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2nd June 2015, 08:08
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'New species' of ancient human unearthed in Ethiopia
28 May 2015 Last updated at 17:55 BST
A new species of ancient human has been unearthed in the Afar region of Ethiopia,
scientists report.Researchers discovered jaw bones and teeth, which date to
between 3.3m and 3.5m years old.The new species has been called
Australopithecus deyiremeda, which means "close relative" in the language spoken
by the Afar people.
Science correspondent Rebecca Morelle reports.
Read more
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32923276
Evidence of 430,000-year-old human violence found
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32890697
Leg bone gives up oldest human DNA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25193442
====================================================
New Human Ancestor Species from Ethiopia - May 2015
9bqXd9-VnFE
Published on 27 May 2015
A new relative joins “Lucy” on the human family tree. An international team of
scientists, led by Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie of The Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, has discovered a 3.3 to 3.5 million-year-old new human ancestor species.
Upper and lower jaw fossils recovered from the Woranso-Mille area of the Afar region of
Ethiopia have been assigned to the new species Australopithecus deyiremeda. This
hominin lived alongside the famous “Lucy’s” species, Australopithecus afarensis. The
species will be described in the May 28, 2015 issue of the international scientific journal Nature.
====================================================
====================================================
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/sitelogos/logo_mol.gif
Mysterious fossils reveal new species of early HUMAN: Thick-jawed hominid lived
alongside 'Lucy' 3.4 million years ago
Scientists have named the new species Australopithecus deyiremeda
Discovery suggests our evolutionary roots are more complex than believed
Several early human species seem to have lived side-by-side in East Africa
The new species had a thick jaw with small front teeth and thick enamel
By Richard Gray for MailOnline
Published: 18:02, 27 May 2015 | Updated: 18:56, 27 May 2015
A previously unknown species of early human, which lived alongside the famous
ancestor known as Lucy, has been discovered in Ethiopia.Anthropologists studied
jawbones and teeth found in the Woranso-Mille area and identified them as
belonging to a new human which lived around 3.4 million years ago.They have
named the species, which appears to have dental features previously thought to
have appeared much later in the Homo species, as Australopithecus deyiremeda.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/27/16/291D753600000578-3099430-image-a-11_1432740439548.jpg
The fossils were discovered in the Burtele area of central Afar (shown) in Ethiopia. The
site is less than 20 miles (35km) from a location where many fossils of sister species
Australopithicus afarenis were found
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/27/17/291DFC0E00000578-3099430-The_new_species_Australopithecus_deyiremeda_lived_around_the_sam-m-42_1432745419540.jpg
The new species, Australopithecus deyiremeda lived around the same time as
Australopithecus afarensis
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3099430/Mysterious-fossils-reveal-new-species-early-HUMAN-jawed-hominid-lived-alongside-Lucy-3-4-million-years-ago.html#ixzz3btAevnsA
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
===================================================
5g8M-KtI0IQ
Published on 4 Mar 2015
Scientists have unearthed the jawbone of what they claim is one of the very first
humans.The 2.8 million-year-old specimen is 400,000 years older than researchers
thought that our kind first emerged.The discovery in Ethiopia suggests climate
change spurred the transition from tree dweller to upright walker.The head of the
research team told BBC News that the find gives the first insight into "the most
important transitions in human evolution".
Prof Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas said the discovery
makes a clear link between an iconic 3.2 million-year-old hominin (human-like
primate) discovered in the same area in 1974, called "Lucy".
Could Lucy's kind - which belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis - have
evolved into the very first primitive humans?
"That's what we are arguing," said Prof Villmoare.
But the fossil record between the time period when Lucy and her kin were alive and
the emergence of Homo erectus (with its relatively large brain and humanlike body
proportions) two million years ago is sparse.
The 2.8 million-year-old lower jawbone was found in the Ledi-Geraru research area,
Afar Regional State, by Ethiopian student Chalachew Seyoum. He told BBC News
that he was "stunned" when he saw the fossil.
"The moment I found it, I realised that it was important, as this is the time period
represented by few (human) fossils in Eastern Africa."
The fossil is of the left side of the lower jaw, along with five teeth. The back molar
teeth are smaller than those of other hominins living in the area and are one of the
features that distinguish humans from more primitive ancestors, according to
Professor William Kimbel, director of Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins.
"Previously, the oldest fossil attributed to the genus Homo was an upper jaw from
Hadar, Ethiopia, dated to 2.35m years ago," he told BBC News.
"So this new discovery pushes the human line back by 400,000 years or so, very
close to its likely (pre-human) ancestor. Its mix of primitive and advanced features
makes the Ledi jaw a good transitional form between (Lucy) and later humans."
A computer reconstruction of a skull belonging to the species Homo habilis, which
has been published in Nature journal, indicates that it may well have been the
evolutionary descendant of the species announced today.
The researcher involved, Prof Fred Spoor of University College London told BBC
News that, taken together, the new findings had lifted a veil on a key period in the
evolution of our species.
"By discovering a new fossil and re-analysing an old one we have truly contributed
to our knowledge of our own evolutionary period, stretching over a million years
that had been shrouded in mystery," he said.Climate change
The dating of the jawbone might help answer one of the key questions in human
evolution. What caused some apes to climb down from the trees and make their
homes on the ground.
A separate study in Science hints that a change in climate might have been a
factor. An analysis of the fossilised plant and animal life in the area suggests that
what had once been lush forest had become dry grassland.
As the trees made way for vast plains, apes found a way of exploiting the new
environmental niche, developing bigger brains and becoming less reliant on having
big jaws and teeth by using tools.Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum
in London described the discovery as a "big story".
He says the new species clearly does show the earliest step toward human
characteristics, but suggests that half a jawbone is not enough to tell just how
human it was and does not provide enough evidence to suggest that it was this line
that led to us.He notes that the emergence of human-like characteristics was not
unique to Ethiopia.
"The human-like features shown by Australopithecus sediba in South Africa at
around 1.95 million years ago are likely to have developed independently of the
processes which produced (humans) in East Africa, showing that parallel origins are
a distinct possibility," Prof Stringer explained.
This would suggest several different species of humans co-existing in Africa around
two million years ago with only one of them surviving and eventually evolving into
our species, Homo sapiens. It is as if nature was experimenting with different
versions of the same evolutionary configuration until one succeeded.
Prof Stringer added: "These new studies leave us with an even more complex
picture of early humans than we thought, and they challenge us to consider the
very definition of what it is to be human. Are we defined by our small teeth and
jaws, our large brain, our long legs, tool-making, or some combination of these traits?"
'New species' of ancient human unearthed in Ethiopia
28 May 2015 Last updated at 17:55 BST
A new species of ancient human has been unearthed in the Afar region of Ethiopia,
scientists report.Researchers discovered jaw bones and teeth, which date to
between 3.3m and 3.5m years old.The new species has been called
Australopithecus deyiremeda, which means "close relative" in the language spoken
by the Afar people.
Science correspondent Rebecca Morelle reports.
Read more
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32923276
Evidence of 430,000-year-old human violence found
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32890697
Leg bone gives up oldest human DNA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25193442
====================================================
New Human Ancestor Species from Ethiopia - May 2015
9bqXd9-VnFE
Published on 27 May 2015
A new relative joins “Lucy” on the human family tree. An international team of
scientists, led by Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie of The Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, has discovered a 3.3 to 3.5 million-year-old new human ancestor species.
Upper and lower jaw fossils recovered from the Woranso-Mille area of the Afar region of
Ethiopia have been assigned to the new species Australopithecus deyiremeda. This
hominin lived alongside the famous “Lucy’s” species, Australopithecus afarensis. The
species will be described in the May 28, 2015 issue of the international scientific journal Nature.
====================================================
====================================================
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/sitelogos/logo_mol.gif
Mysterious fossils reveal new species of early HUMAN: Thick-jawed hominid lived
alongside 'Lucy' 3.4 million years ago
Scientists have named the new species Australopithecus deyiremeda
Discovery suggests our evolutionary roots are more complex than believed
Several early human species seem to have lived side-by-side in East Africa
The new species had a thick jaw with small front teeth and thick enamel
By Richard Gray for MailOnline
Published: 18:02, 27 May 2015 | Updated: 18:56, 27 May 2015
A previously unknown species of early human, which lived alongside the famous
ancestor known as Lucy, has been discovered in Ethiopia.Anthropologists studied
jawbones and teeth found in the Woranso-Mille area and identified them as
belonging to a new human which lived around 3.4 million years ago.They have
named the species, which appears to have dental features previously thought to
have appeared much later in the Homo species, as Australopithecus deyiremeda.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/27/16/291D753600000578-3099430-image-a-11_1432740439548.jpg
The fossils were discovered in the Burtele area of central Afar (shown) in Ethiopia. The
site is less than 20 miles (35km) from a location where many fossils of sister species
Australopithicus afarenis were found
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/27/17/291DFC0E00000578-3099430-The_new_species_Australopithecus_deyiremeda_lived_around_the_sam-m-42_1432745419540.jpg
The new species, Australopithecus deyiremeda lived around the same time as
Australopithecus afarensis
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3099430/Mysterious-fossils-reveal-new-species-early-HUMAN-jawed-hominid-lived-alongside-Lucy-3-4-million-years-ago.html#ixzz3btAevnsA
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
===================================================
5g8M-KtI0IQ
Published on 4 Mar 2015
Scientists have unearthed the jawbone of what they claim is one of the very first
humans.The 2.8 million-year-old specimen is 400,000 years older than researchers
thought that our kind first emerged.The discovery in Ethiopia suggests climate
change spurred the transition from tree dweller to upright walker.The head of the
research team told BBC News that the find gives the first insight into "the most
important transitions in human evolution".
Prof Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas said the discovery
makes a clear link between an iconic 3.2 million-year-old hominin (human-like
primate) discovered in the same area in 1974, called "Lucy".
Could Lucy's kind - which belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis - have
evolved into the very first primitive humans?
"That's what we are arguing," said Prof Villmoare.
But the fossil record between the time period when Lucy and her kin were alive and
the emergence of Homo erectus (with its relatively large brain and humanlike body
proportions) two million years ago is sparse.
The 2.8 million-year-old lower jawbone was found in the Ledi-Geraru research area,
Afar Regional State, by Ethiopian student Chalachew Seyoum. He told BBC News
that he was "stunned" when he saw the fossil.
"The moment I found it, I realised that it was important, as this is the time period
represented by few (human) fossils in Eastern Africa."
The fossil is of the left side of the lower jaw, along with five teeth. The back molar
teeth are smaller than those of other hominins living in the area and are one of the
features that distinguish humans from more primitive ancestors, according to
Professor William Kimbel, director of Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins.
"Previously, the oldest fossil attributed to the genus Homo was an upper jaw from
Hadar, Ethiopia, dated to 2.35m years ago," he told BBC News.
"So this new discovery pushes the human line back by 400,000 years or so, very
close to its likely (pre-human) ancestor. Its mix of primitive and advanced features
makes the Ledi jaw a good transitional form between (Lucy) and later humans."
A computer reconstruction of a skull belonging to the species Homo habilis, which
has been published in Nature journal, indicates that it may well have been the
evolutionary descendant of the species announced today.
The researcher involved, Prof Fred Spoor of University College London told BBC
News that, taken together, the new findings had lifted a veil on a key period in the
evolution of our species.
"By discovering a new fossil and re-analysing an old one we have truly contributed
to our knowledge of our own evolutionary period, stretching over a million years
that had been shrouded in mystery," he said.Climate change
The dating of the jawbone might help answer one of the key questions in human
evolution. What caused some apes to climb down from the trees and make their
homes on the ground.
A separate study in Science hints that a change in climate might have been a
factor. An analysis of the fossilised plant and animal life in the area suggests that
what had once been lush forest had become dry grassland.
As the trees made way for vast plains, apes found a way of exploiting the new
environmental niche, developing bigger brains and becoming less reliant on having
big jaws and teeth by using tools.Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum
in London described the discovery as a "big story".
He says the new species clearly does show the earliest step toward human
characteristics, but suggests that half a jawbone is not enough to tell just how
human it was and does not provide enough evidence to suggest that it was this line
that led to us.He notes that the emergence of human-like characteristics was not
unique to Ethiopia.
"The human-like features shown by Australopithecus sediba in South Africa at
around 1.95 million years ago are likely to have developed independently of the
processes which produced (humans) in East Africa, showing that parallel origins are
a distinct possibility," Prof Stringer explained.
This would suggest several different species of humans co-existing in Africa around
two million years ago with only one of them surviving and eventually evolving into
our species, Homo sapiens. It is as if nature was experimenting with different
versions of the same evolutionary configuration until one succeeded.
Prof Stringer added: "These new studies leave us with an even more complex
picture of early humans than we thought, and they challenge us to consider the
very definition of what it is to be human. Are we defined by our small teeth and
jaws, our large brain, our long legs, tool-making, or some combination of these traits?"