Dmanisi Skull Gives New Face To Early Human Ancestors

摘要

Researchers unveiled the most complete skull of an early human ancestor this past November-and proved once again that a single fossil can transform our picture of human ancestors. The stunning 1.8-million-year-old remains of a mature male had a remarkably small brain and a large, jutting jaw. That's just the opposite of what researchers expected to find for members of our genus Homo at this time. Four skulls of our direct ancestor, Homo erectus, found in the same sliver of time and place-at Dmanisi in Georgia-had bigger brains and less conspicuous mugs. As a result, the latest Dmanisi skull, which even includes the fragile midface bones, has given early Homo a new visage.