Yves Coppens

A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa

The search for the earliest fossil evidence of the human lineage has been concentrated in East Africa. Here we report the discovery of six hominid specimens from Chad, central Africa, 2,500 km from the East African Rift Valley. The fossils include a nearly complete cranium and fragmentary lower jaws. The associated fauna suggest the fossils are between 6 and 7 million years old. The fossils display a unique mosaic of primitive and derived characters, and constitute a new genus and species of hominid. The distance from the Rift Valley, and the great antiquity of the fossils, suggest that the earliest members of the hominid clade were more widely distributed than has been thought, and that the divergence between the human and chimpanzee lineages was earlier than indicated by most molecular studies.

Biomechanical study of grasping according to the volume of the object: human versus non-human primates.

The evolution of the precision grips, in which an object is held between the distal surfaces of thumb and fingers and the power grip, in which an object is grasped with the palm, is poorly understood in spite of hypothesis stipulating an evolution from power toward precision grips. In human, numerous studies have shown that the external factors such as the size or the form of an object influenced grasp patterns whereas in non-human primates, those parameters are poorly known. The objective of the present study was to investigate the variation in the use of different grips according to the volume of the object for six primate species representative of the phylogeny: human, chimpanzee, orangutan, macaque, baboon and capuchin. For those species, the grasping patterns were examined during grasping of spherical objects of two different volumes. Frame-by-frame analysis of digit contact strategies indicated: (1) an effect of the species on the category of grasping whatever the volume of the object, (2) a high degree of species variability and (3) no individual difference whatever the species. These results are discussed in relation to its potential contribution to understand the evolution of grasping.

Early Modern Humans and Morphological Variation in Southeast Asia: Fossil Evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos

Little is known about the timing of modern human emergence and occupation in Eastern Eurasia. However a rapid migration out of Africa into Southeast Asia by at least 60 ka is supported by archaeological, paleogenetic and paleoanthropological data. Recent discoveries in Laos, a modern human cranium (TPL1) from Tam Pa Ling‘s cave, provided the first evidence for the presence of early modern humans in mainland Southeast Asia by 63-46 ka. In the current study, a complete human mandible representing a second individual, TPL 2, is described using discrete traits and geometric morphometrics with an emphasis on determining its population affinity. The TPL2 mandible has a chin and other discrete traits consistent with early modern humans, but it retains a robust lateral corpus and internal corporal morphology typical of archaic humans across the Old World. The mosaic morphology of TPL2 and the fully modern human morphology of TPL1 suggest that a large range of morphological variation was present in early modern human populations residing in the eastern Eurasia by MIS 3.

Vertebrate fossils from Cameroon, West Africa

ABSTRACT Fossil vertebrates discovered in 1986 from Cameroon, West Africa, occur in three different areas in the northern part of the country. Cretaceous rocks northeast of Garoua, in the Babouri-Figuil Basin, yield complete Lepidotes skeletons. Southeast of Garoua, Cretaceous rocks of the Mayo Rey Basin, near Koum, are more clearly terrestrial and contain diverse vertebrates. The Hama Koussou Basin, just north of Garoua, produces fragmentary Lepidotes and dinosaurs. Weathered from a veneer of Pleistocene sediment overlying the latter deposit, the well fossilized remains of Equus, Phacochoerus, and a bovid were recovered.

An Archaic Homo Molar from Northern Vietnam1

fabrice demeter, anne-marie bacon, nguyen kim thuy, vu the long, hirofumi matsumura, ha huu nga, mathieu schuster, nguyen mai huong, and yves coppens Laboratoire de Paleoanthropologie et Prehistoire, College de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France (fabrice.demeter@college-de-france.fr) (Demeter and Coppens)/Unite Ecoanthropologie et Ethnobiologie UMR 5145 du CNRS, Departement Homme, Nature, Societes du MNHN (Demeter)/UPR 2147 du CNRS, 44, rue du l’Amiral Mouchez, 75014 Paris, France (Bacon)/National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam, Institute of Archaeology, 61, Phan Chu Trinh, Hanoi, Vietnam (Thuy, Long, Nga, Huong)/Sapporo Medical University, Department of Anatomy, Minami 1, Mishi 17, ChuoKu, Sapporo 060-8556, Japan (Matsumura)/ULP, Universite Louis Pasteur, Institut de Geologie (EOSTCGS CNRS-UMR 7517), 1, rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg cedex, France (Schuster). 28 i 04

Geological framework of the Pliocene Hadar Formation (Afar, Ethiopia) with notes on paleontology including hominids

Although detailed studies in the central Afar, in particular Hadar, have only recently begun, we feel that it is possible to present a provisional resumé of our research. The Pliocene deposits of Hadar, about 160 m thick, represent a series of lacustrine and perilacustrine sediments with four major marker horizons. These deposits contain a rich and well preserved fossil fauna comprising over 70 species. The nature of the faunal assemblage especially the frequent remains of Nyanzachoerus pattersoni, Notochoerus euilus, Ceratotherium praecox, early Elephas recki, Hipparion cf. primigenium, and the absence of Equus and tetraprotodont Hippopotamus, strongly suggests a biostratigraphic correlation with other sites in eastern Africa considered to be older than 3 million years. Fossil hominid remains, some uniquely complete, have been recovered from nine stratigraphic levels.

Unconstrained 3D-kinematics of prehension in five primates: Lemur, capuchin, gorilla, chimpanzee, human

Primates are known for their use of the hand in many activities including food grasping. Yet, most studies concentrate on the type of grip used. Moreover, kinematic studies remain limited to a few investigations of the distal elements in constrained conditions in humans and macaques. In order to improve our understanding of the prehension movement in primates, we analyse here the behavioural strategies (e.g., types of grip, body postures) as well as the 3D kinematics of the whole forelimb and the trunk during the prehension of small static food items in five primate species in unconstrained conditions. All species preferred the quadrupedal posture except lemurs, which used a typical crouched posture. Grasp type differed among species, with smaller animals (capuchins and lemurs) using a whole-hand grip and larger animals (humans, gorillas, chimpanzees) using predominantly a precision grip. Larger animals had lower relative wrist velocities and spent a larger proportion of the movement decelerating. Humans grasped food items with planar motions involving small joint rotations, more similar to the smaller animals than to gorillas and chimpanzees, which used greater rotations of both the shoulder and forearm. In conclusion, the features characterising human food prehension are present in other primates, yet differences exist in joint motions. These results provide a good basis to suggest hypotheses concerning the factors involved in driving the evolution of grasping abilities in primates.

Deciduous teeth of Hominidae from the Pliocene/Pleistocene of the lower Omo basin, Ethiopia

Abstract A few deciduous teeth of Hominidae from Pliocene/Pleistocene formations of the lower Omo basin, Southern Ethiopia, are briefly described. They derive from fossiliferous localities dated radiometrically between 2 and 3 million years ago. They show resemblances to homologues of other early hominids, and in particular some australopithecines of Southern Africa. No taxonomic attributions are made, but the deciduous teeth appear to confirm other evidence which would indicate the presence of more than one hominid taxon within this time range.

Evolution of the hominids and of their environment during the Plio-Pleistocene in the lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia

In this paper I have concentrated on the lower Omo valley in Ethiopia, to the north of the Lake Turkana Basin. I have extended the study to include not only mammals, but all aspects of palaeontology related to the reconstruction of palaeoenvironments. Geologically, the Omo Group is composed of four formations: The Mursi Formation, 4.5 to 4 millions years old:N’Kalabong Formation and Shungura Formation, including the Usno Formation, 3.5 to 1 million years old, and the much younger, Kibish Formation, possibly 100 000 years old. The most important is the Shungura Formation, which is divided into members by tuffs widely distributed throughout the area. The group of formations is over 1000 metres thick, well exposed, fossiliferous and so well dated by radiometry, magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy, that it has developed into a type of standard scale. Unfortunately, the preservation of fossil vertebrates is not good as most of them were transported by streams. This makes palaeoecological studies more difficult. Nevertheless, for its length and continuity of sequence, the amount of fossils collected and the range of dates obtained, the Omo succession is unique. As several Hominids are present in these strata as well as artifacts, it is particularly interesting to see how the environment changed during the period when the Hominids were evolving.

A new definition of health? An open letter of autochthonous peoples and medical anthropologists to the WHO

Currently, for many practitioners (hospital and liberals) and researchers (including public health), the WHO definition of health is outdated: first it seems more utopian than pragmatic; then, it proves unsuitable for a large part of the world population. There is clearly a need to refine this definition or propose additional criteria to be more relevant or discriminating. In this perspective, what can indigenous people offer in the elaboration of a new definition of health? In this article, leaders or representatives of autochthonous peoples, anthropologists and physicians from many cultural origins (Amazonia, Patagonia, Papua New-Guinea, Inuit, North-American Indian, sub-Saharan Africa, India, China, Melanesia and Polynesia) have tried to identify and explain several key concepts that WHO should reintegrate into its new definition of health: human equilibrium in nature, accepted spirituality and adaptation. On the sidelines of the application of COP21 decisions that should give back to man his place into the environment, autochthonous people leaders, anthropologists and MDs explain why these three concepts are fundamental and universal health determinants, and need to be included in a new WHO definition of health.