rift valley

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Introductory Geology, Oswego State : One Thread

I remember reading that they found a skeleton a few years ago in the Great Rift Valley in eastern Africa that was older than any other skeleton found. I was wondering if anyone knows how old the skeleton is estimated to be and if they have found anything else there that predates other fossils.

-- Johanna Besaw (jbesaw@oswego.edu), February 12, 2001

Answers

Before a few years ago, the oldest human ancestor found was Australopithecus afarensis, found in Olduvai Gorge, and I _think_ that it, named Lucy, was dated at approximately 1.2 million years old.

More recently, an even earlier form was found, Ardipithecus afarensis. It's a few hundred thousand years older.

-- Christine Stenglein (carobchips@hotmail.com), February 18, 2001.


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