Aramis, Ethiopia
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Aramis is a village and
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
in north-eastern
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, where remains of ''
Australopithecus ''Australopithecus'' (, ; ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genus ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans) emerged within ''Australopithecus'', as sister to e.g. ''Australopi ...
'' and ''
Ardipithecus ''Ardipithecus'' is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene epochs in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the chimp ...
'' (''Ardipithecus ramidus'') have been found. The village is located in Administrative Zone 5 of the
Afar Region The Afar Region (; aa, Qafar Rakaakayak; am, አፋር ክልል), formerly known as Region 2, is a regional state in northeastern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Afar people. Its capital is the planned city of Semera, which lies on the paved ...
, which is part of the Afar Sultanate of Dawe, with a latitude and longitude of , and is part of the (Daale Faage Woreda), Carri Rasuk, Xaale Faagê Daqaara. The
Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth ...
did not mention this village in their 2005 population report. Archeologists include the find site near the village as part of the
Middle Awash The Middle Awash is a paleoanthropological research area in the Afar Region along the Awash River in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. It is a unique natural laboratory for the study of human origins and evolution and a number of fossils of the earliest ...
region. Taphonological and
palynological Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...
studies have uncovered evidence of a rich fossil flora and fauna including many ''
Canthium ''Canthium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny. Distribution ''Canthium'' species are predominantly found in Southeast Asia, espec ...
'' seeds, a genus found mainly in African woodlands and forests. Additionally, fossil medium-sized colobine monkeys and
kuda Kuda or KUDA may refer to: * Kakatiya Urban Development Authority, a planning agency in Warangal, Telangana, India * Mitsubishi Freeca, a compact MPV/SUV, rebadged as Mitsubishi Kuda in Indonesia * KUDA, a defunct radio station (88.7 FM) formerly ...
s suggest that pre-historic Aramis may have been wet, closed, and wooded, whereas today the Middle Awash is one of the dryest, hottest, and most uninhabitable regions of the world. In 1992 and 1993 a team led by
Tim D. White Tim D. White (born August 24, 1950) is an American paleoanthropologist and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for leading the team which discovered Ardi, the type specimen of ''Ardipithe ...
found in total 17 specimens of hominid fossils at Aramis. These fossils were dated at 4.4 million years, 500,000 years earlier than the oldest ''afarensis'' fossils found in the eastern Middle Awash. This discovery was published on the front page of ''New York Times'', and later a new genus and species of hominids was proposed, ''Ardipithecus ramidus''."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf), The Nordic Africa Institute website (last accessed 5 May 2008)


Geography

The Middle awash study area covers 5,000 kilometers, with recent alluvium and/or volcanics covering more than 80% of that area. The current Awash River travels south to north across the study region, eventually emptying into Lake Abbé on the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. The Awash River is fed by perennial and seasonal tributaries that originate in the highlands along the western shoulder and ledge. The elevation of the Middle Awash study area varies from around 550 meters along the Awash River to around 850 meters near the western margin's foothills.


Ecological and temporal placement of early Pilocene

The Middle Awash research region is located south of Hadar and crosses the present Awash River. The area's palaeoanthropological significance was identified by Taieb in the 1960s, after geological work began in 1938. Between 1975 and 1978 Rift Valley Research Mission in Ethiopia conducted additional research, followed by their team in 1981. Sedimentary layers in Ethiopia's Afar depression's Middle Awash research area have revealed vertebrate fossils, including the world's oldest hominids. The hominid-bearing layers are 4.4 million years old, according to radioisotopic dating, geochemical examination of interbedded volcanic ashes, and biochronological factors. Sedimentological, botanical, and faunal evidence point to the Aramis hominid inhabiting a forest environment. The first deposits discovered are found around the western edge of Afar. Bio chronologically, these are from the late Miocene. They haven't found any skeletons of hominids. The heaviest and most broadly exhibited Middle Awash layers are Pliocene deposits, which crop out east and west of the current river. After Gen Suwa identified hominid fossils in the Aramis headwaters on December 17, 1992, the inquiry focused on the area revealed between both the upper Adgantoli and lower Sagantole drainages. On the sides of the center complex, older sediments were gradually elevated above the Awash river bottom and are now uncovered. Between 3.5 and 4.5 Myr, the Rift Valley Research Missin in Ethiopa 'Aramis' and 'Haradaso' members were biochronologically identified. The species A. afarensis, which is presumed to be descended from the Aramis hominids, is thought to have exhibited a wide range of ecological tolerances, as evidenced by the fact that its bones have been discovered in rather open settings. It's probable that early Aramis hominids avoided these rather open areas, which would have predated A. afarensis's spread out of woodland habitats. This could explain why there are so few basals in l Pliocene hominid remains in non-woodland locations in the Middle Awash and elsewhere.


Late Miocene Hominids

Late Miocene Homininds New hominid remains from Ethiopia's Middle Awash region that age from 5.2–5.8 Myr and are linked to a forested paleoenvironment have been discovered. These Late Miocene fossils belong to the hominid genus Ardipithecus and are the first definitive proof of the clade's existence. All younger hominids share derived dental features solely. This suggests that the fossils belong to a hominid taxon that existed before the split in lineages that led to contemporary chimps and humans. Ardipithecus was phylogenetically near to the common ancestor of chimps and humans, based on the survival of primitive dental and postcranial features in these new fossils. Environmental signs point to a forested environment. Since the first (a partial mandible) was discovered in Alayla in 1997, 11 hominid specimens have been discovered at five different locations.


References

1. WoldeGabriel. Ecological and temporal placement of early Pliocene hominids at Aramis, Ethiopia. 1994;371(6495). doi:10.1038/371330a0 2. Haile-Selassie, Y. Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 412, 178–181 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35084063 3. Haile-Selassie, Y. (n.d.). Mio-Pliocene mammals from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia.


See also

*
Australopithecus afarensis ''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ...


References


External links

*White, Tim D., ''et al.'',
Asa Issie, Aramis and the Origin of Australopithecus
" ''Nature'' 440 (April 13, 2006), 883–89. Archaeological sites in Ethiopia Populated places in the Afar Region Paleoanthropological sites Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa {{Afar-geo-stub