Young Fossil Humanoid Found

[Tuckerfan]

Lucy’s ‘little sister’ found.

The stunningly complete skeleton of a three-year-old girl who lived 3.3 million years ago has been uncovered in Ethiopia. The child belongs to the species Australopithecus afarensis like the famous “Lucy”, who was discovered in 1974. The young age of the so-called Dikika child promises new insights into the growth of early humans.

The new find is the most complete and important skeleton of an immature Pliocene hominin ever found, says Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, who worked on the Lucy discovery. “The gist of the current paper is, ‘Eureka, we have it’,” he says.

Neat!