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4 - Hominin origins and evolution during the Neogene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2016

By
Jason L. Heaton
Edited by
Jasper Knight  and
Stefan W. Grab
Jasper Knight
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Stefan W. Grab
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
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Summary

Abstract

The record of early hominin evolution derives mainly from central and eastern African fossils, with basal forms appearing in the late Miocene (~8.00–5.33 Ma). Recent research suggests that a key distinguishing hominin feature, bipedalism, may have first emerged primitively in wooded environments. Miocene hominins are divided into three genera, Sahelanthropus, Orrorin and Ardipithecus. These groups may represent anagenesis during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. With the appearance of Australopithecus in the early Pliocene, hominins arguably fully commit to bipedality. At present, data indicate that an archaic form of Australopithecus, A. afarensis, was the first eurytopic hominin and the first to expand into southern Africa. By the end of the Neogene, separate hominin species can be recognised in eastern and southern Africa. At present, the earliest South African Australopithecus fossils derive from Sterkfontein, Member 2 and Makapansgat, Member 3.

Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
Physical and Human Dimensions
 , pp. 47 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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