The Peninj Mandible(Peninj 1), also called Natron mandible, is the fossilized lower jaw and teeth of an australopithecine specimen, likely that of ''
Australopithecus boisei''
or a similar population. It was discovered in West Lake Natron, in
Ngorongoro District
Ngorongoro is one of the seven districts of the Arusha Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the north by Kenya, to the east by Monduli District, the northeast by Longido District, and to the south by the Karatu ...
of
Arusha Region
Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census).
Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern ...
of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
by
Kamoya Kimeu
Kamoya Kimeu (1938 – 20 July 2022) was a Kenyan paleontologist and curator, whose contributions to the field of paleoanthropology were recognised with the National Geographic Society's LaGorce Medal and with an honorary doctorate of science deg ...
,
Glynn Isaac
Glynn Llywelyn Isaac (19 November 1937 – 5 October 1985) was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa, and was one of twin sons born to botanists William Edwyn Isaac and Frances Margaret Leighton ...
, and
Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife conse ...
in 1964.
This mandible (jaw) is estimated to be 1.5 million years old
and it is characterized as having a robust build with large molars and reduced incisors. The specimen is believed to be an adult male.
Discovery
Peninj 1 was found in 1964 at a site in Tanzania called Peninj, west of Lake Natron and about 80 km (50 miles) from Olduvai Gorge, a major paleoanthropological site. On the 11th of January, fossil hunter Kamoya Kimeu was crossing the western side of Lake Natron as part of a team led by Richard Leakey when he discovered the mandible buried in ancient volcanic ash ''in situ.'' Later that year,
Louis Leakey, his wife
Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also disc ...
and their son Richard, announced the discovery of the Peninj Mandible in an article published in ''Nature.''
Together with the
OH 5
''Paranthropus boisei'' is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959, and described by h ...
cranium, the nearly complete mandible of Peninj 1 showed that this East African species was even more robust than other
hominin
The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas).
The ...
specimens found in southern Africa.
See also
*
List of human evolution fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of hominin fossils and remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the human and chimpanzee lineages) in the late Miocene, roug ...
References
Paranthropus fossils
Fossils of Tanzania
Quaternary fossil record
{{Paleo-hominin-stub