Kanapoi is a paleontological site in the Kenyan Rift Valley, to the southwest of

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world ...

. Fossils were first found at Kanapoi in the 1960s by a Harvard expedition, and later by expeditions from the

National Museums of Kenya The National Museums of Kenya (NMK; ) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodivers ...

. Fossils at Kanapoi were deposited in sediments formed by lake margins, rivers and deltas between 3.4 - 4.2 Million years ago (Ma). Kanapoi fossils include a diverse array of fish, turtles, crocodiles, primates including likely human ancestors, elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, rodents, horses, hippos, pigs and a variety of herbivores and carnivores. The hominin ''

Australopithecus anamensis ''Australopithecus anamensis'' is a hominin species that lived roughly between 4.3 and 3.8 million years ago, and is the oldest known ''Australopithecus'' species, Nearly 100 fossil specimens of ''A. anamensis'' are known from Kenya and Ethiopia ...

'' appears in Kanapoi between 3.9 and 4.2 Ma, one of a number of fossil specimens demonstrating that human ancestors were already bipedal by this time. Kanapoi also is the site of archaeological discoveries.

History of investigation

Count Sámuel Teleki von Szék and

Ludwig von Höhnel Ludwig Ritter von Höhnel (6 August 1857, Preßburg – 23 March 1942, Vienna) was an Austrian naval officer and explorer. He was trained at the naval academy in Fiume, then part of the Austrian empire. His brother was the naturalist Franz Xaver ...

were the first European explorers to reach Lake Turkana, in 1888. They named it Lake Rudolf after the Prince of Austro-Hungary. An expedition by French naturalist Bourg de Bozas revealed a rich assemblage of vertebrate fossils around the lake in 1902-3, eventually inspiring Arambourg's Mission Scientifique de l'Omo in the 1930s and 1940s.

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

and what would become the National Museums of Kenya explored the fossil deposits in the 1940s, until political and military turmoil stymied work in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Following L.H. Robbins' investigations around the southern margins of Lake Turkana and the

Turkana Basin An '' Acacia'' tree in the Kokiselei river, northern Kenya The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa (mainly northwestern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, smaller parts of eastern Uganda and southeastern South Sudan) determines a large endorheic bas ...

, Harvard's

Bryan Patterson Bryan Patterson (born 10 March 1909 in London; died 1 December 1979 in Chicago) was an American paleontologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Life and career Bryan Patterson was the son of the soldier, engineer and author ...

launched a number of expeditions to fossil sites around the

Turkwel River The Turkwel River (sometimes spelled Turkwell River) is a river flowing from Mount Elgon on the border of Kenya and Uganda to Lake Turkana. The river is called the Suam River from its source to the border at Turkana County of Kenya. The name Turk ...

Kerio River The Kerio River is a river in Turkana County, Kenya. It flows northward into Lake Turkana. It is one of the longest rivers in Kenya (about ), originating near the equator. Course The Kerio River rises on the north slopes of the Amasya Hills to t ...

, Kanapoi and then

Lothagam Lothagam is a geological formation located in Kenya, near the southwestern shores of Lake Turkana, from Kanapoi. It is located between the Kerio River, Kerio and Lomunyenkuparet Rivers on an uplifted fault block. Archaeology Bryan Patterson fr ...

. These expeditions were followed by another series launched by the International Omo Research Expedition (IORE) from 1967–76, led by Kenyan, French and American researchers. Efforts continued in the 1980s under the direction of the National Museums of Kenya and

Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...

. More recent work in Kanapoi has been led by Meave Leakey and a number of Kenyan and international researchers.

Geological setting

Geological investigation of Kanapoi and the sedimentary sequences found there define the Kanapoi formation, a series of sedimentary deposits formed during three primary phases in the early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Bellamya''. Sediments alternate between clay and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

, and coarsen upward into sands until the deposition of the Kanapoi volcanic tuff. The upper sedimentary deposits grade from lake to river-dominated deposition, and include '' Etheria'' mussel reefs, sandstones, coarse gravels, occasional lake phases, and the formation of soils. A late formation of green claystones appears at approximately 3.5 Ma, suggesting that these sediments may have formed with the Lokochot lake found elsewhere in the Basin.

References

{{Reflist Pliocene paleontological sites of Africa Geology of Kenya Miocene paleontological sites of Africa Paleontology in Kenya

History of investigation

Geological setting

See also

References