Abel (hominid)

Abel (KT-12/H1)[1] is the name given to the only known specimen of Australopithecus bahrelghazali. Abel was found in January 1995 in Chad in the Kanem Region by the paleontologist Michel Brunet,[2] who named the fossil "Abel" in memory of his close friend Abel Brillanceau, who had died of malaria in 1989. The name "bahrelghazali" is in reference to the Bahr el Ghazal valley in Chad where it was discovered.[3]

Abel has been dated to be approximately 3.6 million years old.[4]

The only part of Abel remaining is a piece of the jaw, which contains one incisor, both lower canines, and all three premolars. The small amount of material makes it difficult to determine the exact relationship Au. bahrelghazali had to other early humans. The few teeth available have led researchers to believe it is of the genus Australopithecus, with many similarities to Australopithecus afarensis.[4] While some believe this means Abel belongs to Au. afarensis, it was found more than 1,500 miles west of any other Au. afarensis specimens.[5] Other traits such as three-rooted premolars, a flat mental surface of the jaw, and incisiform canines are considered by some a distinct enough combination to interpret A. bahrelghazali as a distinct species.[6] Others, though, consider these traits to be regional differences in Au. afarensis.[7]

Based on Abel's teeth, researchers have found that Au. bahrelghazali would have eaten grasses, sedges, and grassland plants rich in the C4 isotope. This points to early hominids having broad diets; capable of eating whatever food was locally available to them.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Australopithecus bahrelghazali: KT-12/H1". eFossils. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  2. ^ Brunet, M., Beauvilain, A., Coppens, Y., Heintz, É., Moutaye, A.H.E et Pilbeam, D. (1995) - "The first australopithecine 2,500 kilometres west of the Rift Valley (Chad)", Nature, 378, pp. 273-275.
  3. ^ Wayman, Erin. "Early Hominids Had a Taste for Grass". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  4. ^ a b "Australopithecus bahrelghazali". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  5. ^ Wayman, Erin. "Early Hominids Had a Taste for Grass". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  6. ^ a b Brunet, Michel (2010-10-27). "Two new Mio-Pliocene Chadian hominids enlighten Charles Darwin's 1871 prediction". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 365 (1556): 3315–3321. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0069. ISSN 1471-2970. PMC 2981960. PMID 20855305.
  7. ^ "Australopithecus bahrelghazali • Becoming Human". Becoming Human. Retrieved 2026-03-18.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.