Skull Suggests Single Human Species Emerged From Africa, Not Several
Well-Preserved Find 1.8 Million Years Old Drastically Simplifies Evolutionary Picture
Phillip Tobias
Phillip Tobias, who has died aged 86, was a South African palaeoanthropologist who participated in almost all the major digs at hominid fossil sites in southern Africa since 1945, and led excavations at one of the world’s most important palaeo-archaeological sites, the Sterkfontein Caves.
Timeline of human origins revised: New synthesis of research links changing environment with Homo's evolutionary adaptability
Many traits unique to humans were long thought to have originated in the genus Homo between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago in Africa. Although scientists have recognized these characteristics for decades, they are reconsidering the true evolutionary factors that drove them.
Maropeng and Sterkfontein Caves | Official Visitor Centres for the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site
Professor Ron Clarke working on the between 4.1-million and 3.3-million years old “Little Foot” skeleton found at Sterkfontein in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.