Oldest Human Ancestor Skeleton Found

The oldest known fossil skeleton of a human ancestor–a female Ardipithecus ramidus specimen nicknamed “Ardi” (pictured)–has been found, scientists revealed yesterday.

The find reveals that our ancestors underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago. Ardi lived 4.4 million years ago, according to researchers.

See more pictures, a map, and read a report of the discovery on National Geographic News.

Learn more from Science magazine.

Comments

emshemie3
October 4, 2009, 1:30 pm

Ardi proves nothing. She is just a misunderstood skeleton. It makes more sense to trust that God created us in his image. These discoveries could be used for more good than they are now. Doesn’t everyone have the right to display his/her opinion?
Stardust
October 5, 2009, 9:01 am

Wow!!! How interesting!!!
Stardust
Stardust
October 5, 2009, 10:39 am

Even though I have already commented I just want to say that I agree that Ardi proves nothing. I also thing that there is no proof that there is a god or anything else for that matter. I think its best to just keep an open mind and as emshemie3 said ‘everyone has the right to display his/her oppinion’!
Stardust
xxx
jjhanki123
October 5, 2009, 3:44 pm

this is something you dont see in history in your life this is marvelous a great discovery i give it a 5/5
Arrollo
October 5, 2009, 8:22 pm

It’s weird right know were studing about hominids and know this is going to make are test confusing
hulahaley
October 5, 2009, 10:12 pm

wow this is cool! it’s just that the pic looks well creepy. it sounds interesting though. wow what is that,that,that…thing anyways….. is it really our ancestor???
qwertyuiop
October 6, 2009, 8:45 am

what are you on about.i belive in alah. i think that this is all rubish
qwertyuiop
October 6, 2009, 8:46 am

yeah man
qwertyuiop
October 6, 2009, 8:46 am

wow
GR8RMINDZ
October 6, 2009, 11:37 am

The mysteries and discoveries of the world are truly amazing to me. I like learning about these
things because what it shows is how unique human
beings really are and what seperates us from all other things. What really matters is how we educate ourselves… our opinions don’t matter unless we are
educated. You can believe whatever you want but one
day you will realize how awesome the history of the
world is. Yearn to Learn! (P.S. Being able to SPELL
things correctly says a lot about a person too – in many ways… attitudes, mentality, etc. – it proves you need to read better books!)
deaira
October 6, 2009, 12:20 pm

That is pretty coooooooooool! It’s kinda wierd but it’s also really interesting.
emshemie3
October 7, 2009, 3:52 pm

Thank you, to everyone that supports Creationism. I appreciate you guys backing me up!
emshemie3
October 7, 2009, 3:59 pm

Being on the HUMOROUS side, Ardi may be the mother of Big foots out there! IF they do exist, that is. Or should it be said “Big Feet?”
pandagirl789
October 9, 2009, 2:36 pm

cool!
kpadro14
October 9, 2009, 5:58 pm

Oh no our ancesters were gorillas!!! AHHH!!! That is just not right!!!!!
Tomboy4563
October 15, 2009, 11:52 pm

I wonder if it’s real.The video of sasquatch is fake and maybe this is.It would be to crazy to believe a hairy unknown creature would just look at the camera and continue walking instead of attacking.This might be real because it was found by scientist and not pranksters.I don’t mean to be rude but thats crazy!!!!!!I don’t want to be half ape!!!
Sandy27
October 16, 2009, 12:01 am

this is cool i don’t get to look at this everyday i think that this is a gr8 story
cimach
October 16, 2009, 2:49 pm

I don’t know how National Geographic can believe that everything came from nothing. For me, I believe in the God of the Bible.
ivalouey
February 7, 2010, 11:58 am

This just isnt right………………………………….
lilypotter
February 7, 2010, 3:38 pm

jeez. wish i could’ve seen a real one!!!
belle8972
February 11, 2010, 9:28 am

it is true that Ardi is not really helping but he is also i mean imagine ardi helping us discover our ancestory i mean we could see evolution
lovelynovember
March 7, 2010, 6:22 pm

its really not that interesting but i did like that first comment by emshemie3
winterqueen1717
July 9, 2010, 3:43 am

i think fossils and historic artifacts are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……im studying to be a paleographer so i can learn more of our ancient cultures and languages………i also wanna be an astronaut so i can discover new things…….
Twilightgl101
January 3, 2011, 10:37 am

wow thats really interesting! that really cool! science has really grown. thats so cool that they could prove she was 4.4 million years old.
Cheeseman
March 12, 2011, 1:22 am

DId you know that Lucy was named after the Beatles song “Lucy with diomonds in the sky”?
ILovePiano
July 13, 2012, 2:59 am

@Cheeseman: Whoa… I didn’t know that!! Quite a surprise for me… and, by the way, it’s “Lucy with Diamonds in the Sky”, dear… your spelling mistake had capitalization mistakes in it too but don’t mind.. ;D

@Twilightgl101: Before I say anything maybe every should know where I am on this… I am a Christian and I believe in God and Creation… (don’t get mad, okay? I just want to state my opinion..) So first, I don’t believe that this fossil is 4.4 million years old because I don’t even believe that the earth itself is even a million years old. Second, I think that this doesn’t really help prove evolution. Even if we just assume that evolution really happened, then why can’t we see anymore drastic changes in animals? Animals in pictures from thousands of years ago look like the ones right now in the present, right? Also, evolution depends on the theory of the survival of the fittest which makes sense until you take note that today, we have no dinosaurs, while they should supposedly have been the fittest of all animals in ‘prehistoric times,’ which I take the liberty to assume existed. Then why did they die out and the smaller, supposedly less ‘fit,’ supposedly more defenseless, supposedly less able to survive in comparison to the large meat-eating dinosaurs that are the terrors in movies such as Jurassic Park able to survive and still exist in great abundance even as I am typing? Just a question to ponder, and since evolution sounds (to more than a few Christians like me, like my friends), a lot like a way around God and a way to explain Him out of existence, everyone just has to wonder where that little speck of living matter come from in the first place. I mean, just IF we evolved from primates, then those must have evolved from something else.. which in turn evolved from something even simpler… et cetera. Now that simplest form of life at the bottom of this extraordinary web of evolution… it couldn’t have evolved from a simpler form, could it? You see, if it truly is the simplest, then where did it come from? Outer space? I once read one book that compares the chances of us humans (and anything else, for that matter) evolving from whatever you want to call it is like a tornado blasting through a junkyard for airplane parts and leaving behind a Boeing 747 in full working order and ready, just waiting for people to come and fly it. Sounds bizarre,but that’s how the evolution theory sounds to me… a theory that cannot be proven. Perhaps you are saying,”Yeah right, but you can’t prove it wrong either, right? Besides, how can you actually prove that God himself exists?” (Sorry if I read your mind)..I think that some things just need to be taken by faith, just like Lucy Pevensie said in “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, “You just have to have faith about these things..” I know that wasn’t verbatim but it sounded something like that when she was talking to Gael. I personally don’t have enough faith to become an evolutionist or an atheist (nothing against those of you who are even not the same religion as I am) because to me, this theory sounds as incredible as if someone told me the earth is flat or if I saw a dinosaur walking down the street dressed like a businessman and carrying a briefcase to the bus…

Anyway, in conclusion: I am sorry if I made anyone mad by something I said… It’s just what I believe and hold to be true. I know that many people hold different things to be true so i don’t know… but if I were to dive into a deeper discussion of this I might as well start a blog about it, so.. thanks for letting me state my opinion and I hope you all will respect it as I respect yours!
Have a good day everybody to anyone who had enough patience with me to read until here!