Fossil:

ALA-VP-2/10

Source: Yohannes Haile-Salassie and Nature magazine

Site:

Middle Awash
Afar, Ethiopia (19)

Discovered By:

Yohannes Haile-Selassie
1997-1999 (19)

Estimated Age of Fossil:

5.5 mya - 5.8 mya
* determined by Stratigraphic, faunal, paleomagnetic & radiometric data (19)

Species Name:

Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba (19)

Gender:

Unknown (19)

Cranial Capacity:

Unknown cc (19)

Information:

11 fossils from 5 individuals. Including jawbone with teeth. (19)

Interpretation:

Lived in wet, wooded environment (Challenges hypothesis that hominids evolved on grassy plains) (19)
Bipedal (based on shape of toe bone) (19)
May represent earliest known human ancestor (19)
Perhaps a chimpanzee ancestor and not a human ancestor (18)