Australopithecus anamensis, found in Kenya, is the most ape-like and oldest of the australopithecines, dating to between 4.2-million and 3.9-million years ago. Remains of other early species of Australopithecus have been found in East Africa.Īustralopithecus afarensis, which lived between 3.6-million and 3-million years ago, has been found at Laetoli in Tanzania, where footprint trails of Australopithecus were uncovered in 1978, and at Hadar in Ethiopia, including the famous Lucy skeleton discovered in 1973. Other hominid remains dating to a similar time have also been recovered from the Jacovec Cavern at Sterkfontein.Īustralopithecus has also been found at Makapans Valley in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, which is part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. The species to which the skeleton belongs will only be determined when it has been completely extracted from the rock in which it lies embedded. “Little Foot”, which is still being excavated from Sterkfontein Member 2, is one of the oldest australopithecines ever found, dating to between 4.1-million and 3.3-million years old, according to palaeomagnetic evidence and cosmogenic isotope dating. He observed the same features in Sts 71, and suggested these, plus some other large-toothed hominids from Sterkfontein and the Makapans Valley, represent another Australopithecus which lived at the same time as Australopithecus africanus. Palaeoanthropologist Professor Ron Clarke has argued that Stw 252 appears very different from Australopithecus africanus in that it has much larger teeth, a flatter upper face, a thinner brow region and a differently shaped braincase. These include several specimens, such as Stw 252, and Sts 71, discovered by Broom and his colleague, John Robinson, in 1947. These include the lesser known cranial specimens Sts 17 and Sts 52, and a partial skeleton, Sts 14, found in 1947, which had a complete pelvis that affirmed that Australopithecus was bipedal, or walked upright.īut there are other australopithecines discovered at the Sterkfontein Caves and at Makapans Valley, about 300 km (480 mi) from Sterkfontein, near Mokopane in Limpopo Province, which may not be Australopithecus africanus. Sts 5 (Mrs Ples), which he discovered in 1947, and many other specimens found in Sterkfontein Member 4, also belong to this species. The first adult specimen of an Australopethicus was discovered in 1936 at Sterkfontein by palaeontologist and director of the Transvaal Museum, Dr Robert Broom.
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