12
June 2003
African origins: Ethiopian fossils are the earliest Homo sapiens
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Evidence for the 'Out of Africa' hypothesis for the origin of Homo sapiens has been questioned because of the lack of African hominid fossils from a critical period, between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago. New finds from the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia have filled that gap. A near-complete adult skull and a partial child's skull have been dated to about 160,000 years old, making them the oldest remains that can be firmly assigned to modern Homo sapiens. In addition this shows that morphologically modern humans had emerged long before 'classic' Neanderthals vanished from Eurasia. The series of illustrations on the cover, by J. Matternes, are reconstructions based on the fossilized adult male cranium from the Herto locality.
Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia
TIM D. WHITE, BERHANE ASFAW, DAVID DEGUSTA, HENRY GILBERT,
GARY D. RICHARDS, GEN SUWA & F. CLARK HOWELL
Nature 423,
742–747 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01669
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Stratigraphic, chronological and behavioural contexts
of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia
J.
DESMOND CLARK, YONAS BEYENE, GIDAY WOLDEGABRIEL, WILLIAM K. HART, PAUL R. RENNE,
HENRY GILBERT, ALBAN DEFLEUR, GEN SUWA, SHIGEHIRO KATOH, KENNETH R. LUDWIG, JEAN-RENAUD
BOISSERIE, BERHANE ASFAW & TIM D. WHITE
Nature 423, 747–752
(2003); doi:10.1038/nature01670
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Human evolution: Out of Ethiopia
CHRIS
STRINGER
Newly discovered fossils from Ethiopia provide fresh evidence for
the 'out of Africa' model for the origin of modern humans, and raise new questions
about the precise pattern of human evolution.
Nature 423, 692–695
(2003); doi:10.1038/423692a
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