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New hominid fossils from the Koobi Fora formation in Northern Kenya

Abstract

A WELL preserved partial innominate KNM-ER 3228, and a relatively complete cranium KNM-ER 3733 provide further support for the presence of Homo during the Plio–Pleistocene in eastern Africa1–5. These hominid specimens and others (Table 1) were collected during the 1974 and 1975 field programme in the Koobi Fora Formation, lying to the east of Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf) in northern Kenya. (This area was previously known as East Rudolf and has been studied since 1968; ref. 6.) The material reported here has been referred to either the Upper or Lower Member of the Koobi Fora Formation. Recent work on the dating of tuffs by Curtis et al.7 has raised important questions that will require time to resolve and may necessitate a complete re-examination of the reported chronology of the Koobi Fora succession and all other East African Plio–Pleistocene localities. Alternative dating methods such as fission track will be given close attention in the future and may offer, together with studies of certain taxa, useful indications about the reliability of isotopic age determinations.

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LEAKEY, R. New hominid fossils from the Koobi Fora formation in Northern Kenya. Nature 261, 574–576 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261574a0

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