{"id":112,"date":"2017-09-13T20:19:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-history-of-our-tribe\/chapter\/10-australopithecus-anamensis\/"},"modified":"2017-10-03T15:55:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T15:55:49","slug":"10-australopithecus-anamensis","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-history-of-our-tribe\/chapter\/10-australopithecus-anamensis\/","title":{"raw":"10. Australopithecus anamensis","rendered":"10. Australopithecus anamensis"},"content":{"raw":"
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Australopithecus\u00a0anamensis <\/i>(4.2 mya)<\/b><\/h1>\r\n

(\u201csouthern ape\u201d \/ from the \u201clake\u201d in the Turkana language)<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_190\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"350\"]\"Figure Figure 10.1\u00a0<\/em>Distal humerus of Australopithecus anamensis.\u00a0<\/b>\u201cAustralopithecus anamensis bone (University of Zurich)<\/a>\u201d by Nicolas Gu\u00e9rin is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
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SITES<\/b><\/h3>\r\nAllia Bay and Kanapoi, Kenya\r\n

PEOPLE<\/b><\/h3>\r\nMeave Leakey and Alan Walker\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

INTRODUCTION<\/b><\/h2>\r\nAustralopithecus anamensis<\/i> is the earliest known australopith. We do not know nearly as much about the species as about other australopiths due to a paucity of fossil material.\r\n

PHYLOGENY<\/b><\/h2>\r\nAu. anamensis<\/i> may be descended from the ardipith lineage or a heretofore undiscovered group. Lucy\u2019s species, Au. afarensis<\/i>, may be descended from Au. anamensis<\/i>.\r\n

DISCOVERY AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE<\/b><\/h2>\r\nMultiple paleoanthropologists (most notably Meave Leakey and Alan Walker) are credited with the discovery of Au. anamensis <\/i>material. The species name refers to the Lake Turkana area of Kenya where the fossil sites of Kanapoi and Allia Bay are located (see Figure 10.2). There are also newer fossils from the Middle Awash area of the Afar Depression of Ethiopia (see Figure 10.2). The Ethiopian material is close in time and geographic space to an Ardipithecus ramidus<\/i> site, lending some support to the possibility of their phylogenetic relatedness. There is some controversy over the lumping together of material from different levels and locations in Kenya that could have confounded the description of the species\u2019 characteristics.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_191\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"350\"]\"7.7\" Figure 10.2\u00a0<\/em>Australopithecus anamensis sites. \u201cAnamensis localities<\/a>\u201d by Chartep is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS<\/b><\/h2>\r\nThe species is thought to have been highly sexually dimorphic in body and canine size.\r\n\r\nMuch of the morphology is ape-like, and hence primitive. The jaws and teeth are the most primitive of any australopith, which is not surprising since it is the oldest. Unlike the parabolic tooth arrangement in the jaws of later hominins, Au. anamensis<\/i> had an apelike, U-shaped dental arcade wherein the cheek teeth are nearly parallel (see Figure 10.3). Their jaws were also prognathic and their canines <\/b>were larger <\/b>than descendent species. However, the molars were expanded with thick enamel<\/b> and low cusps like later hominins. In addition, aspects of the elbow, knee, and tibia were more derived, indicating its bipedal mode of locomotion.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_192\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"350\"]\"7.8\" Figure 10.3\u00a0<\/em>Jaw of extinct ape illustrating U-shaped dental arcade. \u201cRangwapithecus gordoni jaw<\/a>\u201d by Ghedoghedo is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
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Review of Primitive Characteristics<\/h3>\r\n