[Sciotecha] 'Lucy's baby' found in Ethiopia
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Frimlin
Sep 20, 2006, 2:19:51 PM9/20/06
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[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5363328.stm]
The 3.3-million-year-old fossilised remains of a human-like child have been unearthed in Ethiopia's Dikika region.
The female bones are from the species Australopithecus afarensis, which is popularly known from the adult skeleton nicknamed "Lucy".
Scientists are thrilled with the find, reported in the journal Nature. They believe the near-complete remains offer a remarkable opportunity to study growth and development in an important extinct human ancestor.
Juvenile remains of early human ancestors are vanishingly rare. The skeleton was first identified in 2000, locked inside a block of sandstone. It has taken five years of painstaking work to free the bones.
"The Dikika fossil is now revealing many secrets about Australopithecus afarensis and other early hominins, because the fossil evidence was not there," said dig leader Zeresenay Alemseged, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
[Comment: Wow! ~ Ed.]
Only part of the text from this article have been posted -- read more @ BBC Science News, Nature.com & NewScientist.com.
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Posted by Frimlin to Sciotecha at 9/20/2006 07:15:00 PM
The 3.3-million-year-old fossilised remains of a human-like child have been unearthed in Ethiopia's Dikika region.
The female bones are from the species Australopithecus afarensis, which is popularly known from the adult skeleton nicknamed "Lucy".
Scientists are thrilled with the find, reported in the journal Nature. They believe the near-complete remains offer a remarkable opportunity to study growth and development in an important extinct human ancestor.
Juvenile remains of early human ancestors are vanishingly rare. The skeleton was first identified in 2000, locked inside a block of sandstone. It has taken five years of painstaking work to free the bones.
"The Dikika fossil is now revealing many secrets about Australopithecus afarensis and other early hominins, because the fossil evidence was not there," said dig leader Zeresenay Alemseged, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
[Comment: Wow! ~ Ed.]
Only part of the text from this article have been posted -- read more @ BBC Science News, Nature.com & NewScientist.com.
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Posted by Frimlin to Sciotecha at 9/20/2006 07:15:00 PM
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