IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v601y2022i7894d10.1038_s41586-021-04275-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Céline M. Vidal

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Christine S. Lane

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Asfawossen Asrat

    (Addis Ababa University
    Botswana International University of Science and Technology)

  • Dan N. Barfod

    (University of Glasgow, SUERC)

  • Darren F. Mark

    (University of Glasgow, SUERC)

  • Emma L. Tomlinson

    (University of Dublin)

  • Amdemichael Zafu Tadesse

    (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

  • Gezahegn Yirgu

    (Addis Ababa University)

  • Alan Deino

    (Berkeley Geochronology Center)

  • William Hutchison

    (University of St Andrews)

  • Aurélien Mounier

    (Musée de l’Homme
    University of Cambridge)

  • Clive Oppenheimer

    (University of Cambridge
    McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research)

Abstract

Efforts to date the oldest modern human fossils in eastern Africa, from Omo-Kibish1–3 and Herto4,5 in Ethiopia, have drawn on a variety of chronometric evidence, including 40Ar/39Ar ages of stratigraphically associated tuffs. The ages that are generally reported for these fossils are around 197 thousand years (kyr) for the Kibish Omo I3,6,7, and around 160–155 kyr for the Herto hominins5,8. However, the stratigraphic relationships and tephra correlations that underpin these estimates have been challenged6,8. Here we report geochemical analyses that link the Kamoya’s Hominid Site (KHS) Tuff9, which conclusively overlies the member of the Omo-Kibish Formation that contains Omo I, with a major explosive eruption of Shala volcano in the Main Ethiopian Rift. By dating the proximal deposits of this eruption, we obtain a new minimum age for the Omo fossils of 233 ± 22 kyr. Contrary to previous arguments6,8, we also show that the KHS Tuff does not correlate with another widespread tephra layer, the Waidedo Vitric Tuff, and therefore cannot anchor a minimum age for the Herto fossils. Shifting the age of the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils in eastern Africa to before around 200 thousand years ago is consistent with independent evidence for greater antiquity of the modern human lineage10.

Suggested Citation

  • Céline M. Vidal & Christine S. Lane & Asfawossen Asrat & Dan N. Barfod & Darren F. Mark & Emma L. Tomlinson & Amdemichael Zafu Tadesse & Gezahegn Yirgu & Alan Deino & William Hutchison & Aurélien Moun, 2022. "Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa," Nature, Nature, vol. 601(7894), pages 579-583, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:601:y:2022:i:7894:d:10.1038_s41586-021-04275-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04275-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin H. Trauth & Asfawossen Asrat & Markus L. Fischer & Peter O. Hopcroft & Verena Foerster & Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr & Karin Kindermann & Henry F. Lamb & Norbert Marwan & Mark A. Maslin & Frank Schaeb, 2024. "Early warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s)," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:601:y:2022:i:7894:d:10.1038_s41586-021-04275-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.