The new findings could provide insight into ancient human evolution

LONDON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua Zhang Jiawei) -- An international team of researchers has analyzed a fairly complete skull fossil 3.8 million years ago and concluded that the lakeside southern ape and the Afa southern ancient ape may have existed side by side for at least 100,000 years, during which time ancient humans belonged to "branch evolution" rather than "forward evolution", said a report published online.
in ancient human studies, how to distinguish between humans and apes was controversial, and anthropologists later used "habitual two-legged upright walking" as the criterion for distinguishing. As a result, southern ancient apes, which were habitual to walk upright but could not make tools, were classified as genus Southern paleontology. It is generally believed that the lakeside southern ancient ape is the oldest known member of the southern genus of ancient apes, with the famous "Lucy" fossil as the representative of the Afa southern ancient ape followed closely.
team of researchers from the United States, Germany and Italy analyzed a skull fossil unearthed in Ethiopia, which researchers say is the most complete of the 3 million-year-old skull fossils found so far. Using microCT technology and 3D reconstruction technology, the team analyzed the structural features of the skull fossil, including wide cheeks, prominent jaws, larger canine teeth, etc., and determined that it belonged to the lakeside southern ape.
, the previously discovered fossils of the lakeside southern ancient ape are limited to jaw bones, teeth, skull fragments, so this near-complete skull fossil for the lakeside southern ancient ape research is very valuable.The
team believes that from the age of the skull fossil's owner, the lakeside southern ape and the Afa southern ape may have coexisted for at least 100,000 years, suggesting that the ancient humans of this period belonged to a "branch evolution" rather than what some previously thought was a "forward evolution", a linear process within a single evolutionary branch.Johannes Hale-Selassie, author of the
report and a scholar at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, USA, believes this is a subversive discovery of the human evolution of the Last World, some 5 million to 3 million years from now.