Scientists in northeastern Ethiopia said Saturday that they have discovered the skull of a small human ancestor that could be a missing link between the extinct Homo erectus and modern man.From LiveScience:
The hominid cranium found in two pieces and believed to be between 500,000 and 250,000 years old “comes from a very significant period and is very close to the appearance of the anatomically modern human,"
said Sileshi Semaw, director of the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in Ethiopia.Archaeologists found the early human cranium five weeks ago at Gawis in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region, said Sileshi.
“The Gawis cranium provides us with the opportunity to look at the face of one of our ancestors," the archaeology project said in a statement. “Additionally, this fossil links us with the past by showing a face that is recognizably different and more primitive than ours."
The cranium dates to a time about which little is known -- the transition from African Homo erectus to modern humans. The fossil record from Africa for this period is sparse and most of the specimens poorly dated, project archaeologists said.
That's a picture of 'Lucy' from HERE.
