1976).
McCall, G. J. H., Baker, B. H. & Walsh, J. in Background to Evolution in Africa, 191–220 (University of Chicago Press, 1967).
Martyn, J. E. Nature 215, 476–477 (1967).
Martyn, J. E. thesis, Univ. London (1969).
Hill, A., Curtis, G. & Drake, R. in Sedimentation in the African Rift System (Blackwells, Oxford, in the press).
Harris, J. M. & White, T. D. Trans. Am. phil. Soc. 69, 1–128 (1979).
Brown, F. H. & Lajoie, K. R. Nature 229, 483–485 (1971).
Johanson, D. C., Taieb, M. & Coppens, Y. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 57, 373–402 (1982).
Kalb, J. E. et al. Nature 298, 25–29 (1982).
Kalb, J. E., Oswald, E. B., Mebrate, A, Tebedge, S. & Jolly, C. J. Newsl. Stratigr. 11, 95–127 (1982).
Kalb, J. E. et al. J. Vertebr. Palaeont. 2(2), 237–258 (1982).
Hall, C. M., Walter, R. C., Westgate, J. A. & York, D. Nature 308, 26–31 (1984).
Coppens, Y., Maglio, V. J., Madden, C. T. & Beden, M. in Evolution of African Mammals, 336–367 (Harvard University Press, 1978).
Beden, M. in Earliest Man and Environments in the Lake Rudolf Basin, 193–208 (University of Chicago Press, 1976).
Brown, F. H. Nature 300, 631–633 (1982).
Schmitt, T. J. & Nairn, A. E. M. Nature 309, 704–706 (1984).
Johanson, D. C., White, T. D. & Coppens, Y. Kirtlandia 28, 1–14 (1978).
Johanson, D. C. & White, T. D. Science 202, 321–330 (1979).
White, T. D., Johanson, D. C. & Kimbel, W. H. S. Afr. J. Sci. 77, 445–470 (1981).
Tobias, P. V. Palaeont. afr. 23, 1–17 (1980).
Falk, D. & Conroy, G. C. Nature 306, 779–781 (1983).
Senut, B. L'Humerus et ses Articulations chez les Hominides Plio-pleistocene (CNRS, Paris, 1982).
Olson, T. R. in Aspects of Human Evolution, 99–128 (Taylor & Francis, London, 1981).
Coppens, Y. in Recent Advances in the Evolution of Primates, 1–9 (Pontifical Academy of Sciences, The Vatican, 1983).
Tardieu, C. L'Articulation du Genou (CNRS, Paris, 1983).
Johanson, D. C. et al. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 57, 403–451 (1982).
White, T. D. & Johanson, D. C. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 57, 501–544 (1982).
Johanson, D. C., White, T. D. & Coppens, Y. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 57, 545–603 (1982).
Ward, S. C., Johanson, D. C. & Coppens, Y. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 57, 605–630 (1982).
Maglio, V. J. Trans. Am. phil. Soc. 63, 1–149 (1973).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, A. Early hominid from Baringo, Kenya. Nature 315, 222–224 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/315222a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/315222a0
This article is cited by
-
Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia
Nature (1994)
-
Old bones match old stones
Nature (1992)
-
Earliest Homo
Nature (1992)
-
The Kapthurin Formation revisited
African Archaeological Review (1990)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
