Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Early Homo Erectus in South Africa

Herries, Andrew; Martin, Jess; Leece, Angeline; Adams, JW; Boschian, G; Joannes-Boyau, R; Edwards, Tara R; Mallett, Tom; Massey, J; Murszewski, Ashleigh; Neubauer, S; Pickering, R; Strait, DS; Armstrong, Brian; Baker, S; Caruana, MV; Denham, T; Hellstrom, J; Moggi-Cecchi, J; Mokobane, S; Penzo-Kajewski, Paul; Rovinsky, DS; Schwartz, GT; Stammers, Rhiannon; Wilson, Coen; Woodhead, J; Menter, C

doi:10.26181/23787285.v4

Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Early Homo Erectus in South Africa

journal contribution

posted on 2025-03-05, 05:22 authored by Andrew HerriesAndrew Herries, Jess MartinJess Martin, Angeline LeeceAngeline Leece, JW Adams, G Boschian, R Joannes-Boyau, Tara R Edwards, Tom Mallett, J Massey, Ashleigh Murszewski, S Neubauer, R Pickering, DS Strait, Brian Armstrong, S Baker, MV Caruana, T Denham, J Hellstrom, J Moggi-Cecchi, S Mokobane, Paul Penzo-KajewskiPaul Penzo-Kajewski, DS Rovinsky, GT Schwartz, Rhiannon StammersRhiannon Stammers, Coen WilsonCoen Wilson, J Woodhead, C Menter

Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus. These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.

Funding

The bulk of this research was funded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Grant FT120100399 to A.I.R.H. and ARC Discovery Grant DP170100056 to A.I.R.H., J.W.A., D.S.S., and R.J.-B. The U-Pb analysis was funded by ARC DECRA DE120102504 to R.P. The US-ESR dating was supported by ARC DP140100919 to R.J.-B. Work at the site by the Italian Archaeological Mission was supported by a series of grants by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to J.M.-C.; C.M. thanks the National Research Foundation (African Origins Platform) for grants that supported the excavation and research at Drimolen. This work was also supported by a La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship and La Trobe University Internal Research grant to A.B.L., A.M., B.J.A., T.R.E., T.M., and R.C.S., and a Society of Antiquaries London research grant to J.M.M. Components of the palaeomagnetic work were conducted during a Visiting Research Fellowship to T.M. at the Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, supported through the National Science Foundation, USA.

History

Publication Date

2020-04-03

Journal

Science

Volume

368

Issue

6486

Article Number

eaaw7293

Pagination

19p.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

ISSN

0036-8075

Rights Statement

© 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved, exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science in Volume 368, April 3, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw7293