Australopithecus

Lee-Thorp, J.A., van der Merwe, N.J. and Brain, C.K. 1994 Diet of Australopithecus robustus at Swartkrans deduced from stable carbon isotope ratios. Journal of Human Evolution 27 361-372. 

History of the Robust Australopithecus. New York, Aldine de Gruyter 405-426. 

White TD, Suva G, Asfaw B. Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 1994 375 306. 

Leethorp J. A., vanderMerwee N. J., and Brain C. K. (1994) Diet of australopithecus-robustus at Swartkrans from stable carbon isotopic analysis. J. Human Evol. 27(4), 361-372. 

Sponheimer, Matt, Julia Lee-Thorp. 1999. Isotopic evidence for the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus. Science 283 368-370. 

Lee-Thorp JA, Sealy JC, van der Merwe NJ (1989) Stable carbon isotope ratio differences between bone collagen and bone apatite, and their relationship to diet. J Archaeol Sci 16 585-599 Lee-Thorp JA, van der Merwe NJ, Brain CK (1994) Diet of Australopithecus robustus at Swartkrans from stable carbon isotopic analysis. J Human Evol 27 361-372 Lindars ES, Grimes ST, Mattey DP, Collinson ME, Hooker JJ, Jones TP (2001) Phosphate 5 0 determination of modem rodent teeth by direct laser fluorination An appraisal of methodology and potential application to palaeoclimate reconstmction. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 65 2535-2548 Linder HP (1986) The evolutionary history of the Poales/Restionales—A hypothesis. Kew Bull 42 297-318... 

Most likely the Australopithecus group was hairy, retained estrus, non-aquatic but nevertheless relatively successful bipedal hominoids... 

With the discovery of the fossilized remains of an Australopithecus who lived about 3 to 4 million years ago, dubbed Lucy, the theory that man developed from the Proconsols gained popularity. Lucy was just over one metre high and walked upright. She provided a unique insight into what a.Man-ape in Africa might have looked like. 

We must be careful to understand that Australopithecus was not halfway on the path to modem man in any linear sense but rather one of many hybrids that emerged, for a while, in parallel to both the Proconsols and Man. Australopithecus became extinct about two million years ago. 

Approximately 2.6 million years ago (MYA), the hominin speeies that eventnally led to Homo began to inelude more and more animal food in their diet. A nnmber of lines of evidenee snpport this viewpoint. First, Oldowanlithic technology appears in the fossil record 2.6 MYA, and there is clear cut evidence to show that these tools were used to butcher and disarticulate animal carcasses. " " Stone tool cut marks on the bones of prey animals and evidence for marrow extraction appear concurrently in the fossil record with the development of Oldowan lithic technology by at least 2.5 MYA. It is not entirely clear which specific early hominin specie or species manufactured and used these earliest stone tools, however Australopithecus garhi might have been a likely candidate. ... 

Asfaw, B., et al., Australopithecus garhi a new species of early hominid from Ethiopia, Science, 284, 629, 1999. 

Homo habilis There is a growing consensus amongst most paleoanthropologists that this category actually includes bits and pieces of various other types, such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus. It is therefore an invalid taxon. (A taxon is a category of organisms in the science of taxonomy.) In other words. Homo habilis never existed as such. 

Australopithecus A genus of fossil primates that lived 4-2 million years ago, coexisting for some of this time with early forms of humans (see Homo). They walked erect and had teeth resembling those of modem humans, but the brain capacity was less than one-third that of a modern human. Various finds have been made, chiefly in East and South Africa (hence the name, which means southern ape ). The earliest belong to the species A afarensis, which includes the specimen of a female, dubbed Luc/, found at Laetoli in Tanzania. Australopithecus and related genera are known as australopithe-cines. 

Note that argon is in significantly greater supply than the others. Why should this be The answer lies in the amount of argon-40 produced by the beta-plus decay of potassium-40. Recall (see p. 343) that this decay scheme has been employed to indirectly determine the age of various hominids like the Australopithecus afarensis called Lucy. Although argon gas remains trapped in some rock samples and is therefore useful for chronometric determinations, most of it escapes into the open atmosphere. 

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