Before “Lucy,” There Was “Ardi”: First Major Analysis of One of Earliest Known Hominids Published in Science

In a special issue of Science, an international team of scientists has for the first time thoroughly described Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. This research, in the form of 11 detailed papers and more general summaries, was published today in the journal's 2 October 2009 issue. Science is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

The package of research offers the first comprehensive, peer-reviewed description of the Ardipithecus fossils, which include a partial skeleton of a female, nicknamed “Ardi.” The landmark research was the subject of simultaneous news conferences today in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, and at AAAS/Science headquarters in Washington, D.C., with major international news media quickly conveying the story to a worldwide audience.

The last common ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees is thought to have lived six million or more years ago. Though Ardipithecus is not itself this last common ancestor, it likely shared many of this ancestor's characteristics. For comparison, Ardipithecus is more than a million years older than “Lucy,” the partial female skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis. Until the discovery of the new Ardipithecus remains, the fossil record contained scant evidence of other hominids older than Australopithecus.

To learn more about the research into Ardipithicus ramidus and the skeleton of Ardi, read the full report.

1 October 2009