Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa
Files
Download Full Text
Publication Date
April 2010
Abstract
We describe the geological, geochronological, geomorphological, and faunal context of the Malapa site and the fossils of Australopithecus sediba. The hominins occur with a macrofauna assemblage that existed in Africa between 2.36 and 1.50 million years ago (Ma). The fossils are encased in water-laid, clastic sediments that were deposited along the lower parts of what is now a deeply eroded cave system, immediately above a flowstone layer with a U-Pb date of 2.026 ± 0.021 Ma. The flowstone has a reversed paleomagnetic signature and the overlying hominin-bearing sediments are of normal polarity, indicating deposition during the 1.95- to 1.78-Ma Olduvai Subchron. The two hominin specimens were buried together in a single debris flow that lithified soon after deposition in a phreatic environment inaccessible to scavengers.
Document Type
Article
Notes
Science, Vol. 328, no. 5975 (04-09-2010).
Identifier
SFS0062963_00001
Recommended Citation
Dirks, Paul H.G.M.; Kibii, Job M.; and Kuhn, Brian F., "Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa" (2010). KIP Articles. 2167.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/2167