The Peninj Mandible(Peninj 1), also called Natron mandible, is the fossilized lower jaw and teeth of an australopithecine specimen, likely that of ''
Paranthropus boisei
''Paranthropus boisei'' is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959 at Olduvai Gorge, Ta ...
''
or a similar population. It was discovered in West Lake Natron, in
Ngorongoro District
Ngorongoro District (''Wilaya ya Ngorongoro'', in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of seven Districts of Tanzania, districts in western Arusha Region of Tanzania. The district is bordered to the north by Kenya, to the east by Monduli District, t ...
of
Arusha Region
Arusha Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions and is located in the northeast of the country. The region's capital and largest city is the city of Arusha. The region is bordered by Kajiado County and Narok C ...
of
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
by
Kamoya Kimeu
Kamoya Kimeu (1938 – 20 July 2022) was a Kenyan paleontologist and curator, whose contributions to the field of paleoanthropology were recognised with the National Geographic Society's LaGorce Medal and with an honorary doctorate of science deg ...
,
Glynn Isaac
Glynn Llywelyn Isaac (19 November 1937 – 5 October 1985) was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa, and was one of twin sons born to botanists William Edwyn Isaac and Frances Margaret Leighto ...
, 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 ...
in 1964.
This mandible (jaw) is estimated to be 1.5 million years old
and it is characterized as having a robust build with large molars and reduced incisors. The specimen is believed to be an adult male.
Discovery
Peninj 1 was found in 1964 at a site in Tanzania called Peninj, west of Lake Natron and about 80 km (50 miles) from Olduvai Gorge, a major paleoanthropological site. On the 11th of January, fossil hunter Kamoya Kimeu was crossing the western side of Lake Natron as part of a team led by Richard Leakey when he discovered the mandible buried in ancient volcanic ash ''in situ.'' Later that year,
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 ...
, his wife
Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Leakey, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul (mammal), Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now ...
and their son Richard, announced the discovery of the Peninj Mandible in an article published in ''Nature.''
Together with the
OH 5
''Paranthropus boisei'' is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959 at Olduvai Gorge, T ...
cranium, the nearly complete mandible of Peninj 1 showed that this East African species was even more robust than other
hominin
The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...
specimens found in southern Africa.
See also
*
List of human evolution fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of Hominini, hominin fossils and Skeleton, remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the Chimpanzee–human last common ancest ...
References
Paranthropus fossils
Fossils of Tanzania
Quaternary fossil record
{{Paleo-hominin-stub