Yet another example of astonishing fossil preservation

[Kirkland Laing]

Fossil Ardi reveals the first steps of the human race


Ardi evolved from the common ancestor we share with chimpanzees and was equally at home walking on the ground and swinging through the trees

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• Ian Sample, science correspondent
• Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 October 2009

The remains of a woman who lived and died at the dawn of humanity have been uncovered in Ethiopia, giving the clearest picture yet of the origin of our species.
The partial skeleton belonged to a female who walked on two legs but was adept at climbing trees and moving through the forest canopy some 4.4m years ago.
The woman, named Ardi by the researchers who worked on her, belongs to a new species Ardipithecus ramidus and may be the earliest human ancestor ever discovered that was capable of walking upright.
The finding sheds light on a critical but unknown period of evolution at the root of the human family tree, shortly after our ancestors split from chimpanzees more than six million years ago.





Fossil hunters first glimpsed the new species in 1992 when a tooth belonging to Ardipithecus was spotted among pebbles in the desert near Aramis. Over the next two years, the researchers scoured the area on hands and knees and slowly uncovered pieces of bone from the hand, ankle and lower jaw, and finally a crushed skull.
A total of 47 researchers then spent a further 15 years removing, preparing and studying each of the fragments ahead of the publication tomorrow of an in-depth description of the species in 11 papers in the US journal Science......................................






Fossil Ardi illuminates the dawn of humanity | Science | guardian.co.uk

[Kev]

Fossil Ardi reveals the first steps of the human race


Ardi evolved from the common ancestor we share with chimpanzees and was equally at home walking on the ground and swinging through the trees

• Comments (57)
• Buzz up!
• Digg it

• Ian Sample, science correspondent
• Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 October 2009

The remains of a woman who lived and died at the dawn of humanity have been uncovered in Ethiopia, giving the clearest picture yet of the origin of our species.
The partial skeleton belonged to a female who walked on two legs but was adept at climbing trees and moving through the forest canopy some 4.4m years ago.
The woman, named Ardi by the researchers who worked on her, belongs to a new species Ardipithecus ramidus and may be the earliest human ancestor ever discovered that was capable of walking upright.
The finding sheds light on a critical but unknown period of evolution at the root of the human family tree, shortly after our ancestors split from chimpanzees more than six million years ago.





Fossil hunters first glimpsed the new species in 1992 when a tooth belonging to Ardipithecus was spotted among pebbles in the desert near Aramis. Over the next two years, the researchers scoured the area on hands and knees and slowly uncovered pieces of bone from the hand, ankle and lower jaw, and finally a crushed skull.
A total of 47 researchers then spent a further 15 years removing, preparing and studying each of the fragments ahead of the publication tomorrow of an in-depth description of the species in 11 papers in the US journal Science......................................






Fossil Ardi illuminates the dawn of humanity | Science | guardian.co.uk

Lol, so you think this is finally the big one eh, unlike Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man, Neanderthal Man, Java Man, and the recent Homo Florensius, you think this one will be finally be the missing link we've waited for

Five years and they will have moved on to something else.

Nice that they waited 17 years to 'research' this one, unlike every other find that they announce to the world even whilst it is still in the ground.

You know Lubenow's book 'The Bones of Contention' is worth a read if you actually want to seriously assess the hominoid fossil record.

Immediately jumping on every find as 'evidence' which will doubtless be thrown out within the next decade (as everything else has) is rather unbecoming for a supposed intelligent person.