Hominid remains from the plio/pleistocene formations of the Omo basin, Ethiopia

Abstract

The Omo deposits in Ethiopia, discovered at the beginning of the century, then studied by a first French scientific expedition in 1932–33 and resumed by an international expedition in 1966, represent today an outstanding sequence for palaeoanthropology, prehistory and paleontology. This importance is due to the exceptional thickness of the deposits, the wealth of fossiliferous levels, the presence, in these levels, of Hominidae and lithic industries next to tons of fossil vertebrate bones, and to the fact that the 3 million years period they illustrate is sharply calibrated by radiometric dating confirmed by paleomagnetic measures. It became the reference scale for the whole of Africa. This paper intends to briefly describe the hominid remains, collected by the French part of the Omo Research Expedition during the 1970, 1971 and 1972 seasons.