CHAD AUSTRALOPITHECINE

specimen of early hominid, known from the frontal bone and part of the face of a single individual, found in sandstone by Yves Coppens in 1960, at Koro Toro, southeast Chad. The remains were associated with the teeth of an extinct elephant and have been given a provisional date of late Early Pleistocene or early Middle Pleistocene Epoch (500,000 to 200,000 years ago). The frontal bone is steep and the cranial capacity large; the face is large, with big orbits and upper jawbones, broad cheekbones, protruding jaws, and a small canine. The taxonomy of the specimen is in dispute: some consider it to be an example of a female Australopithecus robustus, and others classify it as a northern example of Homo habilis. Its finder named it Tchadanthropus uxoris and believed it to be a form transitional between Australopithecus and Homo erectus. Cultural life With its rich variety of peoples and languages, Chad possesses a valuable cultural heritage. The government has in the past encouraged cultural activities and institutions. There is a national museum of prehistoric and traditional artifacts. The Chad Cultural Centre seeks to awaken a conscious interest in national traditions. The lives of the people have been so dislocated by war and famine since the 1960s, however, that Chad is more impoverished than ever, and the main efforts of the government and people are now directed toward survival. Alfred Thomas Grove