Hominin

Advent of Hominins. Day Two-Orrorin tugenensis

Orrorin tugenensis sample from Senut et al 2001 These set of fossils (collected by Evalyne Kiptalam, Kiptalam Cheboi, Martin Pickford, Brigitte Senut, Dominique Gommery, Samuel Chetalam, & Joseph Chebet) date to ~ 6 million years ago. While no cranium has been published so far, we do have parts of the upper & lower dentition (including a fragment of the lower left mandible), femora, part of the humerus, & a proximal finger bone.

Advent of Hominins. Day One-Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Image from http://humanorigins.si.edu/ This fossil dates to between ~7-6 million years ago and thus may be the earliest hominin known. It was found in the Toros-Menalla area of the Djurab Desert of northern Chad. {“x”:{“options”:{“crs”:{“crsClass”:“L.CRS.EPSG3857”,“code”:null,“proj4def”:null,“projectedBounds”:null,“options”:{}}},“calls”:[{“method”:“addTiles”,“args”:[“//{s}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png”,null,null,{“minZoom”:0,“maxZoom”:18,“tileSize”:256,“subdomains”:“abc”,“errorTileUrl”:“”,“tms”:false,“noWrap”:false,“zoomOffset”:0,“zoomReverse”:false,“opacity”:1,“zIndex”:1,“detectRetina”:false,“attribution”:”© OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA”}]},{“method”:“addMarkers”,“args”:[17,18,null,null,null,{“interactive”:true,“draggable”:false,“keyboard”:true,“title”:“”,“alt”:“”,“zIndexOffset”:0,“opacity”:1,“riseOnHover”:false,“riseOffset”:250},“aprox location of Sahelanthropus tchadensis”,null,null,null,null,{“interactive”:false,“permanent”:false,“direction”:“auto”,“opacity”:1,“offset”:[0,0],“textsize”:“10px”,“textOnly”:false,“className”:“”,“sticky”:true},null]}],“limits”:{“lat”:[17,17],“lng”:[18,18]},“setView”:[[17,18],2,[]]},“evals”:[],“jsHooks”:[]} The fossil was first published in 2002, with subsequent material published in 2005. Scientists argued that it was bipedal based mostly on the placement of the foramen magnum, the large hole at the base of the skull through which the spinal column attaches to the skull.