hat was a clickbait title, any time we find new pieces of a skeleton from pre-human history it really is a missing link.Terminology to knowHominin– Any species of early human that is more closely related to humans than chimpanzees, including modern humans themselves. (At this point, this includes the genus homo, Australopithecus, Ardipithecus, and Paranthropus. These genus’ can and do change as various new fossils are found, which either add new genus’, or cast doubt on existing ones. Homo and australopithecus are the two most definite)Hominid– All modern AND extinct GREAT apes. Gorillas, chimps, orangs and humans, and their immediate ancestors. Not gibbons.Evolution– The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth. (really basic, click the link to get more info)The fossil in question was a male hominin found in Ethiopia. There are some claims that this is the oldest known ancestor and well that isn’t true. We can’t say for sure that this is even a direct ancestor of ours.What is a Missing Link?A thing that is needed in order to complete a series, provide continuity, or gain complete knowledge.” they are the missing link between prog rock and punk rock”a hypothetical fossil form intermediate between two living forms, especially between humans and apes.Every fossil we find from pre-human bipedal remains is a missing link. It provides a record of how we as humans possibly evolved.Wait, what?That is right, these fossils are amazing and provide a unique glimpse into the life of our early ancestors or so we believe. Here is the thing, because DNA has such a short half-life there is no way to prove that these particularly ancient hominins are our ancestors.You see now that every piece of the fossil record is important to understanding our past. Each piece gives us a clue to the final puzzle, which to be honest is probably unlikely that we ever truly know. That does not make their discovery any less exciting though.Here is what we do know, they are among the first primates to walk on two feet across great distances. This is both an advantage (carrying things, bigger brain, tool use etc.)it is also a disadvantage too, do your knees and ankles hurt frequently? How about your hips or your back? Our weight and weight distribution put a lot of pressure on certain parts of our body. Especially in the lower back, hips, and knees. That is a lot to ask of any part f the body. These would be parts that traditionally seen in Apes and Great Ape species that would be supported by the arms and shoulders as well.This is because pieces of bone from that long ago are really rare and difficult to find and once we find them they are difficult to classify. This skull though is a very interesting find as it is mostly intact. (which is incredibly rare) Most bones from more than a million years or so ago are usually only fragments of the whole.This was nearly an entire skull, and the skull can tell us so much about how this bi-ped lived. Bipedal, Hominin, Ancient human; I guess I don’t really care too much about how you say it.There is a very rich history dating from several million years ago all the up to when humans first presented themselves in the archaeological record.Here is the abstract from the study, Don’t worry about the big words I promise to break it down for you.The cranial morphology of the earliest known hominins in the genus Australopithecus remains unclear. The oldest species in this genus (Australopithecus Anamensis, specimens of which have been dated to 4.2–3.9 million years ago) is known primarily from jaws and teeth, whereas younger species (dated to 3.5–2.0 million years ago) are typically represented by multiple skulls. Here we describe a nearly complete hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille (Ethiopia) that we date to 3.8 million years ago. We assign this cranium to A. Anamensis on the basis of the taxonomically a--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/seth-michels66/support

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