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SUMMARY:Australopithecus from Sterkfontein Caves (South Africa): An evolut
 ionary species? - Dr Amélie Beaudet\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20201105T160000Z
DTEND:20201105T173000Z
UID:TALK153760@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lydia Clough
DESCRIPTION:Interpreting morphological variation within the early hominin 
 fossil record is particularly challenging. Apart from the fact there is no
  absolute threshold for defining species boundaries in palaeontology\, the
  degree of variation related to sexual dimorphism\, temporal depth\, geogr
 aphic variation\, ontogeny or even pathologies is difficult to appreciate 
 in a fossil taxon mainly represented by fragmentary specimens\, and such v
 ariation could easily be conflated with taxonomic diversity. One of the mo
 st emblematic examples in paleoanthropology is the Australopithecus assemb
 lage from the Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa. Whereas some studies sup
 port the presence of multiple Australopithecus species at Sterkfontein\, o
 thers explore alternative hypotheses to explain the morphological variatio
 n within the hominin assemblage. Far from being anecdotal\, evidence suppo
 rting the presence of multiple Australopithecus species at Sterkfontein wo
 uld deeply affect our understanding of early hominin taxonomic diversity\,
  ecology and speciation. In this paper I review and evaluate taxonomic int
 erpretations of the Australopithecus assemblage recovered from Sterkfontei
 n as well as their implications for our understanding of evolutionary mech
 anisms.   
LOCATION:Zoom - please register at https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regis
 ter/tJYudemqqDwpHdHiKTCTs9UOwBMZJ0SFA2fg
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