LH 4
{{Short description|Hominin fossil}}
{{Infobox fossil
|catalog number = LH 4
|common name = Laetoli Hominid 4
|image =LH 4 Replica 03.jpg
|species = Australopithecus afarensis
|age = 2.9–3.9 million years
|place discovered = Laetoli, Tanzania
|date discovered = 1974
|discovered by = Mary Leakey
}}
LH 4 or Laetoli Hominid 4{{cite web|title=Lateoli|url=http://www.ntz.info/gen/n00322.html|publisher=ntz.info|access-date=15 October 2012}} is the catalogue number of a fossilized mandible which was discovered by Mary Leakey in 1974 from Laetoli, Tanzania.{{cite web|title=LH 4|url=http://www.efossils.org/page/boneviewer/Australopithecus%20afarensis/LH%204|publisher=eFossils|access-date=15 October 2012}}
Mary Leakey and her team, including Tim White,{{cite book |last=Meredith |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Meredith |title=Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJK1zIgG9TMC&pg=PR77 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=18 August 2011 |pages=288 |isbn=9780857206671}} found between 1974 and 1977 forty-two hominid teeth associated with a jawbone. One of them was LH-4, a fine specimen with nine teeth. White described the fossils, and LH-4 was assigned as the "name-bearer" of the new species Australopithecus afarensis by Don Johanson and White.
Observations
The specimen is 2.9–3.9 million years old and is mandible of an adult Australopithecus afarensis with all molars present and a fairly large canine.{{cite book |last=Tanner |first=Nancy Makepeace |title=On Becoming Human |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_j45AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA180 |chapter=Evidence on the transition: what can the earliest hominid fossils reveal about the ancestral population and the translation? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_j45AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA169 |access-date=16 October 2012 |date=31 August 1981 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-28028-0 |page=180}}{{sfn|Clarke|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ2SsanDLDwC&pg=PA48 48]}} Most anterior teeth and rami are missing. But, the dental arcade is in a good condition with little or no evidence of distortion.
References
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Bibliography
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- {{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Ronald J. |author-link=Ronald J. Clarke |chapter=The history of research in human evolution in Africa and what lessons have been learned |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ2SsanDLDwC&pg=PA44 |title=Human origin sites and the World Heritage Convention in Africa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ2SsanDLDwC |publisher=UNESCO |year=2012 |pages=254 |issue=33 |isbn=9789230010812}}
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