Australopithecus sediba find in South Africa

Photo © Lee R. Berger, Science 9 April 2010

The incredible hominid discovery just north of Johannesburg, South by paleoanthropologist Lee Berger has yielded an entirely new hominid species, Australopithecus sediba. The finds give researchers yet another clue into yet another branch in the rich and complex history of hominid prehistory.

In hominid study, the age of a specimen is one of the most critical pieces of data in placing it in the proper context. Using uranium-lead dating in the deposits just below the finds, independent labs in Switzerland, and Australia were able to date the deposits in which the fossils were deposited at between 2.024 million and 2.026 million years respectively, with standard deviation of ±62,000 years million years ago. Paleontologists are also able to arrive at similar date ranges based on the animal bones found with the hominid remains

The researchers have uncovered some of the most complete skeletons ever found for a hominid of this age. Two skeletons in particular were noted, one of a young (11-12 years old) boy and an older female. The skull is one of the most complete early hominid skeletons uncovered.

Tim White, the lead scientist in the Ardipithecus ramidus find in 1992-1994, believes that the hominid is more closely aligned with australopithecines than the offshoot that led to modern Homo sapiens. The find could be a smaller verion of more gracile australopithecines like Australopithecus africanus.

Like most tiny pieces of an immense and complex puzzle of hominid development, this will produce as much controversy as clues. Nevertheless, it's an exciting and revealing discovery of the complexity that was sure to have been prevalent in early hominid development. These finds remind me of the quote by Darwin:

"Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system- with all these exalted powers- Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origins."
- Charles Darwin Descent of Man 1871