Today’s blog’s subject takes us into the fascinating subject of human ancestry: the skeleton of a new species has been discovered and is believed to be the oldest ancestor of the modern human that has been discovered so far. The remnants were found in northern Ethiopia, in a river bed near the town of Aramis. Many groundbreaking discoveries have been made in this part of Africa, the skeleton of another potential human ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis, was found here in 1974 (it was named “Lucy” in reference to the Beatles-song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”).

The female was named “Ardi” and lived bout 4.4 million years ago, and belongs to a new species called Ardipithecus ramidus. This species lived in a key period of human development, shortly (well, in terms of evolution!) after the human species separated from the common ancestor of modern apes (such as chimpanzees) and humans, about 6.6 million years ago. It may have been the first early human to walk upright.

Ardi was about four feet (1.2m) tall, and weighed around 50kg, similar to the height and weight of a modern chimpanzee. While she was very adapt at moving from tree to tree, she could also walk upright on the forest floor.

You can find out more at The Guardian, or at The New York Times.