Abstract
AN enormous wealth of early hominid remains has been discovered over the past few years by expeditions within eastern Africa. Evidence has been presented for the existence over a considerable period of time of at least two contemporaneous hominid species1. Some of this evidence is compelling, but some less so for a variety of reasons such as the lack of association, fragmentary specimens, geological uncertainties, equivocal anatomical differences and suchlike. Many of these new specimens are of great antiquity and have led to suggestions that an early form of the genus Homo was contemporary with at least one species of Australopithecus. The evidence presented here deals not with the earlier stages of human evolution, but with the unequivocal occurrence of H. erectus from the Koobi Fora Formation, east of Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf).
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
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Leakey, R. E. F., Nature, 231, 241–245 (1971); 237, 264–269 (1972); 242, 447–450 (1973); 248, 653–656 (1974).
Brace, C. L., The Stages of Human Evolution (Prentice Hall, Engelwood Cliffs, 1967).
Wolpoff, M. H., Man, 6, 601–614 (1971).
Gauss, G. F., The Struggle for Existence (Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1934).
Mayr, E., Cold Spring Harb. Symp and quant. Biol., 15, 108–118 (1950).
Leakey, R. E. F., Nature, 261, 574–576 (1976).
Bowen, B. E., and Vondra, C. F., Nature, 242, 391–393 (1973).
Weidenreich, F., Palaeont. Sinica, 10, 1–291 (1943).
Sartono, S., Koninkl. Ned. Akad. Wet., 74, 185–194 (1971).
Leakey, R. E. F., Mungai, J. M., and Walker, A. C., Am. J. Phys. Anthrop., 35, 175–186 (1971).
Curtis, G. M., Drake, Cerling, T., and Hampel, Nature, 258, 395–398 (1975).
Fitch, F. J., Findlater, I. C., Watkins, R. T., and Miller, J. A., Nature, 251, 213–215 (1974).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LEAKEY, R., WALKER, A. Australopithecus, Homo erectus and the single species hypothesis. Nature 261, 572–574 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261572a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261572a0
This article is cited by
-
Evolved cognitive biases and the epistemic status of scientific beliefs
Philosophical Studies (2012)
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.