Chad, Cradle of Humanity ?

With Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) and Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumaï), two hominids fossils, Chad is a potential Cradle of Humanity

The Jawbone of the Australopithecus bahrelghazali of KT13.

More Details in the French Version : Tchad berceau de l'humanité ?
see also : Meteorite Impacts in the Borkou and Ennedi (Chad)

  1. Toumaï, the Human Adventure
  2. From Tchadanthropus uxoris to Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Among the ‘Fossils Orphans’
  3. Saharan Scientific Missions
  4. Participants to Saharan Scientific
  5. Missions Discovery’s Contexts
  6. Australopithecus bahrelghazali, ‘Abel’
  7. The Jawbone of Australopithecus bahrelghazali of KT13
  8. Mandibular Symphysis of the Hominid of KT40

  1. Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Toumaï, Skull and Femur
  2. Toumaï Shows the Teeth
  3. Toumaï shows the Orbital and Foramen magnum Planes
  4. Was Toumaï (Sahelanthropus tchadensis) Buried ? and Research to Date the Skull
  5. Chronicle of Toumaï's femur rediscovery
  6. Toros Menalla Fossiliferous Zone
  7. Fossil Sites of KT, KL, KB
  8. Sahelanthropus, the head and the limbs
  9. Sahelanthropus, the field work

KT 13 Kasser GP

Mahamat Kasser presenting at the place of discovery, KT13, the jawbone of an Australopithecus bahrelghazali (photograph Alain Beauvilain).

1996 02 35 KT 13 site site

1996 02 KT13 maxillaire 1 pour site Abel

On 16 January 1996, Mahamat Kasser, an engineer at the Direction of Geological and Mining Research(DRGM) unearthed on the site of KT13 a fragment of a left jawbone Australopithecus, cataloged KT13-96-H1. No publication has not reported its existence. But in 1997 with the publication of an article (Tchad : un nouveau site à Hominidés Pliocène. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Sciences,1997, vol. 324, pp. 341-345), he is called Australopithecus sp. indet.

He is described as Australopithecus bahrelghazali in 2012 in an article on diet of these australopithecines (Isotopic evidence for an early shift to C4 resources by Pliocene hominins in Chad, Proceeding pf the National Academy of Science (PNAS), December 11, 2012, vol. 109, n° 50, 20369-20372 and in the Supporting Information section).