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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Virtual cranial reconstruction of Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Nature, Volume 434, No. 7034, Year 2005
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Description
Previous research in Chad at the Toros-Menalla 266 fossiliferous locality (about 7 million years old) uncovered a nearly complete cranium (TM 266-01-60-1), three mandibular fragments and several isolated teeth attributed to Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Of this material, the cranium is especially important for testing hypotheses about the systematics and behavioural characteristics of this species, but is partly distorted from fracturing, displacement and plastic deformation. Here we present a detailed virtual reconstruction of the TM 266 cranium that corrects these distortions. The reconstruction confirms that S. tchadensis is a hominid and is not more closely related to the African great apes. Analysis of the basicranium further indicates that S. tchadensis might have been an upright biped, suggesting that bipedalism was present in the earliest known hominids, and probably arose soon after the divergence of the chimpanzee and human lineages. © 2005 Nature Publishing Group.
Authors & Co-Authors
Zollikofer, Christoph Peter Eduard
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Ponce De León, Marcia
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Lieberman, Daniel E.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Guy, Franck
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
France, Poitiers
Universite de Poitiers
Pilbeam, David R.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Likius, Andossa
Chad, N'djamena
Universite de N'djamena
MacKaye, Hassan Taïsso
Chad, N'djamena
Universite de N'djamena
Vignaud, Patrick
France, Poitiers
Universite de Poitiers
Brunet, Michel
France, Poitiers
Universite de Poitiers
Statistics
Citations: 289
Authors: 9
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature03397
ISSN:
00280836
e-ISSN:
14764687
Study Locations
Chad