Paranthropus aethiopicus


Paranthropus aethiopicus

The first fossil of Paranthropus aethiopicus was discovered in 1967 by a French excavation team at the Omo River in Ethiopia. This Eastern African specimen would come to be recognized as the type fossil for P. aethiopicus. The thought of aethiopicus as a new species on the hominid line was generally dismissed until 1985. It was then that Alan Walker and Richard Leakey discovered the "Black Skull" (KNM-WT 17,000) at Koobi Fora, West Turkana in Kenya. The Black Skull revealed a line of primitive, hyper-robust traits that clearly distinguished it from anythign else previous found, confirming the validity of Paranthropus aethiopicus. Paranthropus aethiopicus is dated to around 2.5 million years.

The Fossils:

From Lake Turkana, Kenya:

	KNM-WT 16,005 partial mandible ~Found by Alan Walker in 1985 at West Lake Turkana, Kenya ~Dated to 2.5 million years old

	KNM-WT 17,000 The Black Skull ~Found by Alan Walker in 1985 at West Lake Turkana, Kenya ~Dated to 2.5 million years old ~Noted 410 cc, the smallest cranial capacity yet from an adult hominid specimen.

From Omo River, Ethiopia:

	Omo 18-1967-18 Fragmentary Mandible ~The type fossil of A. aethiopicus

	Omo 44-1970-2466 Mandible

	Omo 57-4-1968-41 Mandible

	Omo 860-2 Mandible

	Omo L 55-s-33 Mandible

	Omo L 338-y-6 Cranium ~Discovered at Omo in the 1960's, but not recognized until the discovery of the "Black Skull" pictured above


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A. ramidus ~ A. anamensis ~ A. afarensis ~ A. africanus ~ A. gahri ~ A. bahrelghazali ~ P. boisei ~ P. aethiopicus ~ P. robustus ~ H. habilis ~ H. rudolfensis ~ H. erectus ~ H. ergaster ~ H. antecessor ~ H. heidelbergensis ~ H. neanderthalensis ~ H. sapiens
Southern Africa ~ Eastern Africa ~ North Central Africa ~ Asia ~ Europe/Northwestern Africa

Steven Heslip ~ 2001 ~ heslipst@msu.edu