4-Million-Year-Old Human Link Found
Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 12:00 CDT
A University of California team hunting for fossils in Ethiopia may have found the remains of a human ancestor that lived more than 4 million years ago.
The team led by Professor Tim White of the Berkeley campus unearthed the remains in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia, reports the BBC.
The findings, described in the journal Nature, apparently belong to the species Australopithecus anamensis, an important ancient genus of humanlike creatures, or hominids from which the genus Homo is believed to have evolved, says the report.
The discovery helps close a gap between a more ancient species known as Ardipithecus ramidus found at 4.4 million years and a later species known as Australopithecus afarensis, which is present in the Middle Awash 3.4 million years ago, the experts explained.
The fact anamensis is sandwiched between earlier and later hominids is what is really significant about this Ethiopian sequence, White told the BBC.
Source: United Press International
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