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JVP 26(3) September 2006—ABSTRACTS
Neoceti Symposium, Saturday 8:45 acid-prepared osteolepiforms Medoevia and Gogonasus has offered strong support for BODY SIZE AND CRYPTIC TROPHIC SEPARATION OF GENERALIZED Jarvik’s interpretation, but Eusthenopteron itself has not been reexamined in detail. PIERCE-FEEDING CETACEANS: THE ROLE OF FEEDING DIVERSITY DUR- Uncertainty has persisted about the relationship between the large endoskeletal “fenestra ING THE RISE OF THE NEOCETI endochoanalis” and the apparently much smaller choana, and about the occlusion of upper ADAM, Peter, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; JETT, Kristin, Univ. of and lower jaw fangs relative to the choana. California, Davis, Davis, CA; OLSON, Joshua, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, Los A CT scan investigation of a large skull of Eusthenopteron, carried out in collaboration Angeles, CA with University of Texas and Parc de Miguasha, offers an opportunity to image and digital- Marine mammals with homodont dentition and relatively little specialization of the feeding ly “dissect” a complete three-dimensional snout region. We find that a choana is indeed apparatus are often categorized as generalist eaters of squid and fish. However, analyses of present, somewhat narrower but otherwise similar to that described by Jarvik. It does not many modern ecosystems reveal the importance of body size in determining trophic parti- receive the anterior coronoid fang, which bites mesial to the edge of the dermopalatine and tioning and diversity among predators. We established relationships between body sizes of is received by a pit in that bone. The fenestra endochoanalis is partly floored by the vomer extant cetaceans and their prey in order to infer prey size and potential trophic separation of and the dermopalatine, restricting the choana to the lateral part of the fenestra. -
The Taxonomy of Primates in the Laboratory Context
P0800261_01 7/14/05 8:00 AM Page 3 C HAPTER 1 The Taxonomy of Primates T HE T in the Laboratory Context AXONOMY OF P Colin Groves RIMATES School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia 3 What are species? D Taxonomy: EFINITION OF THE The biological Organizing nature species concept Taxonomy means classifying organisms. It is nowadays commonly used as a synonym for systematics, though Disagreement as to what precisely constitutes a species P strictly speaking systematics is a much broader sphere is to be expected, given that the concept serves so many RIMATE of interest – interrelationships, and biodiversity. At the functions (Vane-Wright, 1992). We may be interested basis of taxonomy lies that much-debated concept, the in classification as such, or in the evolutionary implica- species. tions of species; in the theory of species, or in simply M ODEL Because there is so much misunderstanding about how to recognize them; or in their reproductive, phys- what a species is, it is necessary to give some space to iological, or husbandry status. discussion of the concept. The importance of what we Most non-specialists probably have some vague mean by the word “species” goes way beyond taxonomy idea that species are defined by not interbreeding with as such: it affects such diverse fields as genetics, biogeog- each other; usually, that hybrids between different species raphy, population biology, ecology, ethology, and bio- are sterile, or that they are incapable of hybridizing at diversity; in an era in which threats to the natural all. Such an impression ultimately derives from the def- world and its biodiversity are accelerating, it affects inition by Mayr (1940), whereby species are “groups of conservation strategies (Rojas, 1992). -
1843 KMS Kenya Past and Present Issue 43
Kenya Past and Present Issue 43 Kenya Past and Present Editor Peta Meyer Editorial Board Marla Stone Patricia Jentz Kathy Vaughan Kenya Past and Present is a publication of the Kenya Museum Society, a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1971 to support and raise funds for the National Museums of Kenya. Correspondence should be addressed to: Kenya Museum Society, PO Box 40658, Nairobi 00100, Kenya. Email: [email protected] Website: www.KenyaMuseumSociety.org Statements of fact and opinion appearing in Kenya Past and Present are made on the responsibility of the author alone and do not imply the endorsement of the editor or publishers. Reproduction of the contents is permitted with acknowledgement given to its source. We encourage the contribution of articles, which may be sent to the editor at [email protected]. No category exists for subscription to Kenya Past and Present; it is a benefit of membership in the Kenya Museum Society. Available back issues are for sale at the Society’s offices in the Nairobi National Museum. Any organisation wishing to exchange journals should write to the Resource Centre Manager, National Museums of Kenya, PO Box 40658, Nairobi 00100, Kenya, or send an email to [email protected] Designed by Tara Consultants Ltd ©Kenya Museum Society Nairobi, April 2016 Kenya Past and Present Issue 43, 2016 Contents KMS highlights 2015 ..................................................................................... 3 Patricia Jentz To conserve Kenya’s natural and cultural heritage ........................................ 9 Marla Stone Museum highlights 2015 ............................................................................. 11 Juliana Jebet and Hellen Njagi Beauty and the bead: Ostrich eggshell beads through prehistory .................................................. 17 Angela W. -
Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Fossil Primate and Other
RESEARCH ARTICLE Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Fossil Primate and Other Mammal Holotype and Paratype Specimens of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa Justin W. Adams1*, Angela Olah2,3, Matthew R. McCurry1,3, Stephany Potze4 a11111 1 Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia, 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia, 3 Geosciences, Museum Victoria, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 4 Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa * [email protected] OPEN ACCESS Citation: Adams JW, Olah A, McCurry MR, Potze S (2015) Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Abstract Fossil Primate and Other Mammal Holotype and Nearly a century of paleontological excavation and analysis from the cave deposits of the Paratype Specimens of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa. PLoS ONE Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site in northeastern South Africa underlies 10(10): e0139800. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139800 much of our understanding of the evolutionary history of hominins, other primates and other Editor: Brenda A Wilson, University of Illinois at mammal lineages in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene of Africa. As one of few desig- Urbana-Champaign, UNITED STATES nated fossil repositories, the Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section of the Ditsong National Received: January 29, 2015 Museum of Natural History (DNMNH; the former Transvaal Museum) curates much of the mammalian faunas recovered from the fossil-rich deposits of major South African hominin- Accepted: September 17, 2015 bearing localities, including the holotype and paratype specimens of many primate, carni- Published: October 6, 2015 vore, and other mammal species (Orders Primates, Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Eulipotyphla, Copyright: © 2015 Adams et al. -
Lake Turkana and the Lower Omo the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Account for 50% of Kenya’S Livestock Production (Snyder, 2006)
Lake Turkana & the Lower Omo: Hydrological Impacts of Major Dam & Irrigation Development REPORT African Studies Centre Sean Avery (BSc., PhD., C.Eng., C. Env.) © Antonella865 | Dreamstime © Antonella865 Consultant’s email: [email protected] Web: www.watres.com LAKE TURKANA & THE LOWER OMO: HYDROLOGICAL IMPACTS OF MAJOR DAM & IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENTS CONTENTS – VOLUME I REPORT Chapter Description Page EXECUTIVE(SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................1! 1! INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 12! 1.1! THE(CONTEXT ........................................................................................................................................ 12! 1.2! THE(ASSIGNMENT .................................................................................................................................. 14! 1.3! METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................................................... 15! 2! DEVELOPMENT(PLANNING(IN(THE(OMO(BASIN ......................................................................... 18! 2.1! INTRODUCTION(AND(SUMMARY(OVERVIEW(OF(FINDINGS................................................................... 18! 2.2! OMO?GIBE(BASIN(MASTER(PLAN(STUDY,(DECEMBER(1996..............................................................19! 2.2.1! OMO'GIBE!BASIN!MASTER!PLAN!'!TERMS!OF!REFERENCE...........................................................................19! -
Stretching the Time Span of Hominin Evolution at Kromdraai
G Model PALEVO-933; No. of Pages 13 ARTICLE IN PRESS C. R. Palevol xxx (2016) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Comptes Rendus Palevol www.sci encedirect.com Human Palaeontology and Prehistory Stretching the time span of hominin evolution at Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa): Recent discoveries Extension de la durée de l’évolution humaine à Kromdraai (Gauteng, Afrique du Sud) : découvertes récentes a,b,∗ b c,d,e José Braga , John Francis Thackeray , Laurent Bruxelles , a c,f Jean Dumoncel , Jean-Baptiste Fourvel a Computer-assisted Palaeoanthropology Team, UMR 5288 CNRS–Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France b Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa c Laboratoire TRACES, UMR 5608 CNRS, Université Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France d School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa e Institut national d’archéologie préventive, Nîmes, France f Department of Quaternary Palaeontology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: The Plio-Pleistocene locality of Kromdraai B has yielded the type specimen of Paranthropus Received 27 December 2015 robustus, as well as 27 additional fossil hominin specimens. In a number of both cranial Accepted after revision 25 March 2016 and dental features, the states shown by the Kromdraai Paranthropus are more conser- Available online xxx vative when compared to the more derived conditions displayed by both South African conspecifics and the post-2.3 Ma eastern African Paranthropus boisei. Since 2014, we exca- Keywords: vated the earliest known infilling of the Kromdraai cave system in a previously unexplored Kromdraai area. -
Reassessment of Olduvai Bed I Cercopithecoids: a New Biochronological and Biogeographical Link to the South African Fossil Record
Journal of Human Evolution 92 (2016) 50e59 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Human Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol Reassessment of Olduvai Bed I cercopithecoids: A new biochronological and biogeographical link to the South African fossil record * Christopher C. Gilbert a, b, c, d, , Stephen R. Frost e, Eric Delson b, d, f, g, h a Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA b PhD Program in Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, NY 10016, USA c PhD Program in Biology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, NY 10016, USA d New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, USA e Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA f Department of Anthropology, Lehman College of the City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468, USA g Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA h Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, Spain article info abstract Article history: Fossil monkeys have long been used as important faunal elements in studies of African Plio-Pleistocene Received 13 September 2015 biochronology, particularly in the case of the South African karst cave sites. Cercopithecoid fossils have Accepted 6 December 2015 been known from Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge for nearly a century, with multiple taxa documented Available online xxx including Theropithecus oswaldi and Cercopithecoides kimeui, along with papionins and colobines less clearly attributable to species. -
Lake Turkana Archaeology: the Holocene
Lake Turkana Archaeology: The Holocene Lawrence H. Robbins, Michigan State University Abstract. Pioneering research in the Holocene archaeology of Lake Turkana con- tributed significantly to the development of broader issues in the prehistory of Africa, including the aquatic civilization model and the initial spread of domes- ticated livestock in East Africa. These topics are reviewed following retrospective discussion of the nature of pioneering fieldwork carried out in the area in the1960s. The early research at Lake Turkana uncovered the oldest pottery in East Africa as well as large numbers of bone harpoons similar to those found along the Nile Valley and elsewhere in Africa. The Lake Turkana area remains one of the major building blocks in the interpretation of the later prehistory of Africa as a whole, just as it is a key area for understanding the early phases of human evolution. Our way had at first led us up hills of volcanic origin. I can’t imagine landscape more barren, dried out and grim. At 1.22 pm the Bassonarok appeared, an enormous lake of blue water dotted with some islands. The northern shores cannot be seen. At its southern end it must be about 20 kilometers wide. As far as the eye can see are barren and volcanic shores. I give it the name of Lake Rudolf. (Teleki 1965 [1886–95]: 5 March 1888) From yesterday’s campsite we could overlook nearly the whole western and north- ern shores of the lake. The soil here is different again. I observed a lot of conglom- erates and fossils (petrification). -
NSS News Fall 2015 VOL I Issue 1
12 NSS News Fall 2015 VOL I Issue 1 The Newsletter of the School of Natural and Social Sciences at Lehman College CUNY Meet homo naledi Anthropology Professor Will Harcourt-Smith plays crucial role in one of the most spectacular finds in the history of the study of human evolution fundamentally transformed our In early September, a team of scientists understanding of human evolution. announced what has since been touted as Harcourt-Smith was the lead researcher the most important archeological find since on the foot bones of homo Naledi and the middle of the twentieth century. It the lead author on the October 6th began rather unceremoniously in 2013, Nature Communications article describing Above: Homo Naledi (Photograph by Mark when two recreational “cavers” named the 107 pedal elements and a near- Thiessen, courtesy of National Geographic). Steven Tucker and Rick Hunter descended complete adult foot excavated from the into the famed Rising Star Cave outside of Below: Professor Will Harcourt-Smith in the Dinaledi Chamber. In the article, field. Johannesburg, South Africa. The duo soon Harcourt-Smith and his colleagues discovered a less-mapped channel of the concluded: cave with bones scattered everywhere. They took photos and sent them to the The H. naledi foot is predominantly renowned paleoanthropologist Lee Berger modern human-like in morphology and at Witwatersrand University in Joburg, inferred function, with an adducted who quickly put a Help Wanted call out on hallux, an elongated tarsus, and Facebook for “skinny” individuals with derived ankle and calcaneocuboid scientific backgrounds and caving joints. In combination, these features experience. -
A New Large Pliocene Colobine Species (Mammalia: Primates)
Geobios 39 (2006) 57–69 http://france.elsevier.com/direct/GEOBIO/ A new large Pliocene colobine species (Mammalia: Primates) from Asa Issie, Ethiopia Une nouvelle espèce de grand colobiné (Mammalia : Primates) du Pliocène d’Asa Issie en Éthiopie Leslea J. Hlusko * Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Received 16 February 2004; accepted 29 September 2004 Available online 28 October 2005 Abstract The Colobinae (Mammalia: Primates) are relatively unknown from the African middle to late Miocene. When they appear in the Pliocene they are unambiguous and already fairly diverse taxonomically, geographically, and ecologically. Discoveries from Pliocene sediments in eastern and southern Africa document a radiation of large-bodied colobines very different from those known today. Paleontological research in Ethiopia has recently led to the discovery and identification of another large-bodied colobine species from the early Pliocene site of Asa Issie, discovered in 2000. This new colobine is larger than but morphologically very similar to its sister taxon Kuseracolobus aramisi, an older taxon also described from the Middle Awash. This new species has significant implications for our understanding of the Pliocene colobine adaptive radiation. © 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. Résumé Les Colobinae (Mammalia : Primates) sont très mal connus en Afrique au Miocène moyen et récent. Au cours du Pliocène, ils deviennent clairement identifiables et déjà relativement diversifiés sur les plans taxonomique, géographique et écologique. Les découvertes effectuées dans les sédiments pliocènes d’Afrique de l’Est et du Sud permettent de documenter une radiation de colobinés de grande taille, très différents de ceux connus aujourd’hui. -
1646 KMS Kenya Past and Present Issue 46.Pdf
Kenya Past and Present ISSUE 46, 2019 CONTENTS KMS HIGHLIGHTS, 2018 3 Pat Jentz NMK HIGHLIGHTS, 2018 7 Juliana Jebet NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS 13 AT MT. ELGON CAVES, WESTERN KENYA Emmanuel K. Ndiema, Purity Kiura, Rahab Kinyanjui RAS SERANI: AN HISTORICAL COMPLEX 22 Hans-Martin Sommer COCKATOOS AND CROCODILES: 32 SEARCHING FOR WORDS OF AUSTRONESIAN ORIGIN IN SWAHILI Martin Walsh PURI, PAROTHA, PICKLES AND PAPADAM 41 Saryoo Shah ZANZIBAR PLATES: MAASTRICHT AND OTHER PLATES 45 ON THE EAST AFRICAN COAST Villoo Nowrojee and Pheroze Nowrojee EXCEPTIONAL OBJECTS FROM KENYA’S 53 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES Angela W. Kabiru FRONT COVER ‘They speak to us of warm welcomes and traditional hospitality, of large offerings of richly flavoured rice, of meat cooked in coconut milk, of sweets as generous in quantity as the meals they followed.’ See Villoo and Pheroze Nowrojee. ‘Zanzibar Plates’ p. 45 1 KMS COUNCIL 2018 - 2019 KENYA MUSEUM SOCIETY Officers The Kenya Museum Society (KMS) is a non-profit Chairperson Pat Jentz members’ organisation formed in 1971 to support Vice Chairperson Jill Ghai and promote the work of the National Museums of Honorary Secretary Dr Marla Stone Kenya (NMK). You are invited to join the Society and Honorary Treasurer Peter Brice receive Kenya Past and Present. Privileges to members include regular newsletters, free entrance to all Council Members national museums, prehistoric sites and monuments PR and Marketing Coordinator Kari Mutu under the jurisdiction of the National Museums of Weekend Outings Coordinator Narinder Heyer Kenya, entry to the Oloolua Nature Trail at half price Day Outings Coordinator Catalina Osorio and 5% discount on books in the KMS shop. -
Phytolith Analysed to Compare Changes in Vegetation Structure of Koobi Fora and Olorgesailie Basins Through the Mid- Pleistocene-Holocene Periods
Phytolith analysed to Compare Changes in Vegetation Structure of Koobi Fora and Olorgesailie Basins through the Mid- Pleistocene-Holocene Periods. By KINYANJUI, Rahab N. Student number: 712138 Submitted on 28th February, 2017 Submitted the revised version on 22nd February, 2018 Declaration A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science in fulfilment of the requirements for PhD degree. At School of Geosciences, Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa. I declare that this is my own unaided work and has not been submitted elsewhere for degree purposes KINYANJUI, Rahab N. Student No. 712138 ii Abstract Phytolith analyses to compare changes in vegetation structure of Koobi Fora and Olorgesailie Basins through Mid-Pleistocene-Holocene Periods. By Rahab N Kinyanjui (Student No: 712138) Doctor of Philosophy in Palaeontology University of Witwatersrand, South Africa School of Geological Sciences, Evolutionary Science Institute (GEOS/ESI) Supervisor: Prof Marion Bamford. The Koobi Fora and Olorgesailie Basins are renowned Hominin sites in the Rift Valley of northern and central Kenya, respectively with fluvial, lacustrine and tuffaceous sediments spanning the Pleistocene and Holocene. Much research has been done on the fossil fauna, hominins and flora with the aim of trying to understand when and how the hominins evolved, and how the environment impacted on their behaviour, land-use and distribution over time. One of the most important factors in trying to understand the hominin-environment relationship is firstly to reconstruct the environment. Important environmental factors are the climate, rate or degree of climate change, vegetation structure and resources, floral and faunal resources. Vegetation structure/composition is a key component of the environments and, it has been hypothesized the openness and/or closeness of vegetation structure played a key role in shaping the evolutionary history not only of man but also other mammals.