Australopithecines sediba, considered today the prime candidates for the "missing link" in human evolution, are actually closer to Australopithecines than to the genus Homo, paleontologists said at a conference of the American Association of Anthropologists in New Orleans.
“The specimen that Berger and his colleagues found is a teenager, the equivalent of a modern seventh grader. Our calculations showed that he will be closer to African Australopithecines than to humans by the time he grows up. Accordingly, we do not believe that Australopithecines sediba have a unique connection with the genus Homo,”said William Kimbel of the University of Arizona at Tempe, USA, quoted by the Science news service.
Almost ten years ago, the famous paleontologist Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) made an amazing discovery - he, or rather his 9-year-old son and a dog, found bones of a previously unknown species of ancient protomen, Australopithecus sediba, in Malapa Cave.) that lived on Earth about two million years ago.
This Australopithecus is unusual in that its remains are a kind of mosaic of features of the more ancient Australopithecines and representatives of the genus Homo, including the typically human structure of the hands and feet, which were probably adapted to work with tools and upright posture. For this reason, Berger and many other paleoanthropologists believe that Australopithecus sediba is the oldest human ancestor.
Kimbel and his colleague Yoel Rak of Tel Aviv University, Israel, argue that Berger and his supporters are wrong. According to the Israeli and American paleontologists, their colleagues were misinformed by the fact that the specimen they found is not an adult "human", but a teenager with characteristic "childish" features of anatomy.
Having scanned the skull and bones of the Australopithecus sediba, Kimbel and Cancer created a computer program that artificially "aged" their owner and showed what he should have looked like in adulthood.
What happened, says Kimbel, was not like a human or our closest ancestors in the form of bipedal or skillful people (Homo erectus and Homo habilis), but rather like "ordinary" African Australopithecus, who lived in Africa at the same time as the real human ancestors. Therefore, according to both paleontologists, Australopithecus sediba should be considered relatives of the late Australopithecines, and not a "lost link" in human evolution.
Berger's supporters disagree with this and, as Science reports, their version of such computer calculations showed exactly opposite results. According to them, the only way to truly "overthrow" Australopithecus sediba from the throne of the supposed ancestor of humans is to find the remains of an adult, which is now what Berger's team is doing.
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