Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

'Cradle of Humankind' Fossils May Be a Million Years Older Than Previously Thought


Still Waters

Recommended Posts

Multiple ancient hominin remains from caves in South Africa may be much, much older than previous estimates suggested.

The Sterkfontein limestone cave system, not far from Johannesburg, has yielded so many ancient bones from the hominin genus Australopithecus over the last century that its location has been dubbed the Cradle of Humankind – deeply important to the study of human evolution.

Now, new dating techniques suggest that the remains date back nearly 4 million years – making them even older than the famous Australopithecus afarensis individual Dinkinesh, nicknamed Lucy.

https://www.sciencealert.com/cradle-of-humankind-fossils-may-be-a-million-years-older-than-we-previously-thought

The team's research has been published in PNAS.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2123516119

  • Thanks 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

That new date is much closer to the date apes and humans split apart from the family tree.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.