PALEOANTHROPOLOGY. Response to Comment on "Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia"

Brian Villmoare; William H Kimbel; Chalachew Seyoum; Christopher J Campisano; Erin DiMaggio; John Rowan; David R Braun; J Ramon Arrowsmith; Kaye E Reed

doi:10.1126/science.aab1122

PALEOANTHROPOLOGY. Response to Comment on "Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia"

Science. 2015 Jun 19;348(6241):1326. doi: 10.1126/science.aab1122.

Authors

Brian Villmoare¹, William H Kimbel², Chalachew Seyoum³, Christopher J Campisano⁴, Erin DiMaggio⁵, John Rowan⁴, David R Braun⁶, J Ramon Arrowsmith⁷, Kaye E Reed⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA. Center for the Advanced Study of Hominin Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA. Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1H 0BW, UK. brian.villmoare@unlv.edu wkimbel.iho@asu.edu.
² School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. brian.villmoare@unlv.edu wkimbel.iho@asu.edu.
³ School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁴ School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁶ Center for the Advanced Study of Hominin Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
⁷ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.

PMID: 26089506
DOI: 10.1126/science.aab1122

Abstract

Hawks et al. argue that our analysis of Australopithecus sediba mandibles is flawed and that specimen LD 350-1 cannot be distinguished from this, or any other, Australopithecus species. Our reexamination of the evidence confirms that LD 350-1 falls outside of the pattern that A. sediba shares with Australopithecus and thus is reasonably assigned to the genus Homo.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Hominidae / anatomy & histology*
Humans