Pliocene hominids from the Hadar formation, Ethiopia (1973–1977): Stratigraphic, chronologic, and paleoenvironmental contexts, with notes on hominid morphology and systematics

The large collections of fossil hominid remains from Hadar, Ethiopia, derive from the Afar Triangle of the continental East African Rift. The fossils constitute much of the paratype series of Australopithecus afarensis (Johanson, White, and Coppens, 1978*). Citations for starred (*) references appear in Appendix 2, Publications. The primitive morphology exhibited by these hominids is consistent with their chronologic placement between 3.0 and 4.0 m.y. This paper provides the geographic, historic, stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and systematic background for Hadar fossil hominids described in this volume.