Geological and palaeontological context of a Pliocene juvenile hominin at Dikika, Ethiopia

Jonathan G. Wynn (), Zeresenay Alemseged, René Bobe, Denis Geraads, Denné Reed and Diana C. Roman
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Jonathan G. Wynn: University of St Andrews
Zeresenay Alemseged: Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
René Bobe: University of Georgia
Denis Geraads: CNRS UPR 2147
Denné Reed: University of Texas at Austin
Diana C. Roman: University of South Florida

Nature, 2006, vol. 443, issue 7109, 332-336

Abstract: The child of her time Much of what makes us human lies in our childhood. Almost nothing is known of the early development of australopithecines, the stock whence Homo is believed to have emerged, but this will change with the discovery of a 3.3-million-year-old partial skeleton of a juvenile Australopithecus afarensis from Dikika in Ethiopia. The skull, of a presumed three-year-old female, shows that key features diagnostic of the species (which includes the famous 'Lucy') were present even in young juveniles. The rest of the skeleton — including a foot and knee — suggests that this creature kept her feet on the ground for much of the time. But the largely gorilla-like scapula and long curved manual phalanges will re-open the debate about the importance of tree climbing in A. afarensis and its ancestors. The latest web focus on hominid development includes a movie of this important fossil.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05048

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