A branch of the human family tree had never appeared in one of its most studied landscapes. Despite the abundant hominin fossils in the Afar region of Ethiopia, Inhuman was missing. A recently discovered fossil fills that gap.
Referred to Naturethe 2.6-million-year-old jaw is the first confirmed Inhuman specimen from Afar and extends the known range of the genus northward by about 620 miles (about 1,000 km). The finding suggests Inhuman occupied a wider area of eastern Africa than previously recognized.
“If we want to understand our own evolutionary trajectory as a genus and species, we need to understand the environmental, ecological and competitive factors that shaped our evolution,” said research team leader Zeresenay Alemseged in a press release. “This discovery is much more than just a snapshot InhumanAppearance: Sheds new light on the driving forces behind the evolution of the genus.
Read more: A 2-million-year-old skeleton shows early humans were still built for trees
Place Inhuman Among the Early Human Generations
Comparison of Inhuman mandible with other species, incl Australopithecus afarensis and early Gay.
(Image credit: Alemseged Research Group/University of Chicago)
To understand why Afar finds issues, it helps to place Inhuman within the wider human family tree. Since the split between the human and chimpanzee lineages about seven million years ago, multiple groups of hominins have evolved in parallel, each experimenting with different anatomical and behavioral strategies.
Early hominins like Ardipithecus combined limited standing walking with tree life. Later, Australopithecus species became habitual bipeds, spending more time on the ground while retaining some climbing ability. The genus Gay eventually emerged with larger brains, increasingly sophisticated tools, and a commitment to obligate bipedalism.
Inhuman took a different path. Like Australopithecusits members walked upright, but were distinguished by their extremely large molars, thick enamel, and facial architecture adapted for vigorous chewing. These characteristics have led many researchers to regard the group as highly specialized and potentially limited compared to Gay. What made the Afar region so confusing was that fossils from all these other groups were well documented there, while Inhuman it wasn’t.
“Hundreds of fossils representing over a dozen species Ardipithecus, Australopithecusand Gay had been found in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, hence its apparent absence Inhuman it was distinct and puzzling to paleoanthropologists, many of whom had concluded that the genus simply never ventured this far north,” Alemseged said.
A jaw from afar extends the range of the genus
The newly described fossil comes from the Mille-Logya research area in northern Ethiopia and dates to about 2.6 million years ago, placing it close to the earliest known occurrence Inhuman. The specimen consists of a partial mandible that was recovered in fragments and later analyzed using high-resolution micro-CT scanning to examine its internal structure.
“It’s a remarkable link: a state-of-the-art technology applied to a 2.6-million-year-old fossil to tell a story that’s common to all of us,” Alemseged said.
The finding shows it Inhuman occupied Afar at about the same time as its first members Gay were emerging elsewhere in east Africa. Its presence suggests that the genus is widespread in a range of environments and that its apparent absence from the Afar reflects gaps in the fossil record rather than a true biological boundary.
What the Finding suggests about competition
The Afar fossil challenges the idea that Inhuman was geographically limited or unable to compete with its early members Gay. The genus has long been characterized as a man-breaker due to its large teeth and powerful jaws, reinforcing hypotheses that it occupied a narrow dietary niche.
“While some experts have suggested that dietary specialization was limited Inhuman in the southern regions, others speculated that this might have been the result Inhumaninability to compete with the most flexible Gay” said Alemseged. However, “neither happened the case: Inhuman was as widespread and versatile as Homo, and the new find shows that its absence in Afar was an artifact of the fossil record,” concluded Alemseged.
Read more: Homo Ergaster: The early man who looked almost like us
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