Spectacular fossil find Did early man Lucy have a neighbor after all?
Was Lucy not our direct ancestor after all? Newly discovered fossils in Ethiopia confirm the suspicion that there were other early humans besides her species.
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- Newly discovered fossils in Ethiopia confirm researchers' hypothesis that there were other early humans in addition to Lucy's species.
- According to the study, the new fossil finds, including a jawbone with twelve teeth, prove that foot fossils found in 2009 belong to a completely new species.
- Until the foot was discovered in Burtele in 2009, Lucy's species was thought to be the only relative of humans who lived in this region more than three million years ago.
- According to Haile-Selassie, the question of how the two species could have lived together in the same place and at the same time remains unanswered.
The famous prehistoric man Lucy may really have had a neighbor: Newly discovered fossils in Ethiopia have confirmed researchers in the theory that there were other early humans at that time. According to a study published in the journal "Nature" on Wednesday, the new fossil finds, including a jawbone with twelve teeth, prove that foot fossils found in 2009 belong to a completely new species. According to the scientists, the discovery could even cast doubt on the status of Lucy's species as the direct ancestor of modern humans.
According to the research team from the USA and Ethiopia, the jawbones that have now been discovered were found in the same place as the remains of a mysterious foot in 2009. The site in Burtele in north-eastern Ethiopia is 35 kilometers from the place where Lucy was discovered in 1974.
"We have no doubt that the Burtele foot belongs to the same species as these teeth and the jaw," said scientist Yohannes Haile-Selassie from Arizona State University.
Leaves, fruits and nuts as food
Until the foot was discovered in Burtele in 2009, Lucy's species was thought to be the only relative of humans who lived in this region more than three million years ago. However, back in 2015, Haile-Selassie's team assigned some jawbones found in Burtele, which are around 3.4 million years old, to a new species - Australopithecus deyiremeda.
Haile-Selassie explained at the time that the discovery of this new species in the same region confirmed the theory that Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, was not the only possible ancestor of humans. However, the assumption was met with some skepticism in scientific circles at the time due to insufficient fossil finds. This could change with the new findings.
According to the new study, a computer-aided examination of the teeth found indicates that Australopithecus deyiremeda was more primitive than its famous relative Lucy. The dental analysis revealed that the species fed mainly on leaves, fruits and nuts found on trees. The flexible and prehensile toe of the foot fossil found earlier had already suggested that this human relative spent more time on trees.
How could they both live in the same place?
Lucy's skeleton was discovered in 1974 and dated to between 2.9 and 3.8 million years old. Lucy was about 1.10 meters tall, walked on two legs, but could also climb well and thus had both human and ape-like features.
According to Haile-Selassie, the question of how the two species were able to live together in the same place and at the same time remains unanswered. In their new study, the researchers come to the conclusion that this may be due to the different lifestyles of the two species: while the new species tended to move around in the forest and on trees, Lucy preferred to live on the ground. According to Haile-Selassie, this also shows that "coexistence is deeply rooted in our ancestry".
