Fossil remains belonging to some of mankind’s ancestors are much older than scientists thought and could shed new light on the timeline of evolution, according to a recent study by the BBC.
Scientists claim that our ancestors roamed the planet more than a million years earlier than the known date.
“The new timeline could redistribute the current understanding of human evolution,” the researchers said.
According to the Smithsonian Museum, the species, which walked on two legs, was much smaller than modern humans. The average height of the males was 1.38 cm and that of the females 1.15 cm.
The researchers examined the precipitation around the fossils to detect levels of a rare isotope formed when the rocks were exposed to sunlight.
Recent excavations claim that groups of humans roamed the earth 3.4 to 3.7 million years ago.
However, scientists have long believed that the Australopithecus Africanus species, whose fossils were discovered in the Strekfontein caves near Johannesburg, was less than 2.6 million years old.
Now they will have to calculate if the species existed on Earth alongside the famous ape known as Lucy, whose remains are 3.2 million years old. Additionally, researchers will need to determine if Australopithecus Afarensis, which has long been thought to be the species from which the first humans descended, is our only ancestor.
Scientists say the new findings somewhat challenge everything we previously knew about the origin of humans, suggesting the evolutionary line is much more complex than believed.