A central goal of paleoanthropology is understanding the role of ecological change in
hominin evolution. Over the past several decades researchers have expanded the hominin …

The oldest Oldowan tool sites, from around 2.6 million years ago, have previously been
confined to Ethiopia's Afar Triangle. We describe sites at Nyayanga, Kenya, dated to 3.032 …

Abstract The Afar Depression is a unique place on Earth where active rift processes can be
directly observed. It is believed to be close to continental breakup. The Afar hotspot has a …

The appearance of Homo erectus shortly after 2.0 Ma is widely considered a turning point in
human dietary evolution, with increased consumption of animal tissues driving the evolution …

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Human Evolution, we re-evaluate the
fossil record for early Homo (principally Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Homo rudolfensis) …

The naming of Australopithecus africanus in 1925, based on the Taung Child, heralded a
new era in human evolutionary studies and turned the attention of the then Eurasian-centric …

Abstract Rift‐Rift‐Rift triple junctions are key features of emergent plate boundary networks
during fragmentation of a continent. A key example of such a setting is the Afar triple junction …

Climate variability and hominin evolution are inextricably linked. Yet, hypotheses examining
the impact of large-scale climate shifts on hominin landscape ecology are often constrained …

The eastern branch of the Eastern African Rift System (EARS) is the source of a large
proportion of the early hominin fossil record, but it covers a tiny fraction (ca. 1%) of the …

Interpreting morphological variation within the early hominin fossil record is particularly
challenging. Apart from the fact that there is no absolute threshold for defining species …