The
face of the oldest man (credit to Daily Mail)
Many
mainstream medias reported about the finding of the oldest human
ancestor from Ethiopia, Africa recently.
We
already knew that the 3.2 million years old Lucy was believed to be
our oldest ancestor. The scientific name of Lucy is Australopithecus
afarensis.
Lucy
is different with ape (ancient ape) in terms of:
-
start to walk on two legs
-
brain
-
body size
-
strong jaws
The
similarity that Lucy’s face is look like apes, and previously live
on the trees. Even though Lucy able to walk then, but they still use
their hands to hang on the trees.
Skull
of the oldest human ancestor
Now,
scientists found the oldest human ancestor. 3.8 million years old,
Australopithecus
anamensis who
is
older than
previous discovered, Lucy.
With
new finding, scientists have two hypotheses:
1.
Australopithecus
anamensis was
Lucy’s parents. Then, Lucy had evolved to be an ancestor of
Australopithecus
hominins. This evolutionary line led to Homo
sapiens,
modern human, our selves.
2.
Australopithecus
anamensis had
directed evolutionary
line to the ancestor
of Australopithecus
hominins, then Homo
sapiens,
modern man. Lucy was not involve in this evolution process.
To
find out which one is true, scientists needed to assemble reliable
data of specimen from:
-
different time periods
-
different geographical locations
-
different evolutionary trajectory.
Hope,
we could settle doubt soon and understand more of our ancestors,
include the way they evolved to become modern human.