Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.

New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins / Masao, Fidelis T; Ichumbaki, Elgidius B; Cherin, Marco; Barili, Angelo; Boschian, Giovanni; Iurino, Dawid A; Menconero, Sofia; Moggi-Cecchi, Jacopo; Manzi, Giorgio. - In: ELIFE. - ISSN 2050-084X. - 5:DECEMBER 2016(2016), pp. 1-29. [10.7554/eLife.19568]

New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins

BOSCHIAN, GIOVANNI;Iurino, Dawid A;Menconero, Sofia;Manzi, Giorgio
2016

Abstract

Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.
2016
Australopithecus afarensis; Hominini; Laetoli; Pliocene; body size estimates; evolutionary biology; footprints; genomics; neuroscience (all); medicine (all); immunology and microbiology (all); biochemistry genetics and molecular biology (all)
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins / Masao, Fidelis T; Ichumbaki, Elgidius B; Cherin, Marco; Barili, Angelo; Boschian, Giovanni; Iurino, Dawid A; Menconero, Sofia; Moggi-Cecchi, Jacopo; Manzi, Giorgio. - In: ELIFE. - ISSN 2050-084X. - 5:DECEMBER 2016(2016), pp. 1-29. [10.7554/eLife.19568]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/956511
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