Hadar, Ethiopia
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Hadar or Hadar Formation (also spelled ''Qad daqar'', ''Qadaqar''; Afar "white 'qidi''stream 'daqar'') Jon Kalb ''Adventures in the Bone Trade'' (New York: Copernicus Books, 2001), p. 83 is a paleontological fossil site located in Mille district, Administrative Zone 1 of the
Afar Region The Afar Region (; ; ), formerly known as Region 2, is a Regions of Ethiopia, 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 Awash, Ethiopia, Awash ...
,
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, 15 km upstream (west) of the A1 road's bridge across the
Awash River } The Awash River (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo language, Oromo: ''Awaash OR Hawaas'', Amharic: ዐዋሽ, Afar language, Afar: ''Hawaash We'ayot'', Somali language, Somali: ''Webiga Dir'', Italian language, Italian: ''Auasc'') is a major river ...
(Adayitu
kebele A ward (; ; ) is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia: a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. Somali word that has meaning of collected people where water is fairly sufficient and available to prolongue thei ...
). It is situated on the southern edge of the
Afar Triangle The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar triple junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; th ...
(part of East Africa's
Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...
), along the left banks of the Awash River, between two minor tributaries, the eponymous Kada Hadar and the Kada Gona. In 1972, Taieb organized a small exploratory reconnaissance of the Afar region to investigate more paleontological finds there. After six weeks of exploration, the party focused on the Hadar site. The site has yielded some of the most well-known
hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...
fossils, including "
Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...
". These hominin fossils range in age from approximately 3.42 to 2.90 million years ago. These finds give us a greater understanding of hominin evolution during this period. It is postulated that the specimens in the region were deposited by way of a large river system with associated crevasse channels/splays, deltas, and distributary channels, as well as periodic transgressions of paleolake Hadar located east of the research area (Aronson and Taieb, 1981, Tiercelin, 1986, Campisano and Feibel, in press) possibly related to geological activity or climatic cycles in at least the Kada Hadar Member (Yemane et al., 1996, Yemane, 1997, Campisano and Feibel, in press)." According to Jon Kalb, early maps show caravan routes passing within 10 to 15 km of Hadar but not through it. The British explorer L.M. Nesbitt passed 15 km west of Hadar in 1928.


Geology

The region's rocks consist mainly of
mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...
s,
siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...
s, fine-grained
sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...
and volcanic tuffs. The region of Hadar has been divided into four geologic members — Basal (~3.8–3.42 Ma), Sidi Hakoma (~3.42–3.26 Ma), Denen Dora (~3.26–3.2 Ma), and Kada Hadar (<~3.2 Ma)—with three tuffs (Sidi Hakoma Tuff HT Triple Tuff Tand Kada Hadar Tuff HT separating the four members. The Sidi Hakoma member tends towards high rainfall and low seasonality. The overlying Denan Dora Member was a grassland habitat. Finally, the Kada Hadar Member was an even more open and arid habitat, as seen in the high abundance of antilopines, which frequent these types of terrains.


Paleontology

The first paleo-geological explorations of the Hadar area were conducted by
Maurice Taieb Maurice Taieb (22 July 1935 – 23 July 2021) was a Tunisian French geologist and paleoanthropologist. He discovered the Hadar,_Ethiopia#Archeological_findsite, Hadar formation, recognized its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founde ...
. He found Hadar in December 1970 by following the Ledi River, which originates in the highlands north of Bati to empty into the
Awash River } The Awash River (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo language, Oromo: ''Awaash OR Hawaas'', Amharic: ዐዋሽ, Afar language, Afar: ''Hawaash We'ayot'', Somali language, Somali: ''Webiga Dir'', Italian language, Italian: ''Auasc'') is a major river ...
. Taieb recovered several fossils in the area and led a party back to Hadar in May 1972. In October 1973, 16 individuals with the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE) arrived at Hadar and camped there for two months during which the first hominin fossil was found. (Taieb claims in his 1985 book ''Sur la Terre des premiers Hommes'' to have discovered the Hadar fields in 1968, but Kalb argues that claim to be incorrect.) The IARE party examined a series of
sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedime ...
layers called the Hadar Formation, which was dated to the late
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
epochs (3.5 to 2.3 million years ago).


Discovery of Lucy

The anthropologist
Donald Johanson Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia. Biography Ea ...
, a member of the 1973 expedition to Hadar, returned the next year and discovered the fossil hominin "
Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...
" in the late fall of 1974. He spotted a right proximal ulna in a gully, followed by an occipital bone, a femur, some ribs, a pelvis, and a lower jaw. Within two weeks, nearly 40% of the hominoid skeleton had been identified and cataloged. Lucy is the most famous fossil to have been found at Hadar. Lucy is among the oldest hominin fossils ever discovered and was later given the taxonomic classification ''
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 ta ...
''. (The name 'Lucy' was inspired by the song "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...
" by
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, which happened to be playing on the radio at base camp.)


Specimens and inferences

In 1975,
Donald Johanson Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia. Biography Ea ...
made another discovery at a nearby site in Hadar: 216 specimens from approximately 17 individuals, most likely related and varying in age, called AL 333 (colloquially referred to as the "First Family"). About thirty years later in nearby
Dikika The Dikika is an area of the Afar Region of Ethiopia. A hominin fossil named Selam, a specimen of the ''Australopithecus afarensis'' species, was found in this area. Papers also propose the earliest evidence of stone tool use at this site in the f ...
, another ''Australopithecus afarensis'' fossil skeleton was found in a separate outcrop of the Hadar Formation across the Awash River from Hadar. The skeleton is of a three-year-old girl later named " Selam," which means peace in Amharic Ethiopian languages. In 1973 and 1974 when the first anatomical discoveries were made, their size and shape pointed towards a variety of taxa, but further research has confirmed that only one hominin taxon is present here. The first find there was a fossil knee joint estimated to date from 3.4 million years ago. Since then, the Hadar research area has yielded 370 specimens of ''A. afarensis'', one specimen of ''Homo'', and 7571 additional vertebrate specimens. The specimens recovered display a variety of different primitive cranial post features, which indicate ''A. afarensis'' is distinct from other species of ''Australopithecus'': small cranial capacity, palate similar to African apes (parallel tooth rows, shallow, long from front to back, narrow from side to side), primitive occipital, basal cranium anatomy, high frequency of unicuspid third premolars, prognathic face, and primitive mandibular anatomy. Postcranially, the pelvis, knee, ankle, and foot indicate habitual, terrestrial bipedalism, but ape-like curved finger and foot bones are retained ancestral ape-like features.


Paleofauna

Although Australopithecus is well-known for its discovery since the 1970s, other specimens from the Hadar Formation contain several fossil remains of artiodactyls, perissodactyls, carnivorans, proboscideans, and other African species that are well preserved. The bovids found in the formation included the Aepycerotini (''Aepyceros''), Alcelaphini ('' Damalborea'' and '' Parmularius''),
Antilopini Antilopini is a tribe (taxonomy), tribe of bovids often referred as true Antelope, antelopes like gazelles. They live in and around the Saharan Desert, Sahara, Horn of Africa, throughout East Africa, eastern and southern Africa, and Eurasia , wit ...
(''Gazella''),
Bovini The tribe Bovini or wild cattle are medium to massive bovines that are native to Eurasia, North America, and Africa. These include the enigmatic, antelope-like saola, the African and Asiatic buffaloes, and a clade that consists of bison and the ...
('' Ugandax'' and '' Pelorovis'' , Caprini ('' Budorcas''), Cephalophini, Hippotragini (''
Oryx ''Oryx'' ( ) is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight and annulated. The exception is the sci ...
''), Neotragini ('' Raphicerus'' and '' Madoqua''), Reduncini ('' Kobus''), and Tragelaphini ('' Tragelaphus''). Artiodactyls outside the bovid family were present within the formation as well, namely the giraffids (''
Giraffa The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. It is classified under the family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant re ...
'' and ''
Sivatherium ''Sivatherium'' ("Shiva's beast", from Shiva and ''therium'', Latinized form of Ancient Greek θηρίον -'' thēríon'') is an extinct genus of giraffid that ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia. The species ''Sivatherium giganteum'' is, by ...
''), Hippopotamidae (''
Hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...
''), and suids (''
Kolpochoerus ''Kolpochoerus'' is an extinct genus of the pig family Suidae related to the modern-day genera '' Hylochoerus'', '' Phacochoerus'', and '' Potamochoerus''. It is believed that most of them inhabited African forests, as opposed to the bushpig and ...
'', '' Notochoerus'', and '' Nyanzachoerus''). While a definitive list of carnivorans found within the Hadar Formation has yet to be compiled, confirmed genera that were found within the Hadar Formation include canids (''Canis'' and '' Nyctereutes''), felids ('' Dinofelis'', '' Leptailurus'', ''Felis'', ''
Homotherium ''Homotherium'' is an extinct genus of Homotherini, scimitar-toothed cat belonging to the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae that inhabited North America, Eurasia, and Africa, as well as possibly South America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene ...
'', and ''Panthera''), hyaenids (''
Chasmaporthetes ''Chasmaporthetes'', also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct genus of hyenas distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Africa during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about ...
'', ''
Ikelohyaena ''Ikelohyaena'' (from Greek language, Greek: ἴκελος ''íkelos'', 'like' and Latin: ''hyaena'', 'hyena') is an extinct genus of hyaenids that lived in Southern and Eastern Africa during the Pliocene. ''I. abronia'', the type and only known ...
'', ''Crocuta'', ''
Hyaena The striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena'') is a species of hyena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Hyaena''. It is listed by the IUC ...
'', and cf.'' Pliocrocuta''), herpestids (''Herpestes'' and cf. ''
Helogale ''Helogale'' is a genus of the mongoose family (Herpestidae). It consists of two species and 12 subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that liv ...
''), mustelids (''
Mellivora ''Mellivora'' is a genus of mustelids that contains the honey badger or ratel ''(Mellivora capensis)''. It is also the sole living representative of the subfamily Mellivorinae. Additionally, two extinct species are known. The honey badger is nati ...
'', ''
Enhydriodon ''Enhydriodon'' is an extinct genus of otters known from Africa, Pakistan, and India that lived from the late Miocene to the early Pleistocene. It contains nine confirmed species, two debated species, and at least a few other undescribed species ...
'', and cf. ''
Poecilogale The African striped weasel (''Poecilogale albinucha''), also known as the white-naped weasel, striped weasel or African weasel, is a small mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, where its range stretches from as far north as Kenya down south to So ...
''), and the viverrid (cf. ''
Civettictis ''Civettictis'' is a genus of viverrid that contains the extant African civet ''(Civettictis civetta)'' and a recently described extinct relative from the Plio-Pleistocene of South Africa known as '' Civettictis braini''. Evolution A 2006 phyloge ...
''). Mammals within the formation outside the artiodactyl and carnivoran families include a
bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...
(indeterminate), the leporid (''
Lepus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...
''), the equid ('' Eurygnathohippus''), rhinoceroses (''
Ceratotherium ''Ceratotherium'' (from Greek: ''keras'' κέρας "horn" and ''thērion'' θηρίον "beast") is a genus within the family Rhinocerotidae. It comprises one living species, the white rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum''), and several extinct fo ...
'' and '' Diceros''), old world primates ('' Parapapio'', '' Theropithecus'', and '' Cercopithecoides''), proboscideans (the deinothere ''Deinotherium'' and elephants ''
Elephas ''Elephas'' is a genus of elephants and one of two surviving genera in the Family (biology), family Elephantidae, comprising one extant species, the Asian elephant (''E. maximus''). Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to t ...
'', '' Loxodonta'', and ''
Mammuthus A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...
'') old world porcupines (''Hystrix'' and '' Xenohystrix''), murid rodents (''
Gerbilliscus ''Gerbilliscus'' is a genus of rodent in the subfamily Gerbillinae (gerbils) of the family Muridae. It contains the following species, all native to Africa: * Cape gerbil (''Gerbilliscus afra'') * Boehm's gerbil (''Gerbilliscus boehmi'') * Hi ...
'', '' Acomys'', ''Golunda'', ''Oenomys'', ''
Praomys ''Praomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern A ...
'', ''Saidomys'', '' Millardia'', and '' Mus''), the spalacid ''
Tachyoryctes ''Tachyoryctes'' is a genus of rodent in the family Spalacidae. It contains the following species: * Ankole African mole-rat (''T. ankoliae'') * Mianzini African mole-rat (''T. annectens'') * Aberdare Mountains African mole-rat (''T. audax'') * ...
'', a
squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...
indet., and an
aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...
species. Taxons within other classes are present within the Hadar Formation as well, such as birds ('' Plectropterus'', '' Balearica'', ''
Anhinga The anhinga (; ''Anhinga anhinga''), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word ''anhinga'' comes from ''a'ñinga'' in the Brazilian Tupi language and means ...
'', and '' Struthio'') and reptiles (''
Crocodylus ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The Genus, generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant taxon, extant (living) species ...
'', '' Python'', '' Varanus'', and ''
Bitis ''Bitis'' is a genus of Viperidae, vipers found in Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. It includes the largest and the smallest vipers in the world. Members are known for their characteristic Deimatic behaviour, threat displays that invol ...
'').


Mammals


Artiodactyls

; Bovidae ; Giraffidae ; Hippopotamidae ; Suidae


Carnivorans

; Canidae ; Felidae ; Herpestidae ; Hyaenidae ; Mustelidae ; Viverridae


Perissodactyls

; Equidae ; Rhinocerotidae


Primates

; Cercopithecidae ; Hominidae


Proboscideans

; Deinotheriidae ; Elephantidae


Rodents


Birds


Reptiles


See also

* Ledi-Geraru


References


External links


Photo gallery from a University of Washington archaeological field season
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Ethiopia Pliocene paleontological sites of Africa Afar Region Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa