Anthropologists have studied the bone remains of a humanoid creature that lived 3.67 million years ago and is known in science as skeleton number StW 573.
Among his people he was affectionately called "Littlefoot."
And these remains are so different from other skeletons of the same kind that it is possible that this particular branch was our ancestor, and not the one that is believed now.
Skeleton "Littlefoot" belongs to the genus Australopithecus - bipedal great apes that lived in Africa in the period from 4.2 to 1.8 million years ago and are considered the ancestors of the human race (Homo). Several species of Australopithecus are known, which also differ significantly from each other. For example, there are graceful australopithecines (slender) and massive (squat and heavy).
The most famous Australopithecus is "Lucy", which belongs to the Afar Australopithecus species and was found in 1974 in Ethiopia. She is also the first Australopithecus found. Before that, no one imagined that even more than 3 million years ago, human ancestors already confidently walked on two legs.
Australopithecus Lucy. Skeleton and face reconstruction.
The Littlefoot skeleton was found in 1994 in South Africa and was originally assigned to the same species as Lucy. However, many years later, through the efforts of its discoverer, significant differences became apparent. Littlefoot had longer legs than all other Australopithecines, and badly worn teeth indicated a mostly plant-based diet, which was also very unusual.
The ape-like Ardipithecus, which inhabited Africa before the appearance of the Australopithecines, had arms much longer than the legs, like chimpanzees and other great primates. Australopithecus had almost equal arms and legs. Littlefoot's legs were longer than arms, meaning she was even more upright than other Australopithecines.
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According to the researchers, all this undoubtedly points to a completely new species, which, at the same time, is much closer to humans than all other Australopithecines, and it is probably from him that humans originated. This new species was named Australopithecus prometheus.
Skeleton Littlefoot.
Littlefoot's skeleton belonged to a woman only 130 cm tall, whose age is not indicated, but she is called elderly. Moreover, it was a disabled individual with a severely bent left shoulder, but she was probably well cared for by other members of her group.
This woman lived 3.6 million years ago, and "Lucy" lived 3.2 million years ago. The first man of the modern type appeared only after 3 million years.
Littlefoot Skull.
For more than two decades, the Littlefoot skeleton was attributed to Australopithecus afar, and only the one who found it, Dr. Ronald Clark of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, argued all this time that this was wrong, and the remains did not belong to any known species of Australopithecus. He also named the skeleton Australopithecus Prometheus.
It was Dr. Klar who was the lead expert on the last four studies that confirmed that Littlefoot is indeed different.
According to Clark, it was a painstaking work that required incredible concentration due to the great fragility of the remains.
An ancient woman suffered a hand injury in early childhood, probably falling from a great height. Her bones did not heal properly and in adulthood her arm was severely bent.
Australopithecus afar, judging by the teeth, was omnivorous, eating both plant and animal food. Littlefoot ate virtually one plant-based diet. Moreover, both species lived at approximately the same time.
At the moment, anthropologists have found about 300 skeletons of Australopithecus afar and only one Australopithecus Prometheus, so it's too early to draw any conclusions. Maybe in the future, scientists will be lucky again and then the discovery of a new human ancestor will be officially recognized.