Ancient Skeleton May Shed Light on Human Evolution

(April 4) -- The missing link between humans and their ape-like predecessors could be filled in this week with the unveiling of a 2 million-year-old skeleton believed to be that of a new species of evolutionary primate, according to the London Telegraph.

The almost-complete fossilized child's skeleton, discovered in a limestone cave in South Africa by Professor Lee Berger of the country's University of the Witwatersrand, is believed to provide new clues about the evolutionary gap between the ape-like Australopithecus afarensis, which emerged almost 4 million years ago, and Homo habilis, the first species of advanced humans, which emerged about 2 million years ago.

Scientists believe the new species is a hominid, a group of evolutionary primates including humans, that existed during the intermediary phase when apelike species evolved into humans.

South African President Jacob Zuma has visited the university to view the fossils ahead of Thursday's much-anticipated unveiling.

Some scientists are hailing the discovery as a significant revelation. Professor Phillip Tobias, an eminent human anatomist, colleague of Professor Berger and one of three experts to first identify Homo habilis in 1964, called the finding "wonderful" and "exciting."

Experts said the discovery of a nearly complete skeleton was noteworthy as the fossil record of early human species has largely been built through the study of small, disjointed bones. Skull fragments and jaw, finger, hand and wrist bones have thus far provided the best clues about the early human species like Homo habilis.

"To find a skeleton as opposed to a couple of teeth or an arm bone is a rarity," Tobias told the Telegraph, adding that "it is one thing to find a lower jaw with a couple of teeth, but it is another thing to find the jaw joined onto the skull, and those in turn uniting further down with the spinal column, pelvis and the limb bones."

The skeleton is believed to have been preserved by the limestone contained in the Malapa cave where it was found in the Sterkfontein region of South Africa, considered part of the "Cradle of Humanity."

The fossil could provide new clues about the transition between the human species and its extinct, apelike ancestors. The pelvis and limb bones of the new skeleton could shed light on how apelike hominids began to stand upright. The hand bones could provide evidence about when modern humans began to use stone tools.

"A find like this could really increase our understanding of our early ancestors at a time when they first started to become recognizable as human," Dr. Simon Underdown, an expert on human evolution at Oxford Brookes University, told the Telegraph.

The unveiling of the fossilized skeleton Thursday will reportedly set off a media campaign and inspire a television documentary.

The finding is said to be the most important of its kind since an almost-complete fossil of a 3.3 million year old Australopithecus, nicknamed Little Foot, was found in Sterkfontein in 1994.