Late Pleistocene age and archaeological context for the hominin calvaria from GvJm-22 (Lukenya Hill, Kenya).

Bibliographic Collection: 
APE
Publication Type: Journal Article
Authors: Tryon, Christian A; Crevecoeur, Isabelle; Faith, J Tyler; Ekshtain, Ravid; Nivens, Joelle; Patterson, David; Mbua, Emma N; Spoor, Fred
Year of Publication: 2015
Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Volume: 112
Issue: 9
Pagination: 2682-7
Date Published: 2015 Mar 3
Publication Language: eng
ISSN: 1091-6490
Keywords: Craniology, Fossils, Humans, Kenya, Mass Spectrometry, Skull
Abstract:

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576-22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1417909112
Alternate Journal: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.