I'm not going to touch this one !
Foxnews
Our lineage might have diverged from our monkey relatives later than previously thought, a new primate fossil from Saudi Arabia
now suggests.
One key step in understanding human evolution is pinning doing (DOWN?) when the hominoid lineage, which includes apes and humans, diverged from the Old World monkeys.
"If we can refine our understanding of the date of split between hominoids and Old World monkeys
and eventually get a better idea of what was happening with the ecology, climate and composition of co-occurring mammals at that time, we will learn about the conditions driving our own ultimate origins," researcher William Sanders, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, told LiveScience.
Genetic analysis of humans, monkeys and other primates had placed the split at roughly 35 million to 30 million years ago, during the early Oligocene period. However, the fossil record from the mid-to-late Oligocene, some 30 million to 23 million years ago, had previously provided little evidence supporting the timing of the divergence.
Primate skull
Now researchers have revealed a partial skull roughly 29 million to 28 million years old of a previously unknown species of medium-sized primate that might have come on the scene just before our lineage split away from Old World monkeys.
When alive the primate likely resembled a New World monkey (a group that includes marmosets, tamarins, capuchins and other monkeys), sporting a tail and moving on all fours.
"It's not a monkey, it's not an ape — it's this intermediate, a precursor fossil for all apes and Old World monkeys," said researcher Iyad Zalmout, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Ape Fossil Changes Timeline of Human Evolution
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Possible New Human Ancestor Discovered
Some more Really old bones
It is really amazing what you can dig up once in awhile !
Wired ,Science
Two 1.9 million-year-old skeletons found in a South African cave have added a new and intriguing member to the primate family.
Dubbed Australopithecus sediba, it has many features — including long legs and a protruding nose — common to Homo, the genus that eventually spawned humans. Other features, such as extra-long forearms and flexible feet, date from deep in our primate past.
Paleontologists disagree over whether A. sediba is a direct human ancestor, or just looks like one. But whatever their lineage, the fossils provide rare insight into a period shrouded in paleontological mystery.
“We feel that A. sediba might be a Rosetta Stone for defining for the first time what the genus Homo is,” said paleontologist Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand. “They’re going to be a remarkable window, a time machine.”
The skeletons, described April 8 in Science, were found — with a bit of help from Google Earth — two years ago in a South African cave, where they fell two million years ago.
Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/australopithecus-sediba/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29#ixzz0kZDuNNZC
Monday, April 5, 2010
Fossil Find May Be 'Missing Link' in Human Evolution
No matter what it is , To find a complete skeleton over 2 million years old is Amazing !
FoxNews
A fossil skeleton of a child discovered in a cave system known as the Cradle of Humankind may represent a previously unknown stage in the evolution of man, The (London) Sunday Times reported.
The skeleton, which is almost complete despite being two million years old, is believed to belong to one of the hominid groups that includes humans.
Hominid fossil finds are usually little more than small bone fragments. Scientists hope such a complete find will help them to work out what our ancestors looked like and to determine key dates in their evolution from ape-man to man-ape. Experts who have seen the skeleton says it resembles Homo habilis, the first species of advanced human.
The skeleton was found by Professor Lee Berger, reader in human evolution and the public understanding of science at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, as he explored cave systems in Sterkfontein, a Unesco world heritage site.
The caves are the site of one of the world’s longest-running archeological excavations and are regarded as paleontological treasure troves. Jacob Zuma, the South African president, visited the university to view the find, which is to be announced this week.
The new fossil skeleton was found with a number of other partially complete fossils, encased within breccia sedimentary rock inside a limestone cave known as Malapa cave.
