Exploration for Fossil Primates in the Carbonatites of Namibia

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Fossil bones of primates, including the remains of several species that are closely related to the human lineage, have been recovered from a number of sites in South Africa. Fossils such as these, however, are very poorly known from other areas of southern Africa (e.g., Botswana, Angola, and Namibia). Almost all the fossils from these sites accumulated in karst caves that had formed in the limestones that outcrop in South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. These limestone caves have yielded only a few fossilized primate bones. However, there are a number of very old volcanic intrusives in Namibi, and the chemical composition of these rocks makes them equally susceptible to cave formation through water dissolution. Eleven carbonatite intrusives have been identified throughout Namibia. Fossils dating from about 100 thousand to some 2.5 million years ago have been discovered in two karst cave systems that formed in one of these intrusives. This project will explore the remaining ten carbonatites in Namibia to determine whether they also contain fossiliferous cave sediments of Cenozoic age. In particular, it is hoped that additional sites that may contain fossil primate bones will be identified by this survey. Any such fossils will add significantly to our understanding of primate evolution and paleoecology in Africa.