Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Although advanced anthropoid primates (i.e., Simiiformes) are recorded at the end of the Eocene in North Africa (Proteopithecidae, Parapithecidae, and Oligopithecidae), the origin and emergence of this group has so far remained undocumented. The question as to whether these primates are the result of a monophyletic radiation of endemic anthropoids in Africa, or several Asian clades colonizing Africa, is a current focus of paleoprimatology. In this article, we report the discovery of a new anthropoid from Djebel el Kébar in central Tunisia, dating from the late middle Eocene (Bartonian). This taxon, Amamria tunisiensis, new genus and species, currently known by only one isolated upper molar, is among the most ancient anthropoids to be recorded in Africa thus far. Amamria displays a suite of dental features that are primarily observed in Eosimiiformes (stem Anthropoidea). However, it is not allocated to any known family of that group (i.e., Asian Eosimiidae and Afro-Asian Afrotarsiidae) inasmuch as it develops some dental traits that are unknown among eosimiiforms, but can be found in African simiiform anthropoids such as proteopithecids and oligopithecids. With such a mosaic of dental traits, Amamria appears to be a structural intermediate, and as such it could occupy a key position, close to the root of the African simiiforms. Given its antiquity and its apparent pivotal position, the possibility exists that Amamria could have evolved in Africa from Asian eosimiiform or Asian "proto"-simiiform ancestors, which would have entered Africa sometime during the middle Eocene. Amamria could then represent one of the earliest offshoots of the African simiiform radiation. This view would then be rather in favor of the hypothesis of a monophyletic radiation of endemic simiiform anthropoids in Africa. Finally, these new data suggest that there must have been at least two Asian anthropoid colonizers of Africa: the afrotarsiids and the ancestor of Amamria.
ISSN: 0002-9483

hal-01053704
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053704
DOI : 10.1002/ajpa.22523

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société des amis du Musée national de préhistoire et de la recherche archéologique — SAMRA
Résumé : International audience
Lithic technology studies have been late developed in the Antilles. The first important works about the knapping technology of the first agro-ceramist cultures (saladoid) have shown the use of the bipolar technique. A new research program based on the analysis of cedrosan and huecan saladoid lithic collections from Martinique and Guadeloupe, gave us the possibility to confirm and refine those first data. The technological analysis, associated to an experimentation program defined to help us to characterize the striking techniques used, have shown a systematic use of the bipolar technique for the débitage of good quality raw materials. The chaînes opératoires of reduction are highly efficient producing a set of small flakes. The morphology of those flakes, linked to the use of the bipolar technique, is perfectly adapted to their use as manioc grater teeth.
L'étude des restes de débitage a connu un développement tardif dans les Antilles. Les premiers travaux importants sur les débitages des premières cultures formatives (saladoïde) ont mis en évidence l'utilisation de la percussion posée sur enclume. Le développement d'un programme de recherche sur les séries lithiques saladoïdes cedrosanes et huecanes de Martinique et de Guadeloupe nous a permis de confirmer et d'affiner ces premières observations. L'analyse technologique, complétée par un programme expérimental destiné à éclaircir la question des techniques de percussion, a montré l'existence d'une utilisation systématique de la percussion posée sur enclume pour l'exploitation de matières premières de bonne qualité. Les chaînes opératoires de débitage sont d'une grande efficacité et permettent très rapidement d'obtenir des séries de petits éclats faiblement standardisés. Les caractéristiques morphologiques de ces éclats, étroitement liées à la technique de percussion employée, en font des supports parfaitement adaptés à une utilisation comme dents de râpes à manioc.
ISSN: 1145-3370

hal-00974212
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-00974212

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Dental and postcranial remains (an atlas, carpus and metacarpus elements, and a part of the pelvic girdle) of an embrithopod mammal are described from Bir Om Ali, Tunisia, a new late Eocene locality. The enamel microstructure of a tooth fragment found in association shows 'arsinoitheriid radial enamel', an enamel condition which is characteristic of Arsinoitherium (Arsinoitheriidae, Embrithopoda). Although the postcranial elements slightly differ in size and morphology from those of Arsinoitherium zitteli (late Eocene to early Oligocene), we tentatively refer this new Eocene Tunisian material to that genus. These fossils represent the first known embrithopod from the Eocene of Tunisia.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-00903435
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903435
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.07.010