McKee Jeffrey K
Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2016 Feb;159(2):348-51. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22883. Epub 2015 Nov 5.
The Taung hominin fossil was recovered in 1924 during quarry operations in the tufa formations of the Buxton Limeworks. Reconstructions of the depositional environment of the juvenile Australopithecus skull have concentrated on the types of caves that form within the tufa. Hopley et al. (Am J Phys Anthropol 151 (2013) 316-324) proposed a new model in which the pink carbonate deposits, in which many of the Taung fossils are found, formed as open terrestrial pedogenic deposits. The objective here is to challenge that notion.
Observations of the depositional environments at Taung are based upon the University of the Witwatersrand paleontological excavations at the Buxton Limeworks from 1988 to 1993, and subsequent laboratory analysis of the fossils and sediments.
Hopley et al. (Am J Phys Anthropol 151 (2013) 316-324) conflate numerous distinct outcroppings of the pink carbonates as a single "unit." The excavations revealed numerous fossiliferous deposits that differ greatly in taphonomic origins and formation processes, and that cannot be considered a "unit" despite the commonality of pink carbonates. There are deposits that fit the model proposed by Hopley et al. (Am J Phys Anthropol 151 (2013) 316-324), but they are not the ones that yielded the most significant fossils.
Most of the fossiliferous deposits, including those most likely to have yielded the Taung hominin, are best reconstructed as being of karst origins.
1924年在巴克斯顿石灰厂凝灰岩地层的采石作业中发现了汤恩古人类化石。对幼年南方古猿头骨沉积环境的重建主要集中在凝灰岩中形成的洞穴类型上。霍普利等人（《美国体质人类学杂志》151卷（2013年）316 - 324页）提出了一种新模型，其中发现许多汤恩化石的粉色碳酸盐沉积物是作为开放的陆地成土沉积物形成的。本文的目的是对这一观点提出质疑。
对汤恩沉积环境的观察基于1988年至1993年威特沃特斯兰德大学在巴克斯顿石灰厂的古生物学发掘，以及随后对化石和沉积物的实验室分析。
霍普利等人（《美国体质人类学杂志》151卷（2013年）316 - 324页）将粉色碳酸盐的众多不同露头混为一个“单元”。发掘揭示了许多化石沉积物，它们在埋藏学起源和形成过程上有很大差异，尽管粉色碳酸盐有共性，但不能被视为一个“单元”。有一些沉积物符合霍普利等人（《美国体质人类学杂志》151卷（2013年）316 - 324页）提出的模型，但它们并非产出最重要化石的沉积物。
大多数含化石沉积物，包括那些最有可能产出汤恩古人类的沉积物，最好重建为喀斯特成因。
