Fossil Bovidae from the Hominini-bearing site of Cooper’s D (Bloubank Valley, South Africa): implications for Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938 and early Homo Linnaeus, 1758 habitat preferences

The Cooper’s D deposit has been dated by U-Pb at a maximum age of 1.37 Ma ± 0.113 and yielded seven Hominini remains, six them are attributed to the Southern African endemic species Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938. However, taxonomic composition faunal assemblage recovered this site, especially ruminants, remains poorly understood. This paper updates previous palaeontological biochronological works provides first description paleoecological analysis whole bovid material from D. We propose minimum 1.0 for bone accumulation. Thus, we conclude that accumulated between 1.375 based on complementary results obtained radiometric dates biochronology. suggests is likewise dominated grassland with sparse covered habitat probable water sources in vicinity. Finally, show strong statistically significant negative correlation presence grassland-adapted P. robustus. result indicates was more likely be an eurytopic dietary generalist than exclusive grazer.