A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia

被引:215
作者
Alemseged, Zeresenay
Spoor, Fred
Kimbel, William H.
Bobe, Rene
Geraads, Denis
Reed, Denne
Wynn, Jonathan G.
机构
[1] Max Planck Inst Evolutionary Anthropol, Dept Human Evolut, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
[2] UCL, Dept Anat & Dev Biol, London WC1E 6BT, England
[3] Arizona State Univ, Sch Human Evolut & Social Change, Inst Human Origins, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
[4] Univ Georgia, Dept Anthropol, Athens, GA 30602 USA
[5] CNRS, UPR 2147, F-75014 Paris, France
[6] Univ Texas, Dept Anthropol, Austin, TX 78712 USA
[7] Univ St Andrews, Sch Geog & Geosci, St Andrews KY16 9AL, Fife, Scotland
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature05047
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Understanding changes in ontogenetic development is central to the study of human evolution. With the exception of Neanderthals, the growth patterns of fossil hominins have not been studied comprehensively because the fossil record currently lacks specimens that document both cranial and postcranial development at young ontogenetic stages. Here we describe a well-preserved 3.3-million-year-old juvenile partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in the Dikika research area of Ethiopia. The skull of the approximately three-year-old presumed female shows that most features diagnostic of the species are evident even at this early stage of development. The find includes many previously unknown skeletal elements from the Pliocene hominin record, including a hyoid bone that has a typical African ape morphology. The foot and other evidence from the lower limb provide clear evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the gorilla-like scapula and long and curved manual phalanges raise new questions about the importance of arboreal behaviour in the A. afarensis locomotor repertoire.
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页码:296 / 301
页数:6
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