#Lucy is one of the most famous fossils in #paleoanthropology. Discovered in 1974 in #Ethiopia, she is a partial skeleton of an early #hominin species, #Australopithecus afarensis, dating back around 3.2 million years. Her anatomy reveals a mix of ape-and human-like traits, providing crucial insights into the evolutionary path that led to modern #humans. I was lucky enough to see her replica at the #SenckenbergMuseum in #Frankfurt:
🌍 https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2026/2026-05-17_lucy
The ancient environment of #hominin ancestors as evidenced in fossil teeth. (And it's not dry savannah!)
#Paranthropus 2.6 MA in Ethiopia
'found more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) farther north than any other fossil of its kind.
"Until now, not a single fossil of Paranthropus had been identified" in the Afar region of Ethiopia,'
26-Nov-2025
New research by ASU paleoanthropologists gives valuable insight into how two ancient human ancestors coexisted in the same area
They assign a #hominin foot #fossil from #Lucy’s time to a different species – with help from teeth
With the help of newly identified bones, an enigmatic 3.4-million-year-old hominin foot found in 2009, is assigned to a species different from that of the famous fossil Lucy providing further proof that two ancient species of hominins co-existed at the same time and in the same region.
And here on #Ardipithecus ankles -- the truly transitional early #hominin, still ape-like and climbing with grasping foot but also #bipedal
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-analysis-million-year-ankle-exposes.html
Mystery hominin skull discovered in 1960 dated to at least 286,000 years old
A mystery in human evolution may be close to being solved, thanks to a new study by the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine in France. A nearly complete cranium discovered in 1960 inside the Petralona Cave in northern Greece has defied all efforts at identification and precise dating for several decades...
More info: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/08/petralona-skull-discovered-in-1960/
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Evolution of #hominin #bipedalism in two steps
The human pelvis exhibits distinct spatiotemporal ossification patterns and an ilium cartilage growth plate that is shifted perpendicularly compared with those of other mammals and non-human primates—two key adaptations that underlie bipedalism.
New article out today in #Scientific #Data: Lewandowski et al. (2025) present the #Apemen #Faces #Database (#ApeFD)!
620 #hominin faces, with #morphometric data + "vibe check" (#threat, #sociability, #trustworthiness... you name it).
Researchers can use this #open dataset to explore questions on #ocular #morphology, social perception, facial morphology, and even applications in cross-disciplinary fields such as #primatology, #cultural #anthropology, and media studies. Go wild, use it in your research, and e-mail us if you have any questions! :D
🔗 Article: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05813-z
🔗 Dataset: https://doi.org/10.18150/L2RHIA
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