Aramis, Ethiopia

Aramis is a village and archaeological site in northeastern Ethiopia, where remains of "Australopithecus" and "Ardipithecus" ("Ardipithecus ramidus") have been found. The village is located in Administrative Zone 3 of the Afar Region with a latitude and longitude of coord|10|30|N|40|30|E, and is part of the Gewane woreda.

The Central Statistical Agency did not mention this village in their 2005 population report.

Archeologists include the find site near the village as part of the Middle Awash region. Taphonological and palynological studies have uncovered evidence of a rich fossil flora and fauna including many "Canthium" seeds, a genus found mainly in African woodlands and forests. Additionally, fossil medium-sized colobine monkeys and kudas suggest that pre-historic Aramis may have been wet, closed, and wooded, whereas today the Middle Awash region today is one of the dryest, hottest, and uninhabitable regions of the world.

In 1992 and 1993 a team led by Tim White found in total 17 specimens of hominid fossils at Aramis. These fossils were dated at 4.4 million years, 500,000 years earlier than the oldest "afarensis" fossils found in the eastern Middle Awash. This discovery was published on the front page of "New York Times", and later a new genus and species of hominids was proposed, "Ardipithecus ramidus". [ [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/A/ORTAN.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf), The Nordic Africa Institute website (last accessed 5 May 2008) ]

ee also

*Australopithecus afarensis

References

External links

*White, Tim D., "et al", " [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7086/abs/nature04629.html Asa Issie, Aramis and the Origin of Australopithecus] ," "Nature" 440 (April 13, 2006), 883-89.