BBC Science Focus - 10.2019

DISCOVERIES

1. The researchers used
   distinctive features of the skull,
   particularly those of the upper
   jaw and canine teeth, to
   determine that it belonged to a
   representative of
   Australopithecus anamensis, a
   hominin species that lived
   between 4.2 and 3.8 million
   years ago. The term ‘hominin’
   refers to any human-like ape
   species, including modern
   humans as well as all of our
   early ancestors.


2. The age of the fossil was
   determined as being around 3.8
   million years old. To deduce
   this, sedimentologist Beverly
   Saylor and her colleagues at

Case Western Reserve

University in Ohio dated the

minerals in layers of volcanic

rock found nearby.

3. Palaeoartist John Gurche,
   who is artist-in-residence at
   New York’s Museum of the
   Earth, used the skull to piece
   together an incredibly realistic
   facial reconstruction of
   A. anamensis.


4. The skull was displayed
   alongside a 3D-printed replica
   during a press conference in
   Addis Ababa hosted by
   Ethiopian palaeoanthropologist
   Prof Yohannes Haile-Selassie,
   who found the skull.

3

ESA X4, GET T Y IMAGES

4

1. The researchers used
   distinctive features of the skull,
   particularly those of the upper
   jaw and canine teeth, to
   determine that it belonged to a
   representative of
   Australopithecus anamensis, a
   hominin species that lived
   between 4.2 and 3.8 million
   years ago. The term ‘hominin’
   refers to any human-like ape
   species, including modern
   humans as well as all of our
   early ancestors.


2. The age of the fossil was
   determined as being around 3.8
   million years old. To deduce
   this, sedimentologist Beverly
   Saylor and her colleagues at

Case Western Reserve

University in Ohio dated the

minerals in layers of volcanic

rock found nearby.

3. Palaeoartist John Gurche,
   who is artist-in-residence at
   New York’s Museum of the
   Earth, used the skull to piece
   together an incredibly realistic
   facial reconstruction of
   A. anamensis.


4. The skull was displayed
   alongside a 3D-printed replica
   during a press conference in
   Addis Ababa hosted by
   Ethiopian palaeoanthropologist
   Prof Yohannes Haile-Selassie,
   who found the skull.

3

ESA X4, GET T Y IMAGES

4