Hominin palaeoecology in Late Pliocene Malawi: First insights from isotopes (13C, 18O) in mammal teeth

South African Journal of Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Hominin palaeoecology in Late Pliocene Malawi: First insights from isotopes (13C, 18O) in mammal teeth
 
Creator Bocherens, Hervé Sandrock, Oliver Kullmer, Ottmar Schrenk, Friedemann
 
Subject Palaeontology; Palaeobiology carbon-13; Chiwondo Beds; enamel; Homo; Malawi; mammals; oxygen-18; palaeoecology; Paranthropus; Pliocene
Description Carbon-13 and oxygen-18 abundances were measured in large mammal skeletal remains (tooth enamel, dentine and bone) from the Chiwondo Beds in Malawi, which were dated by biostratigraphic correlation to ca. 2.5 million years ago. The biologic isotopic patterns, in particular the difference in carbon-13 abundances between grazers and browsers and the difference in oxygen-18 abundances between semi-aquatic and terrestrial herbivores, were preserved in enamel, but not in dentine and bone. The isotopic results obtained from the skeletal remains from the Chiwondo Beds indicate a dominance of savannah habitats with some trees and shrubs. This environment was more arid than the contemporaneous Ndolanya Beds in Tanzania. The present study confirms that robust australopithecines were able to live in relatively arid environments and were not confined to more mesic environments elsewhere in southern Africa.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Department of Antiquities, Lilongwe and the Cultural and Museum Centre Karonga
Date 2011-03-07
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Isotopic biogeochemistry
Format application/pdf text/html text/xml
Identifier 10.4102/sajs.v107i3/4.331
 
Source South African Journal of Science; Vol 107, No 3/4 (2011); 6 pages 1996-7489 0038-2353
 
Language eng
 
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https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/331/580 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/331/594 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/331/595 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/331/1682 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/331/1683 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/331/1684 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/331/1685
 
Coverage Malawi Pliocene Palaeoecology
Rights Copyright (c) 2011 Hervé Bocherens, Oliver Sandrock, Ottmar Kullmer, Friedemann Schrenk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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