Missing Link Found? - 03/25/06 11:55 PM
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Scientists in northeastern Ethiopia said Saturday that they have discovered the skull of a small human ancestor that could be a missing link between the extinct Homo erectus and modern man.
The hominid cranium -- found in two pieces and believed to be between 250,000 and 500,000 years old -- "comes from a very significant period and is very close to the appearance of the anatomically modern human," said Sileshi Semaw, director of the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in Ethiopia.
Archaeologists found the early human cranium five weeks ago at Gawis in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region, Sileshi said.
Sileshi, an Ethiopian paleoanthropologist based at Indiana University, said most fossil hominids are found in pieces but the near-complete skull -- a rare find -- provided a wealth of information.
For more:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/03/25/missing.link.ap/index.html
This may not be the so-called missing link. But it does point out that every year new finds diminish the places between the knowledge where an invisible purple rhinoceros can hide.
The hominid cranium -- found in two pieces and believed to be between 250,000 and 500,000 years old -- "comes from a very significant period and is very close to the appearance of the anatomically modern human," said Sileshi Semaw, director of the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in Ethiopia.
Archaeologists found the early human cranium five weeks ago at Gawis in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region, Sileshi said.
Sileshi, an Ethiopian paleoanthropologist based at Indiana University, said most fossil hominids are found in pieces but the near-complete skull -- a rare find -- provided a wealth of information.
For more:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/03/25/missing.link.ap/index.html
This may not be the so-called missing link. But it does point out that every year new finds diminish the places between the knowledge where an invisible purple rhinoceros can hide.