Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa

Vidal, C. M. et al. (2022) Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa. Nature, 601(7894), pp. 579-583. (doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8) (PMID:35022610)

Abstract

Efforts to date the oldest modern human fossils in eastern Africa, from Omo-Kibish1,2,3 and Herto4,5 in Ethiopia, have drawn on a variety of chronometric evidence, including 40Ar/39Ar ages of stratigraphically associated tuffs. The ages that are generally reported for these fossils are around 197 thousand years (kyr) for the Kibish Omo I3,6,7, and around 160–155 kyr for the Herto hominins5,8. However, the stratigraphic relationships and tephra correlations that underpin these estimates have been challenged6,8. Here we report geochemical analyses that link the Kamoya’s Hominid Site (KHS) Tuff9, which conclusively overlies the member of the Omo-Kibish Formation that contains Omo I, with a major explosive eruption of Shala volcano in the Main Ethiopian Rift. By dating the proximal deposits of this eruption, we obtain a new minimum age for the Omo fossils of 233 ± 22 kyr. Contrary to previous arguments6,8, we also show that the KHS Tuff does not correlate with another widespread tephra layer, the Waidedo Vitric Tuff, and therefore cannot anchor a minimum age for the Herto fossils. Shifting the age of the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils in eastern Africa to before around 200 thousand years ago is consistent with independent evidence for greater antiquity of the modern human lineage10.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This study was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (‘Nature and impacts of Middle Pleistocene volcanism in the Ethiopian Rift’, 2016–21) and the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund (‘Volcanic tie-lines between records of past climates and early modern humans in Ethiopia, 2019–21’). Ar-Ar dating was supported by grant NIGFSC IP-1683-1116 through the UK Natural Environment Research Council. The iCRAG LA-ICP-MS facility at Trinity College Dublin is supported by SFI award 13/RC/2092.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mark, Professor Darren and Barfod, Dr Dan
• Authors: Vidal, C. M., Lane, C. S., Asrat, A., Barfod, D. N., Mark, D. F., Tomlinson, E. L., Tadesse, A. Z., Yirgu, G., Deino, A., Hutchison, W., Mounier, A., and Oppenheimer, C.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Nature
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 0028-0836
• ISSN (Online): 1476-4687
• Published Online: 12 January 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature 601(7894): 579-583
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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