Early Pliocene hominids from Gona, Ethiopia (original) (raw)

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Acknowledgements

The L.S.B. Leakey Foundation provided a major grant for the Gona Project, and the National Science Foundation (and Researching Hominid Origins Initiative-RHOI), the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the National Geographic Society funded the research. We thank N. Toth and K. Schick (co-directors of CRAFT Stone Age Institute, Indiana University) for their overall assistance. S.S. thanks N. Toth and K. Schick, and Friends of CRAFT for the Research Associate position at the Institute. The research permission by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of Ethiopia is greatly appreciated. We thank the Afar Regional Administration and the Afar colleagues at Eloha and Asayta for their hospitality, and A. Humet for the hard work in the field. Y. Beyene, C. Howell, B. Lasher and A. Almquist encouraged the research. D. Stout, L. Harlacker, M. Everett and T. Pickering assisted in the field, and A. Tamburro at CRAFT. The manuscript has benefited from discussions with B. Asfaw, M. Asnake, R. E. Bernor, J.-R. Boisserie, M. Brunet, S. Frost, Y. Haile-Selassie, O. Lovejoy, M. Pickford, E. Smith, H. Wesselman and T. White. M. Sahnouni and B. Smith helped with computer graphics.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRAFT Stone Age Institute, Indiana University, 1392 West Dittemore Road, Gosport, Indiana, 47433-9531, USA
    Sileshi Semaw
  2. Department of Anatomy, Case Western Reserve University-School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Avenue
    Scott W. Simpson
  3. Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA
    Scott W. Simpson
  4. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
    Jay Quade, Robert F. Butler & Naomi Levin
  5. Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road
    Paul R. Renne
  6. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California,, 94709, USA
    Paul R. Renne
  7. New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources,
    William C. McIntosh
  8. Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, 87801, USA
    William C. McIntosh
  9. Departmento de Prehistoria y Arquelogia, Facultad de Geografia e Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain
    Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo
  10. Department of Anthropology, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06515-1355, USA
    Michael J. Rogers

Authors

  1. Sileshi Semaw
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  2. Scott W. Simpson
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  3. Jay Quade
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  4. Paul R. Renne
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  5. Robert F. Butler
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  6. William C. McIntosh
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  7. Naomi Levin
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  8. Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo
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  9. Michael J. Rogers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence toSileshi Semaw.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Table S1

Supplementary Table 1 provides preliminary identification of fauna collected from the Early Pliocene hominid-bearing deposits from As Duma, Gona Project Area, Ethiopia. (DOC 27 kb)

Supplementary Table S2

This contains argon isotope data for plagioclase crystals from tuffs GONASH-51 and GONASH-52, which provides the basis for the age data depicted in Supplementary Figures S1 and S2. (DOC 92 kb)

Supplementary Table S3

This contains the complete 40Ar/39Ar analytical data obtained from two basalt flows (WM-25 and WM-27) from the Western Margin samples at Gona. Results for individual groundmass concentrate subsamples, along with the integrated and plateau ages for the two basalt flows are presented. (DOC 158 kb)

Supplementary Table S4

This contains a list of all the samples of soil carbonate collected in the Gona project from the Gona Western Margin, the carbon isotope (expressed as δ13C VPDB) values for each sample and the average δ13C value in each paleosol pooled from individual results. (DOC 117 kb)

Supplementary Table S5

This contains a list of all the samples of fossil tooth enamel collected in the Gona project from the Gona Western Margin, the tooth element and animal species analysed and the carbon isotope (expressed as δ13C VPDB) value for each sample. (DOC 103 kb)

Supplementary Figure S1

Age-probability diagram for Run 31200, Sample G-51. This summarizes the results of 40Ar/39Ar age determinations and compositional data of individual palgoioclase crystals from tuff GONASH-51. (GIF 45 kb)

Supplementary Figure S2

Age-probability diagram for Run 31202, Sample G-52. This summarizes the results of 40Ar/39Ar age determinations and compositional data of individual palgoioclase crystals from tuffs GONASH-52. (GIF 48 kb)

Supplementary Figure S3

This shows age spectrum and isotope correlation diagram for Run 52560, Sample WMASH-25, groundmass concentrate. (GIF 80 kb)

Supplementary Figure S4

This displays age spectrum and isotope correlation diagram for Run 552558-01, Sample WMASH-27, groundmass concentrate. (GIF 81 kb)

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Semaw, S., Simpson, S., Quade, J. et al. Early Pliocene hominids from Gona, Ethiopia.Nature 433, 301–305 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03177

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