ancestor

Human ancestor Homo erectus existed 200,000 years before previously thought

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Human ancestor Homo erectus may have lived two million years ago and emerged in South Africa – 200,000 years before previously thought Species was thought to have emerged 1.8 million years ago in east Africa   A skull found near Johannesburg predates this by around 200,000 years   Homo erectus may have lived alongside two other hominin species —  Australopithecus … Read more

Our ancient ancestor ‘Lucy’ had an ape-like brain that grew over time

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Human ancestors who lived over three million years ago had an ape-like brain structure but human-like brain growth that showed prolonged periods of care.  The findings are based on analysis of eight fossil skulls of Australopithecus afarensis – the species to which the famous early human ancestor ‘Lucy’ belongs. A. afarensis inhabited East Africa more … Read more

Creature that lived more than 555 million years ago is the ‘oldest ancestor of all living creatures’

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A worm-like creature that lived more than half a billion years ago has been discovered which is the ancestor for almost all living creatures.  The creature, called Ikaria wariootia, lived around 555 million years ago and was found in Australia.  It is the earliest known bilaterian, a creature with both a front and back, two symmetrical sides … Read more

‘Super-archaic’ human mated with the primitive ancestor of both Denisovans and Neanderthals

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‘Super-archaic’ human mated with the primitive ancestor of both Denisovans and Neanderthals 700,000 years ago Researchers used special software to compare the DNA of ancient human fossils They also found that Denisovans and Neanderthals split 600,000 years ago This is a much older estimate of the species’ divergence than proposed before By Ian Randall For Mailonline … Read more