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The Omo Site Of Ethiopia, Africa

Decent Essays

In this research paper we will be discussing the Omo site in Ethiopia, Africa. Some key points that will be discussed will be its original discovery in 1967, it’s addition research that was completed in 2005, Omo I and II’s updated age (McDougall et al., 2005), and the scientific importance of the discoveries from this site and what it means for idea of the first appearance of the modern human (Fleagle et al., 2008).
In 1967 in the Lower Omo Valley near Kibish, Ethiopia along the Omo river, a team from the Kenya National Museums, led by Richard Leakey an anthropologist and conservationist, did an initial exploration which led to the discovery of several stone tools, hominin fossils, and various other skull fossils of mammals. In this expedition the team found parts of what would be known as Omo I and Omo II. The finds for Omo I comprised of the mandible, dentition, several parts of the cranium, and a considerable portion of the post cranial skeleton. Omo I’s finds has been described as being a modern skeleton of Homo sapiens. Omo II comprised of an almost intact neurocranium, which has been described as primitive remains most closely resembling Homo erectus (Fleagle et al. 2008). At that time in 1967, researches faced a difficult time establishing an accurate age of these remains due in part to the confines of technology. The team at this time decided to use a rather controversial method that looked at “radiometric dates on shells from a Nile oyster (Etheria elliptica) bank

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