Copies of the remains of Australopithecus sediba are on display at London's Natural History Museum, UK. Visitors to the museum had the opportunity to see firsthand what paleoanthropologists have been hotly debating about since 2010.
A group of anthropologists from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa began excavations in 2008 at Malapa Cave in the north of the country. There they found more than 220 bones of ancient hominids.
In 2010, 2 years later, Lee Berger and his colleagues discovered the well-preserved remains of a new species of Australopithecus - Australopithecus sediba, which is an intermediate link from Australopithecus to humans. Probably, the Australopithecus, whose skeletons were found by scientists, fell into a large pit, so they remained practically intact. A total of 2 skeletons were found - a young female at the age of approximately 30 years, and a young individual at the age of 10-13 years.
"The presence of many" advanced "features in the structure of the skeleton and skull, as well as the revised age of our find, allows us to assume that Australopithecus sediba is better suited for the role of the ancestor of the genus Homo - our genus, in comparison with the" current "forerunner of people - a skilled man (Homo habilis), "said the discoverer of the" transition link "Lee Berger of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
Australopithecus has traits that are common to both humans and chimpanzees. They are brought together with people by short fingers, similar to ours, the structure of the cranium and legs, adapted for walking. However, these primates had long arms, their wrists were adapted for climbing trees, and their brains were relatively small when compared to the first "direct" human ancestor - Homo habilis.
