Meet Ardipithecus Ramidus - Early Hominid Common Ancestor Was Neither Chimp Nor Human, Says Study
Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 11:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Researchers writing in Science have described Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. The last common ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees is thought to have lived six or more million years ago and Ardipithecus likely shared many of this ancestor's characteristics. In context, Ardipithecus is more than a million years older than the famous "Lucy" female partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis. Until the discovery of the new Ardipithecus remains, the fossil record contained scant evidence of other hominids older than Australopithecus. read more