First early hominin from Central Africa re-draws Plio-Pleistocene dispersal map

Africa is famous as the cradle of humanity, with the focus of palaeoanthropological research relating to Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo firmly centred on the rich record of the East African Rift Valley as well as South Africa. Much of the research within the Rift Valley has concentrated so far on the large exposures to the east, with little research or fossil finds west of this geological feature. New research published in PLOSOne has, however, begun to shift this focus and reports on a first hominin find from Central Africa.

 The authors describe and discuss a single molar from the site of Ishango in the Western Rift Valley, which today lays on the boundary between the tropical rainforest of Congo and the savannah woodlands of East Africa. This site, known for its Late Stone Age artefacts, was initially discovered and excavated during the 1950s. Numerous LSA hominin fossils were recovered, and this paper was able to establish that a more primitive hominin has been mixed in with this fossil assemblage. [...] globalpalaeonews

Reference: Crevecoeur I, Skinner MM, Bailey SE, Gunz P, Bortoluzzi S, et al. (2014) First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo). PLoS ONE 9(1): e84652. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084652

Link 3: Une dent d’hominidé de - 2,5 millions d’années en Afrique centrale

Les analyses par imagerie (en bas) le confirment : la molaire de la collection d’Ishango présente les caractéristiques morphométriques d’une dent appartenant à un Homininé de la période de transition Plio-Pléistocène (entre 2,5 millions et 2 millions d’années). © Isabelle Crevecoeur / IRSNB