Palaeontology

Ethiopia fossil find shows human ancestors lived alongside one another

By T.K. Randall
May 17, 2026

Image: Paranthropus Boisei - Forensic Facial Reconstruction (illustrative)
Credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) It is a common misconception that humans evolved in a straight line from early ape-like creatures to progressively more advanced species until eventually ending up as Homo sapiens.

In actual fact, human evolution was a messy, branching tree that saw multiple human ancestor species living alongside one another in the same place at the same time.

An example of this was highlighted recently following the discovery of fossils showing early Homo members living alongside a previously undiscovered species of Australopithecus.

The find, which was made in modern-day Ethiopia, dates back 2.6 to 2.8 million years."This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct - evolution doesn't work like that," said paleoecologist Kaye Reed of Arizona State University.

"Here we have two hominin species that are together. And human evolution is not linear, it's a bushy tree, there are life forms that go extinct."

The key to the discovery was a set of 13 fossil teeth found in ancient sediment.

Despite their immense age - and the very limited evidence available - these teeth have provided scientists with valuable clues, helping them piece together a clearer picture of our distant past.

Discoveries of this nature are exceptionally rare, making this one especially significant.

Source: Science Daily

Tags: Human