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KOOBI FORA
FOSSIL RECORD
HOMINID FOSSIL
RECORD
Over 200 fossil hominin specimens have
been recovered from the Kenyan deposits of the Turkana Basin, since the
inception of exploration efforts by the KFRP. The hominin record from the
Turkana Basin is unequalled, not only in the unusually complete specimens
but also in the temporal extent and the diversity of species. At no other
site are so many species, at least seven, so well represented over such a
long interval of time (almost 4 million years). These fossils have provided
much of the key evidence for the human evolutionary record between 4.1
million and 700,000 years ago.
AMONG THE MORE SIGNIFICANT
HOMININ DISCOVERIES ARE THE FOLLOWING:
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The skeleton of a Homo erectus youth, KNM-WT 15000,
which provided for the first time evidence of relative brain and body size,
evidence of body shape, life history and development. |
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Skulls of Homo erectus, KNM-ER 3733, 3883, and 42700,
which indicate the morphological variation within this species. |
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Skulls of early Homo, KNM-ER 1470, 1813, which are
believed to represent Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, thus
indicating considerable diversity in the human fossil record 2 million years
ago. |
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The only known skull of the ancestral robust
australopithecine, Paranthropus aethiopicus, KNM-WT 17000. |
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Several skulls of male and female Paranthropus boisei,
KNM-ER 406, 13750, 23000, and 732 which
demonstrate considerable sexual dimorphism in this species. |
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47 specimens of Australopithecus anamensis, the
earliest known species of Australopithecus. |
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The skull of Kenyanthropus platyops, KNM WT 40000, a new species and
genus that lived contemporaneously with
Australopithecus afarensis. |
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