Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa
Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa
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DOI：
10.7554/elife.24234
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发表时间：
2017-05-09
期刊：
影响因子：
7.7
通讯作者：
Roberts, Eric M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berger, Lee R.;Hawks, John;Roberts, Eric M.
南非人类摇篮新星洞穴系统化石遗迹的新发现和年代测定对于我们了解非洲更新世人类进化具有重要意义。对迪纳莱迪室中纳莱迪人化石的直接测年（Berger et al., 2015）表明它们沉积于约 236 ka 至 335 ka 之间（Dirks et al., 2017），将纳莱迪人置于中更新世晚期。 Hawks 及其同事（Hawks 等人，2017 年）报告称，在新星系统（Dirks 等人，2015 年）内发现了第二个密室，其中含有纳莱迪人的遗骸。此前，只有大大脑的现代人类或其近亲被证明存在于这个晚期的非洲，但赤道以南非洲任何古人类的化石证据非常稀少。现在很明显，该地区存在着多种古人类谱系，其中一些不同的谱系为现存人类提供了 DNA，至少纳莱迪人代表了人类最早多样化阶段的幸存者。赤道以南地区存在多种古人类，这与我们目前对其他适应稀树草原的物种多样性的了解以及古气候和古环境数据相一致。 H. naledi 为化石和考古记录带来了新的视角，因为我们不能排除这个谱系负责阿舍利或中石器时代工具工业的生产。
New discoveries and dating of fossil remains from the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, have strong implications for our understanding of Pleistocene human evolution in Africa. Direct dating of Homo naledi fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber (Berger et at, 2015) shows that they were deposited between about 236 ka and 335 ka (Dirks et al., 2017), placing H. naledi in the later Middle Pleistocene. Hawks and colleagues (Hawks et al., 2017) report the discovery of a second chamber within the Rising Star system (Dirks et at, 2015) that contains H. naledi remains. Previously, only large-brained modern humans or their close relatives had been demonstrated to exist at this late time in Africa, but the fossil evidence for any hominins in subequatorial Africa was very sparse. It is now evident that a diversity of hominin lineages existed in this region, with some divergent lineages contributing DNA to living humans and at least H. naledi representing a survivor from the earliest stages of diversification within Homo. The existence of a diverse array of hominins in subequatorial comports with our present knowledge of diversity across other savanna-adapted species, as well as with palaeoclimate and paleoenvironmental data. H. naledi casts the fossil and archaeological records into a new light, as we cannot exclude that this lineage was responsible for the production of Acheulean or Middle Stone Age tool industries.