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Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia

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Abstract

Molecular studies suggest that the lineages leading to humans and chimpanzees diverged approximately 6.5–5.5 million years (Myr) ago, in the Late Miocene1,2,3. Hominid fossils from this interval, however, are fragmentary and of uncertain phylogenetic status, age, or both4,5,6. Here I report new hominid specimens from the Middle Awash area of Ethiopia that date to 5.2–5.8 Myr and are associated with a wooded palaeoenvironment7. These Late Miocene fossils are assigned to the hominid genus Ardipithecus and represent the earliest definitive evidence of the hominid clade. Derived dental characters are shared exclusively with all younger hominids. This indicates that the fossils probably represent a hominid taxon that postdated the divergence of lineages leading to modern chimpanzees and humans. However, the persistence of primitive dental and postcranial characters in these new fossils indicates that Ardipithecus was phylogenetically close to the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. These new findings raise additional questions about the claimed hominid status of Orrorin tugenensis8, recently described from Kenya and dated to ∼6 Myr9.

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Figure 1: Fossil hominid remains from the Late Miocene Middle Awash deposits.

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Acknowledgements

The National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the University of California at Berkeley provided funding. The Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Information and Culture granted field permits, and the National Museum of Ethiopia granted access to the Paleoanthropological Laboratory before 13 February 2001. The success of this research is largely owed to the members of the Middle Awash research project and the Afar people. This contribution is dedicated to our late friend Neina Tahiro, who suggested the name ‘kadabba’, and to whom I give special thanks. G. WoldeGabriel played a major role in discovering fossiliferous hominid-bearing localities along the western margin of the Middle Awash study area and also studied the geology of the region. I thank T. White, B. Latimer, K. Geleta, H. Gilbert, D. DeGusta, L. Hlusko, E. Güleç, C. Pehlevan, B. Asfaw, M. Black, G. Suwa, S. Yosef, A. Amzaye, M. Asnake and H. Saegusa for their participation in survey and excavations. Sheikh Ebrahim and Shiekh Oumer helped coordinate the Afar labour force. I thank B. Latimer, O. Lovejoy and S. Simpson for their assistance during the comparative studies conducted at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. O. Lovejoy, T. White and G. Suwa provided insights and comments. Advice, support and encouragement to conduct research along the western margin of the Middle Awash study area were extended by T. White and B. Asfaw.

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  1. Department of Integrative Biology and Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 3060 VLSB, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Yohannes Haile-Selassie

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Haile-Selassie, Y. Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 412, 178–181 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35084063

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