Early human fossils discovered in South Africa 1MN yrs older than original findings: Study

A recent study revealed that the age of early human ancestor fossils found in South Africa's "Cradle of Humankind" may be more than a million years than previously thought. According to scientists, the Sterkfontein Caves in Johannesburg, South Africa, comprises over a third of the world's early hominid bones, which are considered to be the essential connections in the evolutionary process that led to modern humans. Furthermore, Robert Broom's 1936 finding of the first adult Australopithecus, a prehistoric hominin, at Sterkfontein made it renowned, Daily Mail reported.  

A number of fossil-bearing cave deposits, which includes those in Sterkfontein Caves, make up the "Cradle of Humankind," a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The nearly complete 3.67-million-year-old skeleton of "Little Foot," was discovered there. Also discovered was a renowned pre-human skull famous as "Mrs Ples," which dates back 2.3 million years. They belonged to Australopithecus, an ancient species. The underground tunnel system contains hundreds of more individuals. As per a Newsweek report, more than half the age of the Earth itself, the dolomitic hills in which the caves are found are 2.6 billion years old. 

Discovery of early humans

According to a report from Daily Mail, sediments from the cave that included Australopithecus fossils were previously thought to be between 2 and 2.5 million years old. The sediments, according to recent research, are between 3.4 and 3.7 million years old, which places the fossils closer to the start of the Australopithecus period than the end. They would thus predate Lucy, also known as Dinkinesh, the most well-known Australopithecus fossil in the world, which is 3.2 million years old. 

Darryl Granger, a professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences in Purdue University's College of Science who specialises in dating geologic deposits, served as the research's principal scientist. The majority of Australopithecus fossils have been discovered in "Member 4," an old cave infill. Since over 50 years ago, estimations of its age have ranged from 2 million years, which is younger than the modern human genus Homo, to roughly 3 million years. 

The research further refutes the conventional perspective that South Africa's Australopithecus is a younger relative of Australopithecus afarensis from East Africa. 

In addition to this, co-author of the study, Professor Dominic Stratford, of Wits University, Johannesburg, noted, “The new ages range from 3.4-3.6 million years for Member 4 - indicating the Sterkfontein hominins were contemporaries of other early Australopithecus species, like Australopithecus afarensis, in east Africa," Newsweek reported.  

(Image: Pixabay/ Representative Image)