South African Hominin Fossils Predate Lucy, Analysis Suggests
South African Hominin Fossils Predate Lucy, Analysis Suggests
A newer dating technique using cosmogenic isotopes finds Australopithecus remains from the Sterkfontein caves to be about 1 million years older than previous estimates, potentially changing scientists’ understanding of humanity’s origins.
A newer dating technique using cosmogenic isotopes finds Australopithecus remains from the Sterkfontein caves to be about 1 million years older than previous estimates, potentially changing scientists’ understanding of humanity’s origins.
Australopithecus afarensis
Early Humans’ Brains Were More Apelike than Modern
Abby Olena, PhD | Apr 8, 2021 | 3 min read
Impressions that ancient brains left in fossilized skulls reveal that the first human ancestors to migrate out of Africa had much more primitive brains than previously thought.
Questions Raised About How an Ancient Hominin Moved
Abby Olena, PhD | Feb 24, 2021 | 4 min read
A new analysis of the hand of the 4.4-million-year-old partial skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus indicates that the human ancestor may have climbed and swung through trees like chimpanzees do.
Image of the Day: Slow-Growing Brains
Amy Schleunes | Apr 8, 2020 | 1 min read
Scans of eight fossilized adult and infant Australopithecus afarensis skulls reveal a prolonged period of brain growth during development that may have set the stage for extended childhood learning in later hominins.
Australopithecus sediba Not Likely Humans’ Ancestor: Study
Kerry Grens | May 9, 2019 | 2 min read
The fossil record for the ancient hominin A. sediba is younger than that of Homo, a “highly unlikely” scenario for a direct lineage.
A New Human Ancestor?
Bob Grant | May 28, 2015 | 2 min read
Researchers in Ethiopia unearth a previously unknown species of hominin, which roamed Africa at the same time as “Lucy.”
Oldest Homo Remains Yet Found
Ruth Williams | Mar 4, 2015 | 3 min read
A newly discovered 2.8 million-year-old jawbone is thought to be that of a direct human ancestor.
Acrobatic Ancestors?
Beth Marie Mole | Oct 24, 2012 | 3 min read
Amid controversy, hominin shoulder-bones suggest that our bipedal relatives still climbed trees.