Ancient Ethiopian Fossil Reveals 'Lucy' Species May Not be the Only Human Ancestor

"Lucy" is famous for being one of the first ancestors of humans. Now, though, scientists have found she may have had company. They've uncovered a 3.3 to 3.5 million-year-old new human ancestor species.

Lucy's species lived from 2.9 million years ago to 3.8 million year ago. This actually overlaps with the newly discovered species, dubbed Australopithecus deyiremeda. The new species is the most conclusive evidence to date for the contemporaneous presence of more than one closely related early human ancestor prior to 3 million years ago.

The new species takes the form of upper and lower jaw fossils that were recovered from the Woranso-Mille area of the Afar region of Ethiopia. It differs from Lucy's species in terms of the shape and size of its thick-enameled teeth and the robust architecture of its lower jaws. In addition, the anterior teeth are relatively small, which indicates that the species had a different diet.

"The new species is yet another confirmation that Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, was not the only potential human ancestor species that roamed in what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia during the middle Pliocene," said Yohannes Haile-Selassie, lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Current fossil evidence from the Woranso-Mille area clearly shows that there were at least two, if not three, early human species living at the same time and in close geographic proximity."

The new species takes the ongoing debate on early hominin diversity to a new level. While some are skeptical of the new species, it's further evidence that there was more than one pre-human species between 3 and 4 million years ago. The discovery has important implications for the understanding of early hominin ecology, and raises questions about how multiple early hominins living at the same time may have used and shared the landscape and its available resources.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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