Scientists have discovered a new fossil of human-like species that appeared to live alongside with Lucy 3.4 million years ago, giving clues to the diversity of human family tree.
Phys reported that the new specimens were found in the study area of Woranso-Mille Paleontological Project, which is located in the central Afar region of Ethiopia about 520 kilometers northeast of the capital Addis Ababa and 35 kilometers north of Lucy’s site, Hadar.
Paleoanthropologist from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio Yohannes Haile-Selassie and the team call the new fossils as Australopithecus deyiremeda. Its name, "deyiremeda", derived from Afar people’s language that means "close relative.”
Lucy existed from 2.9 million to 3.8 million years ago, which overlapped in time with the existence of Australopithecus deyiremeda as well. Scientists suggest that A. deyiremeda offers a definite evidence that multiple and closely related human ancestors can exist together before three million years ago.
Lucy and A. deyiremeda differs from each other when it comes to the size and shape of their thick-enameled teeth and lower jaws structure. The new species has relatively small anterior teeth, which indicates a different diet from Lucy.
According to CBS News, University College London's Fred Spoor said that the answer to the coexisting of two human ancestors is probably contributed to the diversity of their preferred diet, hunting strategy, selection of habitat and the movement of their respective populations.
Researchers believe that these new findings have implications on our understanding of the ecology of early hominin. The study also suggests further investigation on how multiple early hominins exist together at the same time and how they shared resources and landscape.