Unprecedented insight into link between 2-million-year-old ancestor and us
- By Wits Communications
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Scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) at Wits and 15 other global institutions have published six papers in Science that reveal groundbreaking new evidence related to the fossils that alumnus Professor Lee Berger discovered in 2008, thought to be humanity’s closest relative. Published on 12 April 2013 with an introduction by Berger, the lead author, the papers report on some of the most complete early human ancestral remains ever discovered. The 2-million-year-old fossils belong to the species Australopithecus sediba (Au. sediba) and provide what Berger describes as “unprecedented insight into the anatomy and phylogenetic position of an early human ancestor.” The six studies describe how the 2-million-year-old Au. sediba walked, chewed and moved. The findings have implications for the extent to which the species is related to modern humankind. The latest analyses reveal a creature with a human-like pelvis, hands and teeth, a chimpanzee-like foot. The six papers represent the culmination of more than four years of research into the anatomy of Au. Sediba, whose fossilised remains Berger and his colleagues discovered at the Malapa site, west of Johannesburg in August 2008. The papers published in Science are entitled:
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