Infant hominid

The fossilised remains of the child, estimated to have died at the age of three and who was probably a female, shed light on a hotly disputed branch of the human tree known as Australopithecus afarensis.

The best-known A. afarensis is the famous fossil Lucy, recovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and who, for more than 20 years, was the earliest known member of the hominid family.

Hominids are primates who split from apes between five and seven million years ago.

They are considered the forerunners of anatomically modern humans, who appeared on the scene about 200,0000 years ago.

Still unclear, though, is the exact line of geneaology from these small, rather ape-like creatures to the rise of the powerfully-brained H. sapiens.

Once thought by some to be our ancestor, A. afarensis is now widely considered to be a failed branch of the human tree, for a number of experts suspect the hominid was anatomically far closer to apes than humans.


Posted by: Tyler    Source