Kanapoi is a paleontological site in the Kenyan Rift Valley, to the southwest of Lake Turkana. Fossils were first found at Kanapoi in the 1960s by a Harvard expedition, and later by expeditions from the National Museums of Kenya.
Fossils at Kanapoi were deposited in sediments formed by lake margins, rivers and deltas between 3.4 - 4.2 Million years ago (Ma). Kanapoi fossils include a diverse array of fish, turtles, crocodiles, primates including likely human ancestors, elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, rodents, horses, hippos, pigs and a variety of herbivores and carnivores.
The hominin Australopithecus anamensis appears in Kanapoi between 3.9 and 4.2 Ma, one of a number of fossil specimens demonstrating that human ancestors were already bipedal by this time. Kanapoi also is the site of archaeological discoveries.[1]
- ^ Leakey, Meave; Harris, John; Feibel, Craig; Stewart, Kathlyn; Cerling, Thure; Werdelin, Lars (2003). Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of the Early Pliocene Site of Kanapoi, Northern Kenya.