Some of the morphological characteristics of the human hand are different from that of other primates enabling us to grab objects with precision and use them exerting a force. Yet, how did our early ...

The limitations of the fossil record leave ample room for debate about human origins. But most palaeoanthropologists agree that selection for bipedalism was instrumental in setting the human lineage ...

The species Australopithecus afarensis inhabited East Africa more than three million years ago, and occupies a key position in the hominin family tree, as it is widely accepted to be ancestral to all ...

A fossilized foot found in the dusty sediments of northern Ethiopia has reopened one of paleoanthropology’s most ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Fossils of early ...

An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link Everything we know about the group of human ancestors called australopiths comes from just a few dozen fossils. But a skull discovered in Ethiopia ...

That’s kind of the state of affairs in human evolution, especially now that a new branch of the clan has crawled out of some anthropological backwater and horned its way into the party.

The most famous Australopithecus fossil is the one nicknamed Lucy The incorporation of meat into the diet was a milestone for the human evolutionary lineage, a potential catalyst for advances such as ...

Australopithecus sediba (center) has a unique mix of anatomical traits that has led to debate over its proper place in the hominin family tree. For comparison: a small-bodied female modern human (left ...