Meeting of new hominid fossils and debate

2010/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

Discoverers proclaim Australopithecus as a new species

Researchers at Witwatersrand University in South Africa have discovered fossils of two hominids nearly two million years old. The fossils belong to a young man and a mature woman. They have been found in a cave system called Malapa, near Johannesburg, where researchers believe they were looking for water when they fell and died. They are estimated to be between 1.95-1.78 million years old and contain whole parts of fossils of that age, such as hands and feet.

Analyzing the characteristics of the fossil, researchers have concluded that it is an unknown species so far. It has been called Australopithecus sediba and, according to them, can be an intermediate species between the Australopithecus africanus and the first Homos.

The research has been published in the journal Science and has opened a debate among experts. In fact, many question the conclusions of the authors of the article, who consider that the fossils belong to the species A. africanus. However, they consider a very useful discovery to complete the puzzle of the evolution of the Homo lineage.