An advanced method of dating has revealed that the remains of Australopithecus named “Little Foot” (“Little Foot”) are similar to those of the famous “Lucy” time, according published in the journal “Nature”.
The nearly complete skeleton of “Little Foot”, found 21 years ago in the cave of Sterkfontein, South Africa , lived about 3 67 million years, while “Lucy” whose remains first demonstrated that the ancestors of man could walk upright, lived about 3.2 million years ago.
The new dating of the remains has occurred thanks to analysis of minerals in the cave where it was found the hominid.
The international team of researchers published the study emphasizes that although “Lucy” and “Little Foot” lived at the same time have different characteristics .
The Sterkfontein skeleton belongs to the species Australopithecus Prometheus , which differs from the Australopithecus Africanus , which “Lucy” belongs in having a larger body size, a flatter skull and a more protruding teeth.
anthropologist Ronald J. Clarke dubbed “Little foot” the skeleton since the first remains that appeared were the feet
Según a new date, this hominid lived in the same era as the first Australopithecus africanus Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The skeleton of Lucy was found on November 24, 1974 for an anthropological mission led by Donald Johanson in Ethiopia.
The finding allowed to try for first time ancestors of man could walk upright over 3 million years ago.
At the skeleton was given the name “Lucy” by a Beatles song, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” which sounded at the time that paleontologists discovered the bones.
The excavations for more information on “Little Foot” continue in the South African cave where it was found.
The scientists conclude that given large morphological differences between the two Austarlopithecus, “Lucy” and “Little foot”, this finding raises new questions about the diversity, geographic distribution and relationships among species of hominids in Africa. EFE
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