fossils

The 1.5 million-year-old fossils of human ancestors recently unearthed in Ethiopia show sophistication in behaviors and tool use, said the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) researchers who found them, despite one example having the smallest cranium of any specimen found in Africa to date. One Homo erectus female cranium found is a little less than half the size of our brains, said CWRU anatomy professor Scott Simpson, who worked with the team that discovered the fossils.

A team of researchers led by Cleveland Museum of Natural History Curator and Case Western Reserve University Adjunct Professor Yohannes Haile-Selassie found a previously unknown early human ancestor in the Afar region of Ethiopia that could change the way scientists view human evolution.