Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

11 results found

Australopithecus

(Encyclopedia)Australopithecus ôstrāˌlōpĭthˈəkəs, –pəthēˈkəs [key], an extinct hominin genus found in Africa between about 4 and 1 million years ago. At least seven species of australopithecines are n...

Plesianthropus

(Encyclopedia)Plesianthropus plēˌsēănˈthrəpəs [key]: see Australopithecus. ...

Paranthropus

(Encyclopedia)Paranthropus pârănˈthrəpəs [key]: see Australopithecus. ...

Zinjanthropus

(Encyclopedia)Zinjanthropus zĭnjănˈthrəpəs [key]: see Australopithecus. ...

Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere frĭr [key], 1944–2022, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and ...

Cradle of Humankind

(Encyclopedia)Cradle of Humankind, extensive archaeological site, c.180 sq mi (470 sq km), encompassing dolomitic limestone caves containing numerous hominin fossils, Gauteng and North West prov., South Africa, c.3...

Ramapithecus

(Encyclopedia)Ramapithecus räməpəthēˈkəs, –pĭthˈə– [key], former name for an extinct group of primates that lived from about 12 to 14 million years ago, for a time regarded as a possible ancestor of Au...

Olduvai Gorge

(Encyclopedia)Olduvai Gorge ōlˈdəwāˌ, –vāˌ [key], a feature of the E African Rift Valley in Tanzania. Erosional processes have exposed geological strata in the gorge dating to the lower Pleistocene epoch, ...

Leakey, Mary Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Mary Douglas, 1913–96, British archaeologist, b. London as Mary Douglas Nicol; wife of Louis Leakey and mother of Richard Leakey. She had little formal education, but a fascination with arch...

Paleolithic period

(Encyclopedia)Paleolithic period pāˌlēəlĭthˈĭk, –lēō–, pălˌ– [key] or Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coexten...

Browse by Subject