The Upper Laetolil Beds at Laetoli in northern Tanzania contain abundant fossil mammalian remains that may help elucidate Pliocene environments and enhance our understanding of the morphological and behavioral adaptations of the Laetoli hominins. The Laetoli vertebrate fossil fauna is also of great interest because its taxonomic composition, especially in the family Bovidae, differs from that of other East African faunas of comparable age. However, the taphonomic history and paleoecological context of the Upper Laetolil fossil faunal assemblage is not fully understood. Furthermore, the depositional environment of the Upper Laetolil Beds was initially associated with a dry, savanna-like environment characterized by grassland, shrubs, and isolated trees. However, revised stratigraphy and taphonomy at Localities 8 and 9 indicate an existence of more complex depositional environments than those previously described. Fossil faunal remains from the Upper Laetolil Beds are represented by highly variable numbers of skeletal parts dominated by heavily fractured and/or modified distal, proximal, and midshaft fragments of varying sizes, and many isolated teeth. Unlike marine fossil deposits, which furnish thick sections with rich fossil accumulations of invertebrates, the Laetoli deposits are most commonly composed of low-density accumulations with terrestrial faunal assemblages that differ significantly from modern counterparts. Observed changes in faunal composition at Laetoli especially between the Lower and Upper Units have been noted, but their cause has not been established. We present a detailed taphonomic and stratigraphic analysis of fossil faunal assemblages from the Upper Laetolil Beds at Localities 8 and 9 in northern Tanzania
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Musiba, C. et al. (2007). Taphonomy and paleoecological context of the Upper Laetolil Beds (Localities 8 and 9), Laetoli in northern Tanzania. In: Bobe, R., Alemseged, Z., Behrensmeyer, A.K. (eds) Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3098-7_10
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