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Hominid molars from a middle stone age level at the Mumba Rock Shelter, Tanzania
Author(s) -
Bräuer Günter,
Mehlman Michael J.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330750108
Subject(s) - tanzania , middle stone age , molar , rock shelter , archaeology , geography , geology , paleontology , environmental planning , cave
Three hominid molars were recovered from a depth of 7.0–7.1 meters in the Mumba Shelter at Lake Eyasi, northern Tanzania. Geological context of the finds and archaeological data indicate that people with a Middle Stone Age technology were using the Mumba locality intermittently whenever retreat of lake waters allowed access to the site. Uranium series dates suggest an age on the order of 130,000 years bp for the teeth and stone tools. Based on morphological analyses, the dental remains probably belonged to one individual and appear to be the crowns of two upper permanent M 2 s and one lower permanent M 2 . Crown areas are very small, even in comparison to the variation exhibited by recent African populations. Crown patterns have no archaic features. These teeth are smaller than any verifiable archaic Homo sapiens examples; thus, they may represent early anatomically modern Homo sapiens .