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Early Homo and Australian Ropithecus Lived Together in Ethiopia 2.5 Million Years Ago

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Recently discovered human fossils from the Ledi-Geraru Research Project in a remote region of Ethiopia indicate an early presence of Homo around 2.78 million years ago and a previously unidentified species, Australian, dating back 2.63 million years.

Forensic facial reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes/CC by-sa 3.0.

The timeline from approximately 3 to 2 million years ago represents crucial phases in human evolution.

This encompasses the genus Homo and Paran Solo Pass, which first appeared in fossil records alongside the ancestors of Australopithecus afarensis, a species that eventually vanished.

“We typically viewed human evolution as a linear trajectory from ape-like ancestors to modern humans. However, Homo sapiens researcher Brian Villmoare from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, states that our understanding must adapt.”

“Humans have diversified into various niches multiple times throughout our history.”

“Our evolutionary tree reflects patterns not unique to us. Similar events occurred across different life forms.”

“This is something we should observe more frequently in the record of human fossils.”

“Nature has explored numerous paths toward humanity, particularly as climates became drier in East Africa, leading to the extinction of more ape-like species.”

Dr. Villmoare and his co-authors uncovered 13 human teeth at the Ledi-Geraru site in Ethiopia.

They determined that while some fossils belong to the genus Homo, others include upper and lower teeth sets from an unnamed species, Australian.

This new species differs from Australopithecus afarensis, which was first identified nearby at Khadar around 2.95 million years ago.

“The coexistence of both species in the same area suggests that human evolution resembles a branching tree rather than a linear progression,” said Dr. Villmoare.

The Ledi-Geraru site is also where paleontologists discovered the earliest jaw of Homo in 2013, dating back 2.8 million years.

“Recent findings of Homo teeth from sediments aged between 2 and 2.8 million years confirm the timeline of our lineage,” stated Dr. Villmoare.

“We know what the earliest teeth and jaws of Homo look like, but our findings extend beyond that.”

“This underscores the critical need for additional fossil discoveries to differentiate between Australian and Homo, and to explore potential overlaps in their fossil records.”

“There has been considerable geological activity in this region,” noted Dr. Christopher Campizzano, a geologist at Arizona State University.

“Numerous volcanic eruptions released ashes containing feldspar crystals, allowing scientists to date them.”

“We can date the eruptions that occurred in the landscape where these fossils were found.”

“These fossils are situated between volcanic deposits, facilitating age determination.”

“We are dating the volcanic ash from eruptions that coincided with the deposition of these fossils.”

“As this new research highlights, this was a pivotal era for human evolution,” said Professor Ramon Arrowsmith from Arizona State University.

“Geology provides critical insights into the age and characteristics of sedimentary layers, including those containing fossils.”

“Whenever an exciting new discovery occurs, paleontologists recognize that further information is essential,” commented Dr. Kay Reid, a paleontologist at Arizona State University.

“We need more fossils, which emphasizes the importance of training individuals to explore and identify new fossil sites.”

“The more fossils we uncover, the better we can understand our distant ancestors and the unique journey of survival that led to our existence.”

The findings are documented in a publication released today in the journal Nature.

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B. Billmoare et al. New discoveries of Australian and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature, published online August 13, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4

Source: www.sci.news

Study: Ancient Central European Peasants Lived Equally 8,000 Years Ago

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There are no signs of population stratification in the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) communities that first spread agriculture across much of Europe, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Vienna and Harvard University. He said he couldn’t see it.

The manual labor of prehistoric central European women was more demanding than the rowing of today’s boat crews.

“The expansion of agriculture in Central Europe occurred in the 6th millennium BC,” said Dr. Pere Gelabert of the University of Vienna and colleagues.

“Within a few generations, Balkan farmers expanded down the Danube Valley into what is now France and eastward into what is now Hungary and Ukraine.”

“The cultural footprint of peasants is homogeneous across this region, which spans thousands of kilometers, but the lack of genetic data from multiple families makes it difficult to understand whether these communities lived on social equality. It has become difficult to assess which individuals have migrated and migrated across continents. “

In the study, Dr. Gelabert and co-authors sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 250 LBK individuals and other extensive datasets.

“The LBK people expanded over hundreds of kilometers in just a few generations,” Dr. Gelabert said.

“We found distant relatives in Slovakia and others in western Germany, more than 500 miles away.”

“In this study, we report for the first time that families in the study sites of Nitra in Slovakia and Polgar Ferencí Hat in Hungary do not differ in terms of the food they consume,” said Dr. Ron Pignasi, a researcher at the institute. said. University of Vienna.

“This suggests that the people living at these Neolithic sites were not stratified based on family or biological sex, understood as differences in access to resources and space. No signs of inequality are detected.”

The LBK culture came to an end around 5000 BC, and various theories have been proposed for its demise.

Some say this period was a period of social and economic crisis, often associated with widespread incidents of violence.

“One of the most famous incidents was the Asparn Schretz massacre in Lower Austria, where more than 100 people were recovered from a ditch,” the researchers said.

“This site, along with Herxheim in Germany, is one of the largest known assemblages of people who were violently murdered during the early Neolithic period, and the skeletons show signs of violence and multiple fractures.”

“Our in-depth genetic studies of the Asparn Schretz people show that fewer than 10 people are genetically related, making it unlikely that this genocide represents a single population. This casts doubt on the hypothesis that there is a

“Previous anthropological studies have noted an underrepresentation of young women, but the new data further support the complete absence of relatives.”

“The large number of children among the victims opens the door to different interpretations of this remarkable event of Neolithic violence.”

of findings Published in a magazine nature human behavior.

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P. Gelabert others. Social and genetic diversity among the first farmers of central Europe. Nat Hum Behavepublished online on November 29, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-02034-z

Source: www.sci.news

Two hominin species lived together in Kenya 1.5 million years ago

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Paleoanthropologists have discovered 1.5 million-year-old footprints of two very different species of humans. homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei — at the same location near Lake Turkana in Kenya.

A 3D computerized model of the surface of an area near Lake Turkana in Kenya shows fossil footprints. Paranthropus boisei (vertical footprint) separate footprint homo erectus Form a vertical path. Image credit: Kevin Hatala / Chatham University.

Hominin is a term that describes a subdivision of the larger category known as Hominidae.

The hominid family includes all extinct and living organisms that are thought to belong to the human lineage that emerged after we separated from our great ape ancestors. This is thought to have happened about 6 to 7 million years ago.

Paleoanthropologists have long hypothesized that: homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei They coexisted.

According to the fossil record, homo erectus It lasted another million years.

Paranthropus boiseiHowever, they became extinct within a few hundred thousand years. Scientists don’t know why.

Both species had an upright posture and bipedal gait, and were very agile. We still know little about how these coexisting species interacted culturally and reproductively.

“Footprints are important because they fall into the category of trace fossils, which includes footprints, nests, and burrows,” said Craig Feibel, a professor at Rutgers University.

“Trace fossils are not parts of living things, but they provide evidence of behavior. Fossil body parts, such as bones and teeth, are evidence of past life, but they are easily displaced by water and predators. ”

This is a reconstruction by the artist homo erectus. Image credit: Yale University.

Professor Feibel and his colleagues discovered footprints from 1.5 million years ago. homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei Near Lake Turkana in Kenya.

“By being on the same surface and forming closely together over time, these two species are located at the edge of the lake and use the same habitat,” Professor Feibel said.

“Skeletal fossils have long provided the primary evidence for studying human evolution, but new data from fossil footprints reveals fascinating details about the evolution of human anatomy and locomotion. , giving further clues about ancient human behavior and the environment,” said Dr. Kevin Hatala. , a researcher at Chatham University.

“Fossil footprints are interesting because they provide a vivid snapshot of our fossil relatives coming to life.”

“These types of data can help us understand how living individuals millions of years ago moved through their environments, interacted with each other, and potentially interacted with other animals. Masu.”

“That's something you can never get from bones or stone tools.”

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

The authors used a new method they recently developed that allows them to perform 3D analysis to distinguish one footprint from another.

“Biological anthropology is always interested in finding new ways to extract behavior from the fossil record, and this is a great example,” said Dr. Rebecca Ferrell, program director at the National Science Foundation.

“The team used state-of-the-art 3D imaging technology to create a completely new way to observe footprints, which will help us understand human evolution and the role of cooperation and competition in shaping our evolutionary journey. It will help.”

of findings Published in today's diary science.

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Kevin G. Hatala others. 2024. Footprint evidence of locomotor diversity and common habitats in early Pleistocene hominids. science 386 (6725): 1004-1010;doi: 10.1126/science.ado5275

Source: www.sci.news

Ancient footprints reveal how early human species lived together

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Footprints thought to have been left by an individual of Paranthropus boisei

Neil T. Roach

Preserved footprints in Kenya appear to record two different species of ancient humans walking along the same muddy lake shore, perhaps within days of each other. This is one of the most dramatic pieces of evidence ever discovered that multiple human species once coexisted in the world.

“It's really unusual to find evidence of two different species walking on that surface,” he says. Kevin Hatala at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

footprints Discovered in 2021 Kobi Fora, Kenya, near the eastern shore of Lake Turkana. They were first discovered by team member Richard Loki. Turkana Basin Research Institute“Originally, there was a team of Kenyans working there,” Hatala says.

The researchers discovered a track consisting of 12 footprints preserved in a layer of dry sand and silt (see image above). This was apparently left behind by one person walking in a straight line. Near the main group were also three isolated prints that appeared to have been made by three different individuals. The lack of mud cracks or signs of overprinting with other tracks indicates that these prints were all made at about the same time. “These sites are probably capturing times ranging from minutes to days,” Hatala says.

This deposit was determined to be approximately 1.52 million years old. Isolated footprints are similar to footprints left by modern humans. Your heel touches the ground first, then your foot rolls forward and you push off with the sole of your foot. Hatala and his colleagues suggest that these may have been fabricated. homo erectusis known to have lived in this area.

In contrast, continuous trajectories were created by flatter-footed hominins. Hatala and his colleagues suggest that this could be Paranthropus boiseianother type of hominin that lived in this area.

The footprint fossil on the left, with its deeper heel marks, is thought to have been made by Homo erectus, and the more flat-footed fossil on the right is thought to have been made by Paranthropus boisei.

Kevin Hatala/Chatham

“With footprints, you can never be 100% sure who made them,” he says. Ashley Wiseman from University College London was not involved in the study but, H. erectus and P.Boisei. They are the only humans whose remains have been found preserved in this area, “so we can make an informed guess that it is these two individuals.”

If the track was really made by humans, P.Boisei Wiseman said the specimen appears to have been walking on two legs. The bones of the skull, arms, and legs are paranthropus“We've never found a skull associated with the rest of the skeleton,” she says, meaning little is known about their bodies beyond their heads, and the way they walk remains a mystery. The trajectory will be changed, saying, “This is clear evidence that it was walking on two legs.''

These two species were very different. H. erectus It was one of the earliest members of our genus, homo. They had larger brains than early humans and were the first clade to travel outside of Africa. in contrast, P.Boisey They had large teeth and jaws, small brains, and were apparently adapted to eating chewy foods like grasses and sedges.

Hatala and his team then looked at other known footprints found in the same area and at the same time and found that they appeared to match either species. “Similar patterns have been seen at other sites, which may span more than 100,000 years,” he says. “These two species appear to have coexisted with each other in this same familiar landscape for a very long time.”

“If they were able to coexist for more than 100,000 years, we speculate that there was probably a low to neutral level of competition,” Hatala says. Previous research suggests that the two people were eating different foods. Unlike P.Boisei, H. erectus It is thought that they had a varied diet, including hunting large animals.

“Both could carve out their own existence within this shared landscape,” Hatala says. Subsequent changes in the environment may have had an effect. P.Boisei Potentially extinct, yet more adaptable H. erectus Survived.

topic:

  • evolution/
  • evolution of humanity

Source: www.newscientist.com

Study reveals last common ancestor lived 4.2 billion years ago

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The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) is a hypothetical common ancestor of all modern cellular life, from single-celled organisms such as bacteria to giant sequoia trees and even to us humans. Our understanding of LUCA therefore has implications for our understanding of the early evolution of life on Earth.

Probabilistic inference of metabolic networks for modern organisms present in LUCA. Image courtesy of Moody others., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1.

LUCA is a node on the tree of life from which the basic prokaryotic domains (Archaea and Bacteria) branch off.

Modern life evolved from LUCA from a variety of different sources: the same amino acids used to build proteins in all cellular organisms, a shared energy currency (ATP), the presence of cellular machinery such as ribosomes involved in creating proteins from information stored in DNA, and even the fact that all cellular organisms use DNA itself as a way to store information.

In the new study, University of Bristol scientist Edmund Moody and his colleagues compared all the genes in the genomes of modern species and counted the mutations that had occurred in the sequences over time since a common ancestor called LUCA.

The time when some species split off is known from the fossil record, and the team used a genetic equivalent of a familiar equation used in physics to calculate speed to determine when LUCA existed, arriving at 4.2 billion years ago – just 400 million years after Earth and the solar system formed.

“The evolutionary history of genes is complicated by the exchange of genes between lineages,” Dr Moody said.

“Reconciling the evolutionary history of genes with species lineages requires the use of complex evolutionary models.”

“We didn't expect LUCA to be so old, within just a few hundred million years of Earth's formation,” said Dr Sandra Alvarez-Carretero, also from the University of Bristol.

“But our findings are consistent with modern views of the habitability of early Earth.”

The study authors also traced the lineage of life back to LUCA and modeled the physiological traits of modern species to elucidate LUCA's biology.

“One of the real advantages here is that we applied the gene tree and species tree reconciliation approach to a highly diverse dataset representing the major domains of life: Archaea and Bacteria,” said Dr Tom Williams from the University of Bristol.

“This allows us to make statements with some confidence about how LUCA lived and to assess that level of confidence.”

“Our study shows that LUCA was a complex organism not too different from modern prokaryotes, but what's really interesting is that LUCA clearly had an early immune system, indicating that by 4.2 billion years ago our ancestors were in an arms race with viruses,” said Professor Davide Pisani, from the University of Bristol.

“LUCA clearly used and transformed its environment, but it is unlikely to have lived alone,” said researcher Dr Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter.

“That waste would then serve as food for other microorganisms, such as methanogens, helping to create a recycling ecosystem.”

“The insights and methods provided by this study will also inform future studies looking in more detail at the subsequent evolution of prokaryotes in the context of Earth's history, including the less-studied archaea and their methanogens,” said Professor Anja Spang, researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research.

“Our study brings together data and methods from multiple disciplines, revealing insights into the early Earth and life that could not be achieved by any single discipline alone,” said Professor Philip Donoghue, from the University of Bristol.

“It also shows how quickly ecosystems were established on the early Earth.”

“This suggests that life may thrive in an Earth-like biosphere somewhere in the universe.”

This study paper Published in the journal today Natural Ecology and Evolution.

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ERR Moody othersThe nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system. Nat Ecol EvolPublished online July 12, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1

This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Bristol.

Source: www.sci.news

A new species of thescelosaur dinosaur found to have lived in underground burrows

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Thescelosaurinae A group of small to medium-sized herbivorous dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. The newly discovered Thescelosaurinae species Fona Herzogae It shows evidence that these dinosaurs spent at least some of their time in underground burrows.

Fona HerzogaeImage courtesy of Jorge Gonzalez.

Fona Herzogae It lived in what is now Utah about 99 million years ago (Cretaceous Period).

At the time, the region was a vast floodplain ecosystem between a huge inland sea to the east and active volcanoes and mountains to the west. It was a warm, wet, muddy environment with numerous rivers and streams.

Since 2013, paleontologists from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have excavated this fossil, as well as other specimens of the same species, in the Mussenchutchit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation.

The state of preservation of these fossils and some of the features they have suggest that they may have been burrowing.

Fona Herzogae It was a small, herbivorous dinosaur about the size of a large dog and with a simple body shape.

Although they lack the flashy ornamentation of their more well-adorned relatives, such as horned, armored, or crowned dinosaurs, Fona Herzogae it was boring.

Fona Herzogae It shares several anatomical features with animals known for digging and burrowing, including large biceps, strong muscle attachments in the hips and legs, fused bones along the pelvis (probably helping with stability while digging), and hind limbs that are proportionally larger than the forelimbs, but that's not the only evidence that this animal spent time underground.

“The fossil record is biased towards large animals, mainly because in floodplain environments like Mussentucht, small bones at the surface are often scattered, rotted, or scavenged before being buried and fossilized,” says Habib Abrahami, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University and digital engineer for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences' new “Dueling Dinosaurs” program.

“but Fona Herzogae In many cases, the bones are found in very good condition and complete, with many of them preserved in their original death position, with their chest down and their forelimbs spread.”

“If they had already been in an underground burrow before they died, it would have been more likely to have been preserved in this way.”

Dr. Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at North Carolina State University, director of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and corresponding author of the study, agrees.

“Fona Herzogae “We've found a much larger number of skeletons of small animals with weak bones in this area than we would have expected,” Dr Zanno said.

“The most likely explanation for why so many specimens have been found and why they were recovered in small bundles is that they lived underground, at least part of the time.”

“Essentially, Fona Herzogae They have done a tremendous job for us by putting the whole area underground.”

Although researchers have yet to identify the underground burrow, Fona Herzogaethe tunnels and chambers of its closest relatives, OryctodromeusIt was discovered in Idaho and Montana. These discoveries Fona Herzogae They also used burrows.

Fona Herzogae It is also a distant relative of Willo, another famous North Carolina fossil. Thescelosaurus neglectus This specimen, now in a museum, is thought to have been adapted to a semi-cryptic lifestyle, that is, partially underground.

“Thescelosaurus neglectus At the end of this lineage was Fona Herzogae “It's an ancestor from about 35 million years ago,” Avrahami says.

The researchers Fona Herzogae It is key to improving our understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems.

“Fona Herzogae “It gives us insight into the three-dimensional space that animals can occupy by moving underground,” Avrahami said.

“This discovery adds to the richness of the fossil record and expands the known diversity of small herbivores, a vital yet poorly understood component of Cretaceous ecosystems.”

“People tend to have a myopic view of dinosaurs that hasn't kept pace with scientific advances,” Dr Zanno said.

“We now know that dinosaur diversity ranged from small arboreal gliding animals and nocturnal hunters to sloth-like herbivores and, of course, animals that hid underground.”

of work Appear Anatomy record.

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Habib M. Avrahami othersA new, semi-excavated thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian Mussenchutit Formation of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah. Anatomy recordPublished online July 9, 2024; doi: 10.1002/ar.25505

This article is a version of a press release provided by North Carolina State University.

Source: www.sci.news

500,000 people may have lived in a large submerged area near Australia

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The blue and pink areas indicate vast habitable areas that were once connected to northwestern Australia, but are now underwater.

Kasi Norman

As many as 500,000 people may have once lived on land in what is now northern Australia, which was submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age.

Kasi Norman Professors at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, have reconstructed the topography of the approximately 400,000 square kilometers of land currently covered by the Indian Ocean, known as the North-West Shelf. The researchers say this is not an uninhabitable place as previously thought, but rather a place where people have thrived for tens of thousands of years.

The study revealed features such as inland seas as large as the Sea of ​​Marmara in Turkey and vast freshwater lakes with gorges, rivers and cliffs, such as those currently found in Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. became.

Mr Norman said this large area of ​​flooded land had long been known from oil and gas exploration, but the Australian Institute of Geosciences recently released detailed sonar data with pixels down to 30 x 30 metres. It is said that he did. “This is high enough resolution to tell us about landscape features that are important to people,” she says.

Research has revealed that the inland sea existed in a stable form from 27,000 to 17,000 years ago. A nearby 2,000 square kilometer freshwater lake remained stable from 30,000 to 14,000 years ago. The lake is thought to have been an important refuge for people fleeing south from the arid Australian continent during the Ice Age.

By modeling these geographic features, the researchers estimate that the area could have supported a population of 50,000 to 500,000 people.

“This vast landscape that no longer exists would have been very different from what we see in Australia today,” Norman said. “It's incredible to have a freshwater lake of this size next to an inland sea, and people would have lived on the other side of that lake. This is a lost landscape that people were using. is.”

However, at the end of the last ice age, sea levels began to rise dramatically. Initially, sea levels rose at about 1 meter per 100 years, Norman said, but from 14,500 to 14,100 years ago, the rate increased to 400 to 500 meters per 100 years.

If things had continued, people would have seen sea levels rise and be forced to move inland to escape flooding.

He said the region had never before modeled how many people it supported. peter bess The research, from the University of Western Australia, was made possible thanks to new detailed paleogeographical data available to the team.

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Source: www.newscientist.com