June 20, 2003

Scientists Say They Have Found Remains of Humanity's Closest Ancestors

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

Researchers working in Ethiopia say they have found the direct ancestors of humanity: fossil skull bones showing the last evolutionary step before anatomically modern people appeared about 115,000 years ago.

The fossil skulls so closely resemble those of people today that they represent a subspecies of Homo sapiens that lived 160,000 years ago, says Tim D. White, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley and one of the leaders of the international

Print Subscription

Digital Subscription

Already have an account? Log In Now.