View source for 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'''<ref name=Lateoli>{{cite web|title=Lateoli|url=http://www.ntz.info/gen/n00322.html|publisher=ntz.info|access-date=15 October 2012}}</ref> is the catalogue number of a fossilized [[mandible]] which was discovered by [[Mary Leakey]] in 1974 from [[Laetoli]], [[Tanzania]].<ref name="LH 4 Aa">{{cite web|title=LH 4|url=http://www.efossils.org/page/boneviewer/Australopithecus%20afarensis/LH%204|publisher=eFossils|access-date=15 October 2012}}</ref>
Mary Leakey and her team, including [[Tim D. White|Tim White]],<ref name=Meredith>{{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}}</ref> found between 1974 and 1977 forty-two [[hominid]] [[teeth]] associated with a [[jawbone]]. One of them was LH-4, a fine [[Zoological specimen|specimen]] with nine teeth. White described the fossils, and LH-4 was assigned as the "name-bearer" of the new species by [[Donald Johanson|Don Johanson]] and [[Tim D. White|White]].<ref name=Meredith/>
== 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>{{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.<ref name="LH 4 Aa" />
== 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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== External links ==
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[[Category:1974 in paleontology]]
[[Category:Australopithecus fossils]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Tanzania]]
[[Category:Fossils of Tanzania]]
[[Category:Neogene fossil record]]