Kanapoi

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.

Louis Leakey and what would become the National Museums of Kenya explored the fossil deposits in the 1940s, until political and military turmoil stymied work in the aftermath of World War II.

[1] The earliest and lowest sedimentary deposits are fluvial, formed by the layering of clays, sandstones, pebbles and cobbles washed downstream by flowing rivers.

The deposits are marked by mollusks, ostracods and carbonized plant parts, and demonstrate alternating passage of river channels or meandering streams.

A late formation of green claystones appears at approximately 3.5 Ma, suggesting that these sediments may have formed with the Lokochot lake found elsewhere in the Basin.