OREANDA-NEWS. Paleontologists described the found skull of Anamic Australopithecus, the oldest species of these hominids.  Scientists dated fossils from 3.78–3.8 million years ago and showed that Anama Australopithecus was not the ancestor of Afar Australopithecus - these two species lived at least 100 thousand years at the same time.  Studies published in Nature (1, 2) are summarized in an editorial of the journal.

 “Paleontologists have previously found teeth and jaws of this species, but now we finally come across almost a whole skull that allows us to look in the face of Australopithecus anamensis. It's just unbelievable!”, Paleontologists and geologists working in Africa say.

 According to archaeologists, the found Australopithecus also had primitive facial features characteristic of later species.  Some features are similar to those of Afar Australopithecus, others are characteristic of much more ancient genera of hominids - Ardipithecus, who lived 4.4 million years ago, and sahelanthropes, who lived about seven million years ago.