Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa

Andy I R Herries; Jesse M Martin; A B Leece; Justin W Adams; Giovanni Boschian; Renaud Joannes-Boyau; Tara R Edwards; Tom Mallett; Jason Massey; Ashleigh Murszewski; Simon Neubauer; Robyn Pickering; David S Strait; Brian J Armstrong; Stephanie Baker; Matthew V Caruana; Tim Denham; John Hellstrom; Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi; Simon Mokobane; Paul Penzo-Kajewski; Douglass S Rovinsky; Gary T Schwartz; Rhiannon C Stammers; Coen Wilson; Jon Woodhead; Colin Menter

doi:10.1126/science.aaw7293

Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa

Science. 2020 Apr 3;368(6486):eaaw7293. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw7293.

Authors

Andy I R Herries^{1

2}, Jesse M Martin³, A B Leece³, Justin W Adams^{4

2}, Giovanni Boschian^{5

2}, Renaud Joannes-Boyau^{6

2}, Tara R Edwards³, Tom Mallett³, Jason Massey^{4

7}, Ashleigh Murszewski³, Simon Neubauer⁸, Robyn Pickering^{9

10}, David S Strait^{11

2}, Brian J Armstrong², Stephanie Baker², Matthew V Caruana², Tim Denham¹², John Hellstrom¹³, Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi¹⁴, Simon Mokobane², Paul Penzo-Kajewski³, Douglass S Rovinsky⁴, Gary T Schwartz¹⁵, Rhiannon C Stammers³, Coen Wilson³, Jon Woodhead¹³, Colin Menter¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia. [email protected].
² Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
³ Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia.
⁴ Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group (GARG), Southern Cross University, Military Road, Lismore, 2480 NSW, Australia.
⁷ Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁸ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
⁹ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
¹⁰ Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
¹¹ Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹² Geoarchaeology Research Group, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
¹³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
¹⁵ Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.

PMID: 32241925
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7293

Abstract

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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Caves
Classification
Extinction, Biological*
Hominidae / anatomy & histology*
Hominidae / classification*
Humans
Skull
South Africa