Newly found fossils show {that a} mysterious foot present in Ethiopia belongs to a little-known, lately named historic human relative who lived alongside the species of the well-known Lucy, scientists stated Wednesday.
The invention is the newest twist within the story of human evolution and will even solid some doubt on the standing of Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, because the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens.
Till the foot was found in Burtele in northeastern Ethiopia in 2009, Lucy’s species was considered the one human relative dwelling within the space greater than three million years in the past.
However the appendage clearly doesn’t belong to Lucy’s species as a result of it has an opposable toe — much like a thumb — permitting its proprietor to seize onto tree branches like apes.
The workforce of scientists who discovered the thriller foot went on to call a brand new species, Australopithecus deyiremeda, in 2015 based mostly on some roughly 3.4-million-year-old jaw bones present in Burtele.
The announcement was met with some skepticism in scientific circles. As a result of shortage of fossils, makes an attempt so as to add a brand new department to the human household tree normally provoke fierce debate.
The workforce was additionally unable to say that the foot bones — dubbed the Burtele foot — belonged to their new species.
Now, in a examine revealed Tuesday referred to as “Mystery owner of African hominin foot identified,” the scientists introduced that new fossils together with a jawbone with 12 enamel discovered on the website present that the foot was that of A. deyiremeda.
“We have no doubt about the Burtele foot belonging to the same species as these teeth and the jaw,” lead examine writer, Yohannes Haile-Selassie of Arizona State College, instructed AFP.
This undated image launched by Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State College exhibits the Burtele foot, which had been a thriller since being found in Afar Area in Ethiopia, in 2009, with its parts within the anatomical place.
Yohannes HAILE-SELASSIE / Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State College /AFP through Getty Photos
The analysis additionally revealed extra particulars about this species, providing additional clues about who might have been the true ancestor of us Homo sapiens.
“Co-existence is deep in our ancestry”
A CT scan of the enamel prompt that A. deyiremeda was extra primitive than its cousin Lucy, the examine stated.
Isotope evaluation of the enamel in the meantime confirmed that its food regimen consisted primarily of leaves, fruit and nuts of bushes.
The greedy huge toe additionally prompt this human relative spent extra time within the bushes. Huge toes performed an essential function in human evolution, permitting our ancestors to go away the bushes behind and stroll on two legs.
A lingering query about A. deyiremeda was the way it might have co-existed with Lucy’s species on the identical place and time, Haile-Selassie stated.
The brand new analysis means that the previous spent its time within the forest, extra seemingly consuming from bushes, whereas the latter spent extra time on the bottom, a distinction that allowed them to dwell collectively.
It additionally demonstrates that “co-existence is deep in our ancestry”, Haile-Selassie emphasised.
“We are the last biped standing, as I call it,” Potts stated. “All of those other ways of life became extinct. And so that gives us a lot to think about, and it draws attention to the fragility of life, even in our own journey through time.”
New applied sciences have made the websites simpler to this point, and new discoveries throughout jap Africa have refined researchers’ understanding of human roots. Researchers knew that fashionable homo sapiens emerged in Africa about 300,000 years in the past, nevertheless it wasn’t till lately that they understood that their hominin ancestors started strolling on two legs no less than 6 million years in the past.
Seek for the identification of our true ancestor
John McNabb, a paleolithic archaeologist on the UK’s College of Southampton not concerned within the examine, praised the brand new analysis.
“There will always be sceptics, but I think these new finds, and their validation of older ones, will help many researchers to be more accepting of A. deyiremeda,” he instructed AFP.
It additionally “adds a new player into the mix” within the seek for the identification of our true ancestor, McNabb added.
As a result of A. deyiremeda was extra primitive and had a much less human-like foot than Lucy, it’s unlikely to dethrone her because the prime suspect on this search, each scientists agreed.
However the discovery “opens this possibility that we might still find more species within that time period because it looks like the Australopiths were experimenting with bipedality,” or strolling on two legs, Haile-Selassie stated.
The hyperrealistic creative reconstruction of the feminine Austrolopithecus afarensis (Lucy), based mostly on finds from Hadar, Ethiopia, within the Nationwide Museum of Prague on February 4, 2025 in Prague, is pictured.
MICHAL CIZEK/AFP through Getty Photos
“Could there be another species which could be a better candidate to be the ancestor of the genus Homo?” he requested.
“We don’t know — it depends on what we find.”
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