ADDIS ABABA – After the latest paleontological discovery in Afar State, anthropologists called for extra excavation to solve the mystery of the coexistence of two closely related human species.
Stephanie Melillo (PhD), a paleoanthropologist at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology said that questions still remain how Australopithecus Anamensis and Afarensis, the two closely related human species had lived alongside?
Melillo participated in the discovery of the latest Australopithecus Anamensis fossil that was announced to the world last Wednesday, a human species dated 3.8 million years and expected to be overlapping with Afarensis in the same time and the same place.
She reiterated that it is questionable how the two species were live together in a place where they competing for food, place to live and partitioning natural resources. Therefore ,she noted that conducting more discoveries is important to find answer to these interesting questions in evolution.
She believed that extra remains can be found in the same paleontological site as the remains points out that similar excavations are need to be conducted. “We have been to be lucky enough where we have made a lot of amazing discoveries and will keep making more. I am fully confident that there is going to be more surprises on the line.”
The most significant finding of the new discovery is that it is the first cranium of the species which is a very important stride in paleontology to know evolutionary relationships, and the gap between Anamensis and Afarensis remains besides it is the first cranium of the species which was a big gap in the area.
Accordingly they were overlapping in the same time and the same place. Hence, the finding totally changes the previous perception that researchers believed Anamensis has slowly transformed to Afarensis. Instead, they had to have branched off from one another in different kinds of evolutionary process what she called cladogenesis.
Mulugeta Alene (PhD) Geologist from Addis Ababa University stated that the Afar region is known for its abundant paleontological findings. In addition, the Awash rift valley areas are the place where a number of archaeological findings are unearthed. These days, many discoveries are being undertaken by various scientists including from US and Europe in addition to the local paleontologists, he said.
“I have no doubt that more discoveries will be found in the area and ensure that the country is the home of mankind and the true land of origins as the tourism motto describes.” Today some countries are discovering similar remains and trying to express that they are the home of mankind, but discovering more has ensured that Ethiopia is the land of human ancestry by unearthing more than 10 findings.
As to him, adding more efforts to discover human ancestry helps the nation through knowledge improvement, tourism earnings and national pride. Moreover it helps the world people to know its history and introduce and near to its ancestries.
According to Yohannes Haileselassie (PhD), The Cleveland Museum of Natural History Curator and Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University, the Afar regional site has been played a very significant role in the paleontological findings where numerous human remains have been discovered.
Playing the leading role in the researchers’ team that discover the cranium of Australopethicus Anamensis Yohannes also planned to discover more in a bid to find satisfying answers for many paleontological questions. He has an ambition to find the relativity of human ancestors in comparison with the era they lived. Ethiopia is known as a cradle of mankind for having 13 remains from the 20 ancestries that have been found across the world.
The Ethiopian Herald, September 3/2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
