Kanapoi is a paleontological site in the Kenyan Rift Valley, to the southwest of Lake Turkana. Fossils were first found at Kanapoi in the 1960s by a Harvard expedition, and later by expeditions from the National Museums of Kenya.
Fossils at Kanapoi were deposited in sediments formed by lake margins, rivers and deltas between 3.4 - 4.2 Million years ago (Ma). Kanapoi fossils include a diverse array of fish, turtles, crocodiles, primates including likely human ancestors, elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, rodents, horses, hippos, pigs and a variety of herbivores and carnivores.
The hominin Australopithecus anamensis appears in Kanapoi between 3.9 and 4.2 Ma, one of a number of fossil specimens demonstrating that human ancestors were already bipedal by this time. Kanapoi also is the site of archaeological discoveries. [1]
Count Sámuel Teleki von Szék and Ludwig von Höhnel were the first European explorers to reach Lake Turkana, in 1888. They named it Lake Rudolf after the Prince of Austro-Hungary. An expedition by French naturalist Bourg de Bozas revealed a rich assemblage of vertebrate fossils around the lake in 1902-3, eventually inspiring Arambourg's Mission Scientifique de l'Omo in the 1930s and 1940s. Louis Leakey and what would become the National Museums of Kenya explored the fossil deposits in the 1940s, until political and military turmoil stymied work in the aftermath of World War II. [1]
Following L.H. Robbins' investigations around the southern margins of Lake Turkana and the Turkana Basin, Harvard's Bryan Patterson launched a number of expeditions to fossil sites around the Turkwel River, Kerio River, Kanapoi and then Lothagam. These expeditions were followed by another series launched by the International Omo Research Expedition (IORE) from 1967–76, led by Kenyan, French and American researchers. Efforts continued in the 1980s under the direction of the National Museums of Kenya and Richard Leakey. [1]
More recent work in Kanapoi has been led by Meave Leakey and a number of Kenyan and international researchers.
Geological investigation of Kanapoi and the sedimentary sequences found there define the Kanapoi formation, a series of sedimentary deposits formed during three primary phases in the early Pliocene. The Kanapoi formation overlays Miocene-Pliocene basalt topography with substantial relief. Many of these underlying older deposits appear on the surface today through weathering or excavation of younger material. [1]
The earliest and lowest sedimentary deposits are fluvial, formed by the layering of clays, sandstones, pebbles and cobbles washed downstream by flowing rivers. The deposits are marked by mollusks, ostracods and carbonized plant parts, and demonstrate alternating passage of river channels or meandering streams. The lowest deposits are marked by a series of volcanic ash layers. [1] [2]
The middle sedimentary deposits are lacustrine, corresponding to the ancient Lonyuman lake interval found at other locations throughout the Turkana Basin. The deposits include many ostracods and mollusks, most notably the gastropod Bellamya . Sediments alternate between clay and siltstone, and coarsen upward into sands until the deposition of the Kanapoi volcanic tuff. [1]
The upper sedimentary deposits grade from lake to river-dominated deposition, and include Etheria mussel reefs, sandstones, coarse gravels, occasional lake phases, and the formation of soils. A late formation of green claystones appears at approximately 3.5 Ma, suggesting that these sediments may have formed with the Lokochot lake found elsewhere in the Basin. [2]
Australopithecus anamensis is a hominin species that lived approximately between 4.2 and 3.8 million years ago and is the oldest known Australopithecus species, living during the Plio-Pleistocene era.
Meave G. Leakey is a British palaeoanthropologist. She works at Stony Brook University and is co-ordinator of Plio-Pleistocene research at the Turkana Basin Institute. She studies early hominid evolution and has done extensive field research in the Turkana Basin. She has Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science degrees.
Kamoya Kimeu is one of the world's most successful fossil collectors who, together with paleontologists Meave Leakey and Richard Leakey, is responsible for some of the most significant paleoanthropological discoveries. Kimeu found a Homo habilis skull known as KNM-ER 1813, an almost complete Homo ergaster skeleton named KNM-WT 15000 or Turkana Boy, and in 1964 the jaw of a Paranthropus boisei skull known as the Peninj Mandible. He has two fossil primates named after him: Kamoyapithecus hamiltoni and Cercopithecoides kimeui.
Koobi Fora refers primarily to a region around Koobi Fora Ridge, located on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana in the territory of the nomadic Gabbra people. According to the National Museums of Kenya, the name comes from the Gabbra language:
In the language of the Gabbra people who live near the site, the term Koobi Fora means a place of the commiphora and the source of myrrh...
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Lothagam is a geological formation located in Kenya, near the southwestern shores of Lake Turkana, 55 kilometres from Kanapoi. It is located between the Kerio and Lomunyenkuparet Rivers on an uplifted fault block. Lothagam has deposits dating to the Miocene-Pliocene period and numerous palaeontological finds have been recovered here. Archaeological sites dating to the Holocene are also found at Lothagam, including the Lothagam Lokam harpoon site and the Lothagam North Pillar Site.
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Paleontology in Louisiana refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Louisiana. Outcrops of fossil-bearing sediments and sedimentary rocks within Louisiana are quite rare. In part, this is because Louisiana’s semi-humid climate results in the rapid weathering and erosion of any exposures and the growth of thick vegetation that conceal any fossil-bearing strata. In addition, Holocene alluvial sediments left behind by rivers like the Mississippi, Red, and Ouachita, as well as marsh deposits, cover about 55% of Louisiana and deeply bury local fossiliferous strata.
Anna Katherine "Kay" Behrensmeyer is an American taphonomist and paleoecologist. She is a pioneer in the study of the fossil records of terrestrial ecosystems and engages in geological and paleontological field research into the ecological context of human evolution in East Africa. She is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). At the museum, she is co-director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program and an associate of the Human Origins Program.
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Lowarengak is a town in northern Kenya, near the Kenyan-Ethiopian border. Lowarengak lies on the northwestern margin of Lake Turkana, between the towns of Todenyang to the north, and Nachukui to the south. The town receives fresh water from the Lowarengak and Nakitokonon rivers that drain from the Lapur hills.
Francis Harold Brown was an American geologist and geochemist who mapped the sedimentary sequence and geology of most of the Turkana Basin in Kenya, east Africa. Brown introduced single-crystal argon-argon and potassium-argon dating into the Turkana Basin, resolving disputes over the age of Kenyanthropus platyops and other fossils.
The KBS Tuff is an ash layer in East African Rift Valley sediments, derived from a volcanic eruption that occurred approximately 1.87 million years ago (Ma). The tuff is widely distributed geographically, and marks a significant transition between water flow and associated environmental conditions around Lake Turkana shortly after 2 Ma.
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