Ancient Teeth Suggest Our Ancestors Lived Side by Side With a Mysterious Hominin
Paleontologists have now uncovered the teeth of two different ancient human lineages at the same site in northeastern Ethiopia.
The discovery collapses the distance between the first of our genus and the last of the australopithecines in eastern Africa.
The two probably coexisted.
Related:
"This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct – evolution doesn't work like that," says paleoecologist Kaye Reed from Arizona State University (ASU).
"Human evolution is not linear; it's a bushy tree. There are life forms that go extinct."
The Australopithecus genus – to which the famous 'Lucy' belongs – existed long before Neanderthals or our ancestors. It was one of the earliest hominins to habitually walk upright.
These new findings suggest that the lineage existed in eastern Africa right as our genus was evolving, more than 2.5 million years ago.
Perhaps we shared lands, or maybe we fought over resources. Who knows how closely we lived, or how often we crossed paths.
The two lineages seem to have evolved side by side for hundreds of thousands of years.
The remarkable discovery was made at a site called Ledi-Geraru, where scientists previously found the earliest evidence of the Homo genus: a jawbone dating back 2.78 million years.
Hidden nearby, paleontologists have now stumbled upon the teeth of another Homo species, dating back 2.59 million years, as well as teeth of an australopithecine from 2.63 million years ago – the only definitive evidence of the ape-like genus in eastern Africa at this time.
Lucy was also found in Ethiopia, and her species (Australopithecus afarensis) may be the lineage from which our Homo ancestors branched from. But just as our ancestors pop up in eastern Africa, the fossil evidence for A. afarensis runs cold.
The newly uncovered teeth from Ledi-Geraru now put our ancestors closer to australopithecines in time and space than ever before.
Scientists have yet to determine the exact species to which the Homo teeth and the Australopithecus teeth belong, but the latter don't match Lucy or others of her kind.
Much seems to have changed in half a million years.
"We know what the teeth and mandible of the earliest Homo look like, but that's it," says lead author and paleontologist Brian Villmoare from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
"This emphasizes the critical importance of finding additional fossils to understand the differences between Australopithecus and Homo, and potentially how they were able to overlap in the fossil record at the same location."
Scientists previously suspected that both of these early human lineages overlapped in time, but the archaeological evidence didn't exist until now.
The ancient teeth found at Ledi-Geraru help fill a sizable gap in the fossil record between 2.5 and 3 million years ago.
The total number of known hominins living in eastern Africa now rises to four: two distinct species of australopithecine, a 'robust australopithecine' offshoot called Paranthropus, and the early Homo genus.
"The hominin fossil record is more diverse than previously known," conclude Villmoare and colleagues.
This story is just beginning…
The study was published in Nature.
Related News
Remains of UK Scientist Found 66 Years After Tragic Antarctic Glacier Death
Human Bones Reveal Evidence of One Horrifying Cannibalistic Feast
Scientists Finally Explain Why Your Skin Wrinkles As You Age
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Found 13 Ancient Teeth That May Rewrite Human Evolution
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Researchers studying a fossil site in Ethiopia discovered 13 teeth that they believe come from a never-before-known species of Australopithecus. The team said this reveals that Australopithecus and the oldest Homo ancestors coexisted up to 2.8 million years ago. The find has major implications on traditional theories of evolution. The famed Australopithecus Lucy may have a cousin. A new discovery of fossilized teeth in an Ethiopian field has researchers theorizing that they came from a new species of Australopithecus. They dated the teeth to the same period as the oldest known specimens of the genus Homo, found in the same field, upending some traditional theories of human evolution. 'This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct—evolution doesn't work like that,' Kaye Reed, Arizona State University paleoecologist, said in a statement. 'Here we have two hominin species that are together.' The Ledi-Geraru Research Project—led by scientists at ASU, but encompassing an international team—continues to study the field in Africa, which is the same site that previously revealed the oldest member of the genus Homo and the earliest Oldowan stone tools ever found. Researchers discovered 13 of the Australopithecus teeth in the field that also gave us a Homo jaw, which has been dated to 2.8 million years ago. In a new study on the find, published in the journal Nature, lead author Brian Villmoare wrote that the teeth were found in sediment dated to between 2.6 million and 2.8 million years old. 'We know what the teeth and mandible of the earliest Homo look like, but that's it,' Villmoare wrote. 'This emphasizes the critical importance of finding additional fossils to understand the differences between Australopithecus and Homo, and potentially how they were able to overlap in the fossil record at the same location.' The team has been able to date these fossils by analyzing signs of volcanic and tectonic activity, including the presence of feldspar crystal within ash. 'We can date the eruptions that were happening on the landscape when they're deposited,' Christopher Campisano, an ASU geologist, said in a statement. 'And we know that these fossils are interbed between those eruptions, so we can date units above and below the fossils. We are dating the volcanic ash of the eruptions that were happening while they were on the landscape.' That volcanic information is important to understanding species of the time, as the landscape changed drastically with each volcanic event. The team's next step is examining tooth enamel to understand what members of this species was eating. They can then compare their findings about this Australopithecus specimen to what is already known about early Homo species, hoping to determine just how closely linked the two were. 'Whenever you have an exciting discovery, if you're a paleontologist, you always know that you need more information,' Reed said. 'You need more fossils. More fossils will help us tell the story of what happened to our ancestors a long time ago.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Found 13 Ancient Teeth That May Rewrite Human Evolution
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Researchers studying a fossil site in Ethiopia discovered 13 teeth that they believe come from a never-before-known species of Australopithecus. The team said this reveals that Australopithecus and the oldest Homo ancestors coexisted up to 2.8 million years ago. The find has major implications on traditional theories of evolution. The famed Australopithecus Lucy may have a cousin. A new discovery of fossilized teeth in an Ethiopian field has researchers theorizing that they came from a new species of Australopithecus. They dated the teeth to the same period as the oldest known specimens of the genus Homo, found in the same field, upending some traditional theories of human evolution. 'This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct—evolution doesn't work like that,' Kaye Reed, Arizona State University paleoecologist, said in a statement. 'Here we have two hominin species that are together.' The Ledi-Geraru Research Project—led by scientists at ASU, but encompassing an international team—continues to study the field in Africa, which is the same site that previously revealed the oldest member of the genus Homo and the earliest Oldowan stone tools ever found. Researchers discovered 13 of the Australopithecus teeth in the field that also gave us a Homo jaw, which has been dated to 2.8 million years ago. In a new study on the find, published in the journal Nature, lead author Brian Villmoare wrote that the teeth were found in sediment dated to between 2.6 million and 2.8 million years old. 'We know what the teeth and mandible of the earliest Homo look like, but that's it,' Villmoare wrote. 'This emphasizes the critical importance of finding additional fossils to understand the differences between Australopithecus and Homo, and potentially how they were able to overlap in the fossil record at the same location.' The team has been able to date these fossils by analyzing signs of volcanic and tectonic activity, including the presence of feldspar crystal within ash. 'We can date the eruptions that were happening on the landscape when they're deposited,' Christopher Campisano, an ASU geologist, said in a statement. 'And we know that these fossils are interbed between those eruptions, so we can date units above and below the fossils. We are dating the volcanic ash of the eruptions that were happening while they were on the landscape.' That volcanic information is important to understanding species of the time, as the landscape changed drastically with each volcanic event. The team's next step is examining tooth enamel to understand what members of this species was eating. They can then compare their findings about this Australopithecus specimen to what is already known about early Homo species, hoping to determine just how closely linked the two were. 'Whenever you have an exciting discovery, if you're a paleontologist, you always know that you need more information,' Reed said. 'You need more fossils. More fossils will help us tell the story of what happened to our ancestors a long time ago.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ancient Teeth Suggest Our Ancestors Lived Side by Side With a Mysterious Hominin
The human family tree is looking more and more like an unruly bush. Paleontologists have now uncovered the teeth of two different ancient human lineages at the same site in northeastern Ethiopia. The discovery collapses the distance between the first of our genus and the last of the australopithecines in eastern Africa. The two probably coexisted. Related: "This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct – evolution doesn't work like that," says paleoecologist Kaye Reed from Arizona State University (ASU). "Human evolution is not linear; it's a bushy tree. There are life forms that go extinct." The Australopithecus genus – to which the famous 'Lucy' belongs – existed long before Neanderthals or our ancestors. It was one of the earliest hominins to habitually walk upright. These new findings suggest that the lineage existed in eastern Africa right as our genus was evolving, more than 2.5 million years ago. Perhaps we shared lands, or maybe we fought over resources. Who knows how closely we lived, or how often we crossed paths. The two lineages seem to have evolved side by side for hundreds of thousands of years. The remarkable discovery was made at a site called Ledi-Geraru, where scientists previously found the earliest evidence of the Homo genus: a jawbone dating back 2.78 million years. Hidden nearby, paleontologists have now stumbled upon the teeth of another Homo species, dating back 2.59 million years, as well as teeth of an australopithecine from 2.63 million years ago – the only definitive evidence of the ape-like genus in eastern Africa at this time. Lucy was also found in Ethiopia, and her species (Australopithecus afarensis) may be the lineage from which our Homo ancestors branched from. But just as our ancestors pop up in eastern Africa, the fossil evidence for A. afarensis runs cold. The newly uncovered teeth from Ledi-Geraru now put our ancestors closer to australopithecines in time and space than ever before. Scientists have yet to determine the exact species to which the Homo teeth and the Australopithecus teeth belong, but the latter don't match Lucy or others of her kind. Much seems to have changed in half a million years. "We know what the teeth and mandible of the earliest Homo look like, but that's it," says lead author and paleontologist Brian Villmoare from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). "This emphasizes the critical importance of finding additional fossils to understand the differences between Australopithecus and Homo, and potentially how they were able to overlap in the fossil record at the same location." Scientists previously suspected that both of these early human lineages overlapped in time, but the archaeological evidence didn't exist until now. The ancient teeth found at Ledi-Geraru help fill a sizable gap in the fossil record between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. The total number of known hominins living in eastern Africa now rises to four: two distinct species of australopithecine, a 'robust australopithecine' offshoot called Paranthropus, and the early Homo genus. "The hominin fossil record is more diverse than previously known," conclude Villmoare and colleagues. This story is just beginning… The study was published in Nature. Related News Remains of UK Scientist Found 66 Years After Tragic Antarctic Glacier Death Human Bones Reveal Evidence of One Horrifying Cannibalistic Feast Scientists Finally Explain Why Your Skin Wrinkles As You Age Solve the daily Crossword
