OLDEST HOMO AND PLIOCENE BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE MALAWI RIFT

THE Malawi Rift and Pliocene palaeofaunas, which include a hominid man dible attributed to Homo rudolfensis, provide a biogeographical link b etween the better known Plio-Pleistocene faunal records of East and So uthern Africa. The Malawi Rift is in a latitudinal position suitable f or recording any hominid and faunal dispersion towards the Equator tha t was brought on by increased aridity of the Late Pliocene African lan dscape. The evidence suggests that Pliocene hominids originated in the eastern African tropical domain and dispersed to southern Africa only during more favourable ecological circumstances.