Australopiths and Pre-Australopiths

Australopiths

Best known group of African hominid species

Two groups Australopithecus (gracile forms) Paranthropus (robust forms)

Lived from 4.2- 1 mya1. They are all clearly bipedal2. Relatively small brains3. They have large teeth, particularly the

back teeth, with thick to very thick enamel on molars.

Australopithecus afarensis Donald Johanson

and his team (including Tim White) discovered Lucy in the Afar region of Ethiopia

Discovered in 1974 First skeleton of an

Early hominid until last year

Bipedal But not completely

the same as us Cranial capacity

350cc 3.2 mya Showed bipedalism

preceded encephalization

Mary Leakey discovers Laetoli Footprints

Shows 54 individuals walking upright

Radioactive dating places these footprints at 3.59 to 3.75mya

Paranthropus boisei

2.6 – 1.8 mya Huge jaw Large molars Large sagital crest Cranial capacity

530cc First discovered by

anthropologist Mary Leakey on July 17, 1959, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,

Paranthropus(Robust Australopiths) Many different species and

fossils from all over Africa Large, deep, lower jaws. Large molars Sagital crest What do think this means?

Paranthropus aethiopicus 2.5 mya Lake Turkana, Kenya Cranial capacity

410cc

Pre-Australopiths (7.0-4.4 mya) Sahelanthropus Found in Chad at

Toros-Menalla 2001 Faunal Dating places

it around 7 mya Small Braincase no

larger than modern chimpanzee

Small vertical face is hominid like feature

What ape like features do you see?

Ardipithecus ramidus

Discovered in 1994 by Tim White (U.C. Berkley) and Lovejoy (Kent State)

In 1994 just found portion of jaw and a few teeth

Found in Middle Awash of Ethiopia

Complete find published in Science October 2009

Mostly complete

Bipedal Wouldn’t be able to

run long distances Grasping toe Small brain Small canines Cranial capacity

350-500cc Dated Volcanic Ash

above and below fossils

4.4 mya