Skull of humankind's oldest-known ancestor discovered

'Iconic' finding of 3.8m-year-old fossil in Ethiopia casts doubt on previous evolutionary theory

The face of the oldest species that unambiguously sits on the human evolutionary tree has been revealed for the first time by the discovery of a 3.8 million-year-old skull in Ethiopia.

The fossil belongs to an ancient hominin, Australopithecus anamensis, believed to be the direct ancestor of the famous "Lucy" species, Australopithecus afarensis. It dates back to a time when our ancestors were emerging from the trees to walk on two legs, but still had distinctly ape-like protruding faces, powerful jaws and small brains, and is the oldest-known member of the Australopithecus group.