Ancient Australopithecus Lived Beside Early Homo 2.6 Million Years Ago

A new australopithecine species lived with early Homo around 2.6 million years ago, adding depth to our origin story.

Ancient Australopithecus Lived Beside Early Homo 2.6 Million Years Ago

Researchers report 13 fossil teeth from the Ledi-Geraru area in Ethiopia, dated to roughly 2.6 to 2.8 million years ago. The teeth point to a new Australopithecus species found alongside the oldest known Homo remains in the same sediment, with the age confirmed by volcanic ash layers that include feldspars.

Published in Nature, the study is led by scientists at Arizona State University. It shows Australopithecus and Homo coexisted in the same landscape, challenging the idea of a single linear path from ape to human. The fossils include both Australopithecus teeth and early Homo remains found in the same deposits, suggesting a more complex evolutionary picture. The researchers say more fossils are needed to confirm the new species and to understand how these lineages overlapped in space and time.

Non-linearity is the through line. This discovery supports a bushy tree view of evolution, where multiple hominin species occupy overlapping ecosystems. If two lineages roamed the same area, people of that era used similar tools and shared habitats, complicating how we classify ancient remains.

For readers, the finding invites nuance. It shifts how we teach early chapters of human history and stresses the need for more fossils to map the margins of overlap. It also reminds scientists that the fossil record is fragmentary and that new discoveries can upend tidy timelines, one page at a time.

Highlights

The fossil record keeps reminding us that our origins are still being written.