Scientists have dug up the remains of a primitive apeman which they believe could be the first of our ancestors to have walked upright.
The discovery is of critical importance in understanding human evolution. Researchers are still unsure why our ape-like ancestors abandoned their four-legged gait and their homes in the trees so that they could walk upright on the ground.
‘Once we started walking upright, tool-making and brain development followed on,’ said palaeontologist Professor Leslie Aiello, of University College London. ‘Anything that helps us understand why we moved from four to two feet is therefore of great importance.’
The fragments of skeleton were discovered by a US-Ethiopian team at Mille, in the north-east Afar region of Ethiopia, and are estimated to be between 3.8 and 4 million years old. They include a complete tibia from the lower part of the leg, parts of a thighbone, ribs, vertebrae, a collarbone, pelvis and a complete shoulder blade, or scapula.
The fossils also included an anklebone which, with the tibia, proved that the creature walked upright, said Bruce Latimer, director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Ohio, who led the two-month excavation.
‘Right now we can say this is the world’s oldest bipedal (two-footed) apeman. What makes us human is walking upright,’ Latimer said. ‘This discovery will give us a picture of how walking upright occurred. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime find.’
The findings have not been reviewed by outside scientists or published in a scientific journal. Nevertheless palaeontologists have responded warmly to the news.
‘There is such a paucity of remains from this early period of our evolution,’ said Aiello. ‘A find like this could make a significant difference to our knowledge.’
Previously, paleontologists have discovered remains of a 4,5 million-year-old apeman called Ardipithecus ramidus in Ethiopia.
However, its discoverer, Tim White, has still to reveal a full analysis of these fossils and scientists are still unsure whether it walked upright or on four legs. – Guardian Unlimited Â