Lower Pliocene Hominid Remains from Sterkfontein

doi:10.1126/science.1081651

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Lower Pliocene Hominid Remains from Sterkfontein

T. C. Partridge,¹^* D. E. Granger,² M. W. Caffee,³ R. J. Clarke⁴

Cosmogenic aluminum-26 and beryllium-10 burial dates of low-lyingfossiliferous breccia in the caves at Sterkfontein, South Africa,show that associated hominid fossils accumulated in the LowerPliocene. These dates indicate that the skeleton StW 573 andnewly discovered specimens from Jacovec Cavern have much thesame age: approximately 4 million years. These specimens arethus of an age similar to Australopithecus anamensis from EastAfrica.

¹ Sterkfontein Research Unit and Climatology Research Group, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907–1397, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907–1396, USA.
⁴ Sterkfontein Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tcp{at}iafrica.com

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LETTERS Dating the Sterkfontein Fossils: R. J. Clarke, T. C. Partridge, D. E. Granger, M.W. Caffe;, and Ann Gibbons (1 August 2003)
Science 301 (5633), 596. [DOI: 10.1126/science.301.5633.596]
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NEWS OF THE WEEK ANTHROPOLOGY: Great Age Suggested for South African Hominids: Ann Gibbons (25 April 2003)
Science 300 (5619), 562. [DOI: 10.1126/science.300.5619.562]
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