An Early Juvenile Hominin Skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05047
Abstract
Understanding changes in ontogenetic development is central to the study of human evolution. With the exception of Neanderthals, the growth patterns of fossil hominins have not been studied comprehensively because the fossil record currently lacks specimens that document both cranial and postcranial development at young ontogenetic stages. Here we describe a well-preserved 3.3-million-year-old juvenile partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in the Dikika research area of Ethiopia. The skull of the approximately three-year-old presumed female shows that most features diagnostic of the species are evident even at this early stage of development. The find includes many previously unknown skeletal elements from the Pliocene hominin record, including a hyoid bone that has a typical African ape morphology. The foot and other evidence from the lower limb provide clear evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the gorilla-like scapula and long and curved manual phalanges raise new questions about the importance of arboreal behaviour in the A. afarensis locomotor repertoire.
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Was this content written or created while at USF?
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Citation / Publisher Attribution
Nature, v. 443, p. 296-301
Scholar Commons Citation
Alemseged, Zeresenay; Spoor, Fred; Kimbel, William H.; Bobe, René; Geraads, Denis; Reed, Denné; and Wynn, Jonathan G., "An Early Juvenile Hominin Skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia" (2006). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 227.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/227
