Fossil finds extend human story
Researchers have found a human-like creature that may extend the human history we know, if it is an ancestor to our species. This fossil found in Ethiopia has about 4.4 million years! It is called Ardi and even if it is not a direct line to us, it offers new thoughts of how we evolved from chimps. This fossil was found in 1992 but it took 17 years to reconstruct and assess its significance.
It is said by scientists and researchers: "This is not an ordinary fossil, it is not a chimp. Its not Human, but it shows what we used to be"
The fossil came from the Middle Awash study area in the Afar Rift, about 230 km northeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's Capital. "Ardi" shows some animal characteristics the may be an echo to ancient apes, but it also has human-like features, that shows how apes were turning into humans. Scientists say that Ardi was a good tree climber but she also walked on two feet, but she didnt had arched feet, meaning that she couldnt walk long distances or run. She spent halve of her life on trees and halve in ground walking, and when she walked she did it upright close to how you and I walk.
It took 17 years of investigation to assess the discoveries in "Ardi".
Independent experts in the field are struck by how primitiveArdipithecus appears compared with the Australopithecines, another group of hominid (human-like) creatures from Africa that lived slightly nearer to us in time. One species in particular,Australopithecus afarensis, the famous "Lucy" fossil found in 1974, is very strongly linked into the human story because of its developed walking ability.
