Palaeontologia africana

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ISSN (print): 0078-8554 ISSN (electronic): 2410-4418 For queries regarding content of Palaeontologia africana collections please contact Jonah Choiniere by email : jonah.choiniere@wits.ac.za or Tel : 011 717 6684

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1992 - 19943

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Subject: search.filters.subject.australopithecus

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    Catalogue of fossil sites at the Buxton Limeworks, Taung
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1994) McKee, Jeffrey K
    The Buxton Limeworks, in the Taung district at the southeastern margin of the Kalahari Desert, harbours fossil deposits in the calcareous tufas spanning a time period from the late Pliocene to the present. Many such fossil sites, including the type site of Australopithecus africanus, have been exposed by quarrying and noted by various researchers since 1919. As many of the site locations have been lost in the past due to inadequate records and continued quarrying, an effort was made to relocate previously known sites and to discover new sites. There are now 17 preserved and recognized fossil sites in the Buxton Limeworks, the location and nature of which are documented here for future researchers.
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    A preliminary estimate of the age of the Gladysvale australopithecine site
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1993) Berger, Lee R
    Excavations conducted at the Gladysvale site in the Transvaal, South Africa during 1991 -1992 have revealed an abundant Plio-Pleistocene fossil fauna from the limeworks breccia dumps and in situ decalcified deposits. To date, over 600 specifically identifiable macro-mammalian specimens have been recovered including the remains of Australopithecus. These identifications have revealed that the Gladysvale site has an extremely diverse macro-mammalian faunal assemblage equal to many other South African Plio-Pleistocene fossil sites. Comparison of the Gladysvale macromammalian fauna with those of the other early hominid-associated sites in South Africa indicates an age for the deposit(s) at Gladysvale between 1.7- 2.5 m.a.. ln addition, the Kromdraai A macromammalian assemblage is considered to be closer in age to the Gladysvale assemblage than any other South African faunal assemblage.
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    Taxonomic status of the partial calvaria a.l. 333-45 from the Late Pliocene of Hadar, Ethiopia
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1992) Ferguson, Walter W
    The taxonomic status of a partial calvaria, A.L. 333-45, from the late Pliocene of Hadar, in Ethiopia, classified as a hominid and paratype of "Australopithcus afarensis" Johanson, White and Coppens 1978 is reassessed. Its total morphological pattern and adaptive affinities agree with the Pongidae, and do not exhibit a single unequivocal hominid character. The evidence in fact suggests that A.L. 333-45 represents a relatively generalized ape, the only pongid calvaria known from the late Pliocene of Africa: and may be the first skull found of Praeanthropus africanus (Weinert), 1950. Moreover, this indicates that the fossils assigned to "Australopithecus afarensis'' do not represent a single taxon: and that the reconstruction of the skull of a male "A. afarensis" seems to be a composite of pongid and hominid fossils.