Chad, Cradle of Humanity ?

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

Mandibular symphysis of the Hominid of KT40

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

KT40 mandibule site

Australopithecus unearthed 18 July 2000 to 40 KT per Fanoné Gongdibé (photographes Alain Beauvilain).

KT 40 gauche 96 px

KT 40 face 96 px

KT 40 de haut 96 px

Like for Abel, it is a mandibular symphysis but with only two teeth. But, this time, the teeth were subjected to surface erosion, the mandibular symphysis being in the sand. As Australopithecus bahrelghazali, observation immediately shows the three roots of the premolar. Sieving is performed unsuccessfully, the fragments of teeth having been windswept since a time. The discovery of a jaw fragment of a suidea lets say that the site is comparable to KT 12 and 13 KT.

When in September in Paris, we gave this fossil to Michel Brunet, he made this comment: "Congratulations, you found the female!"

Homo, Abel, X

On a same photograph, a molding Australopithecus bahrelghazali (center), of the hominid discovered at KT 40 and of a mandible of Homo sapiens sapiens collected in the bed of Bahr el Ghazal (three kilometers north of the fort of Koro Toro). (photograph Alain Beauvilain).

comparaison Abel KT40 en

Face to face, a copy of the mandibular symphysis of Australopithecus bahrelghazali ( 'Abel') and the mandibular symphysis of the hominid of KT40 (photos Alain Beauvilain).

KT 40 tamisage

18 July 2000 at the meridian time, screening of the site where a mandibular symphysis of hominid has been unearthed (photograph Alain Beauvilain). From left to right, Fanoné Gongdibé, Ahounta Djimdoumalbaye Mahamat Adoum (in the background).

On the way back from a mission on Kollé's sites, Mission whose objective was to bring back sediment so that it is washed and sorted in N'Djamena in the prospect to grow the collection of micro-rodents unearthed on these sites, Alain Beauvilain drives again the team on the sites of KT12 and KT13 in order to monitor and possibly collect new hominid fossils that have been put in the day by the first rains of July 2000. Then, convinced that the foot of Goz Kerki must possess other sites of hominids, he stops vehicles at random at the foot of the cord to the place that will become KT40. As soon as he leaves the vehicle, Fanoné Gongdibé finds this jaw fragment.

Although it is the meridian time, sifting is undertaken immediatly without success, teeth chips have already been swept away by the wind.

With three hominid sites, the feet of Goz Kerki, and of other sandy cords of same origin that prolong it, deserve the systematic prospecting.