Carl Zimmer is probably the best man to go to for the lowdown on the new hominid find from Ethiopia.
Meet Ardipithecus. This introduction has been a long time coming. Some 4.4 million years ago, a hominid now known as Ardipithecus ramidus lived in what were then forests in Ethiopia. Fifteen years ago, Tim White of Berkeley and a team of Ethiopian and American scientists published the first account of Ardipithecus, which they had just discovered. But it was just a preliminary report, and White promised more details later, once he and his colleagues had carefully prepared and analyzed all the fossils they had unearthed. “Later,” it turned out, meant 15 years.
More at National Geographic:
"What Ardi tells us is there was this vast intermediate stage in our evolution that nobody knew about," said Owen Lovejoy, an anatomist at Kent State University in Ohio, who analyzed Ardi's bones below the neck. "It changes everything."And, if you're really serious about this, here's the full deal at Science Magazine. Free, but registration required.
Man, that is some kinda potential goalie!!!
Seriously though, didn't we just have this conversation re the other professorial gent, and his bone find?
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/lemke/geol370/lecture_notes/15_ice_age_chronology.html
The chances of finding any evidence of early hominids in Northern latitudes is zilch; there's just been too much geological upheaval, and erosion on a massive scale.
Finding another hominid dead end is right up there with the Sun rising tomorrow, news wise. Even if you can't see it you know it's there.
Posted by: DaninVan | October 03, 2009 at 07:47 AM