Discovery of the Sahelanthropus Tchadensis Fossil: Earliest Hominid :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Discovery of the Sahelanthropus Tchadensis Fossil Earliest HominidIn July of 2001, a group of archeologists discovered the skull and jaw study of the oldest member of the human family. The skull is a new discovery and was plant in the Djurab Desert of Northern Chad by a group of archeologists lead by Michel Brunet, and is thought to be cardinal to seven million years old (Walton). The age of the skull and jaw bone were approximated through the association of the fauna that were found with the fossils (Brunet). The skull is a major square off for archeologists because they now move over a new piece of the puzzle that shows the growing of humans from apes and it provides information to a period that scientists had very little intimacy approximately because of the lack of evidence (Whitfield). The skull was given the scientific name Sahelanthropus tchadensis and was nicknamed Toumai, which is a local name for a child born perilously adjoining to the beginning of the dry season meaning Hope of Life (Walton). The skull has a mix of ape and hominid, early humans who are distinctly divers(prenominal) from apes by their upright posture, features. The brain case is convertible to those of apes, being about the size as a chimp, but the thick tooth enamel and the heading of wee canines in the jaw bone are features that are alike to hominids. The most surprising part of the skull is the presence of the large forehead ridges found on Toumai (Groves). This is unexpected because the next oldest hominid fossils have a small or non-existent brow ridges but our family, Homo, also has large prominent brow ridges (Gee). These fossils are having a major impact on the scientific realitys view of human phylogenesis and scientists may even have to rethink some present ideas about it. Because the skull of Toumai has characteristics that are very similar to those found in the Homo family, some scientists are beginning to disbelief whether or not Australopi thecus, an early member of the hominid family from about quartet to one million years ago and they are characterized by their to the full upright posture and their small brain size, is even part of the evolution record of humans from apes. Bernard Wood, of George Washington University in Washington DC, argues that if Australopithecus has much ape-like features than the features found on an older