Tervil Okoko
4 December 2000
Nairobi — Another archaeological challenge that points towards the existence of more ancient human life in the Great Rift Valley, emerged Monday following the announcement of an historic discovery of six million years old fossil hominids in Kenya's Baringo district.
The fossils, excavated from the deep ravines of Kapsomin of Baringo district (about 260 miles north west of capital Nairobi), on the western escarpment of the Great eastern Rift Valley, consists of pieces of jaws with teeth, isolated upper and lower teeth, arm and leg bones and a finger bone from three localities near the village of Rondinin.
Announcing their find in Nairobi at a packed news conference presided over by government minister, John Kiptoon, archaeologists working under the banner name: 'The Kenya Palaeontology Expedition' - a collaborative research project between the Community Museums of Kenya and the College de France of Paris, exhibited fossils dating back to six million years ago.
The French team comprises of Dr. Martin Pickford of College de France, Dr. Brigitte Senut of Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Paris, Dr. Dominique Gommery of CNRS, Paris, and Dr. Pierre Mein of University of Lyon.
The Kenyan team members include Eustace Gitonga, Kiptalam Cheboi, David Chebor, Nancy Kiptalam, and Evalyne Kiptalam.
This major discovery of exceptionally ancient hominids brings to the fore, suggestions that human beings must have started living here more than five million years ago.
Previously, the earliest claimed hominids, were discovered at Aramis, Ethiopia, aged about 4.5 million years.
One of the researchers, Pickford, of College de France, said the first specimen was discovered at Kapsomin (about 20 miles from Lake Baringo) by a 57-year-old herdsman he identified as Kiptalam Cheboi. He has since become a member of the Community Museums of Kenya (CMK)team.
He said during follow-up surveys and surface screening, other hominid fossils were found by expedition members, not only at Kapsomin, but also at Kapcheberek and Aragai, bringing to five the number of hominid individuals represented in the collection.
Describing the Rift Valley area as a treasure throve waiting to be exploited, Pickford said the neighbouring expansive Tsavo National Park (also in the Rift Valley) has a total of 180 known archaeological sites and yet none has been worked on.
The strata from which the fossils were recovered, the scientists said in a joint statement, have previously been dated by two separate teams; one from Britain, which studied the area during the 1970s, and the other from America during the 1980s.
Both teams independently arrived at an age of six million years for the Lukeino Formation, based on the ages of lava flows, which underlie and overlie the fossiliferous beds.
As such, the Kapsomin hominids are by far the oldest known anywhere in the world.
The Kapsomin fossils, the scientists said, and those from other sites in the Lukeino Formation, are sufficiently complete that after a detailed study by palaeontologists, they will yield a great deal of information about the earliest stages of pre- human origins, including details about posture and locomotion as well as broad dietary categories.
Preliminary studies of the arm and finger bones reveal that the Kapsomin hominid was an agile tree climber, whereas its leg bones indicate that when it was on the ground it walked on two legs.
The teeth indicate that the species probably subsisted on hard skinned fruits among other foods, the incisors being broad and robust, while the cheek teeth have thick enamel.
The canines are smaller compared with those of apes, but are larger than those of modern humans.
The three femur bones in the collection have been chewed, indicating that the individuals to which they belonged probably fell prey to a large carnivore.
The finds portray a different morphology and postulates that lava could have buried them up over the cliff.
The Rift Valley is home to dozens of inactive volcanic mountains and cliffs.
At the same sites, the remains of gazelles, other antelopes and small colobus monkeys were found to be common.
Pickford said his team is currently working on the protocols and would publish the detailed anatomic description of their findings in a scientific journal by June 2001.
He said the vast area covering 45 by 50 kilometres could be home to older human generations and that it is rich in fossils because of the lava, which gives the area a geo-chemical environment favourable for the preservation of fossils.
"There is need to rethink and reconstruct archaeology, especially the deep origins of human beings. Scientists have to rethink and go back to the field. This is a challenge and I hope there would be more challenges so that new books can be written," he said.
The Kenya Palaeontology Expedition is funded by the College de France, the French CNRS, and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
Senut said authorisation to carry out research in Kenya was accorded by the National Council for Science and Technology of the Government of Kenya and that institutional affiliation within Kenya is with the Community Museums of Kenya.
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