A two-million-year-old skeleton of a child to be unveiled this week, may help fill in the missing link between humans and their apelike ancestors.

Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilized skeleton belonged to a previously unknown type of early human ancestor that was possibly an intermediate stage between ape-men and the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.

Experts who have seen the skeleton say it shares characteristics with Homo habilis, whose emergence is seen as a key stage in the evolution of our species. The discovery could help to rewrite the history of human evolution by filling in crucial gaps in scientific knowledge.

Most fossilized hominid remains are little more than scattered fragments of bone, so discovery of an almost-complete skeleton will allow scientists to answer key questions about what our early ancestors looked like and when they began walking upright on two legs. Paleontologists and human evolutionary experts behind the discovery have remained silent about the details of what they have uncovered, but the scientific community is buzzing with news of the announcement, to be made on Thursday.

The skeleton was discovered by Lee Berger, from the University of the Witwatersrand, while exploring cave systems in the Sterkfontein region of South Africa, near Johannesburg, an area known as "the Cradle of Humanity."

Phillip Tobias, a human anatomist and anthropologist at the university, who was one of three experts to first identify Homo habilis as a species of human in 1964, described the discovery as "wonderful" and "exciting." Although not directly involved in the excavation and subsequent research on the fossils, he is one of the select few scientists outside the research group who have seen the skeletons.

He said: "To find a skeleton as opposed to a couple of teeth or an arm bone is a rarity. It is not a single find, but several specimens representing several individuals. The remains now being brought to light by Dr. Berger and his team are wonderful."

The fossil skeleton was found along with other partial skeletons inside the Malapa cave. Protection from the elements is thought to have played a large part in keeping the fossils so well preserved.

The fossil record of early humans is patchy and scientists hope the discovery will provide fresh clues about how our species evolved.

Scientists believe that a group of apelike hominids known as Australopithecus, which first emerged in Africa around 3.9 million years ago, gradually evolved into the first Homo species. Over time, the Australopithecus species lost their more apelike features as they started to stand upright. Around 2.5 million years ago Homo habilis, the first species to be described as distinctly human, began to appear, although only a handful of specimens have ever been found. It is thought that the fossil to be unveiled this week will be identified as a new species that fits somewhere between Australopithecus and Homo habilis. If it is confirmed as a link between the two groups, it would be of immense scientific importance, filling a gap in the evolutionary history of modern man.

Read entire article