Koro Toro

▪ anthropological and archaeological site, Chad

      site of paleoanthropological excavations in central Chad, best known for a fossilized fragment of a species of Australopithecus discovered there in 1995. The fossil, a fragment of the lower jaw, was found in sediments estimated to be 3.5–3 million years old. It was assigned to an entirely new species named Australopithecus bahrelghazali, which refers to the Baḥr el-Ghazāl region, where Koro Toro is located.

      The jaw found at Koro Toro is that of the first early hominin (member of the human lineage) known from Central Africa, and it is important in the study of human evolution because it extends the geographic range of Australopithecus from East Africa 2,500 km (1,500 miles) to the west. In many respects the remains resemble those from East Africa referred to as A. afarensis, but there are differences significant enough to warrant classification as a different species. More-recent deposits at this site have yielded a fragmentary skull of what is probably Homo ergaster (African Homo erectus).

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