Geology and palaeontology of the Upper Miocene Toros-Menalla hominid locality, Chad.
All six known specimens of the early hominid Sahelanthropus tchadensis come from Toros-Menalla site 266 (TM 266), a single locality in the Djurab Desert, northern Chad, central Africa. Here we present a preliminary analysis of the palaeontological and palaeoecological context of these finds. The rich fauna from TM 266 includes a significant aquatic component such as fish, crocodiles and amphibious mammals, alongside animals associated with gallery forest and savannah, such as primates, rodents, elephants, equids and bovids. The fauna suggests a biochronological age between 6 and 7 million years. Taken together with the sedimentological evidence, the fauna suggests that S. tchadensis lived close to a lake, but not far from a sandy desert, perhaps the oldest record of desert conditions in the Neogene of northern central Africa.
Vignaud
Patrick
P
Faculté des Sciences et Centre National de Recherche Scientifique UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France. patrick.vignaud@univ-poitiers.fr
Duringer
Philippe
P
Mackaye
Hassane Taïsso
HT
Likius
Andossa
A
Blondel
Cécile
C
Boisserie
Jean-Renaud
JR
De Bonis
Louis
L
Eisenmann
Véra
V
Etienne
Marie-Esther
ME
Geraads
Denis
D
Guy
Franck
F
Lehmann
Thomas
T
Lihoreau
Fabrice
F
Lopez-Martinez
Nieves
N
Mourer-Chauviré
Cécile
C
Otero
Olga
O
Rage
Jean-Claude
JC
Schuster
Mathieu
M
Viriot
Laurent
L
Zazzo
Antoine
A
Brunet
Michel
M
D000818:Animals; D002596:Chad; D017753:Ecosystem; D005580:Fossils; D005618:Fresh Water; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors