Homo erectus was not alone in ancient Africa . Newly discover dodo evidence , detail inthe latest egress of Nature , strongly suggest that no few than three trenchant species of former human from the genus Homo co - exist on the continent between 1.7 and 2 million year ago .
The findings , which run counter to the hypothesis that modern human being evolve linearly out of H. erectus , provide some of the most compelling evidence to particular date that there were multiple , parallel line of phylogeny early in our genus ’ chronicle .
This groundbreaking find amount in the form of three fossil : a well save skull , complete with a categoric face ; an almost consummate lower jaw , perhaps the most well - preserve specimen of its kind ever happen upon ; and a fragment of another downhearted jaw , all discover in the desert of Northern Kenya . Together , the specimens complement a mysterious cranium fossil first discovered all the way back in 1972 . At the time , the specimen ( which was large , and featured a flat cheek unlike any colligate with H. erectus ) was determined to belong to to an entirely dissimilar specie , Homo rudolfensis , but the absence of a abject jaw that match with that of the specimen has made justifying this taxonomical preeminence somewhat hard .
The three fresh discovered fossils have made that task much more achievable . The skull , thought to belong to to a juvenile , deliver what first author Meave Leakey and her confrere believe is a strong anatomical resemblance to the one get word in 1972 , as do the lower jaws . The more perfect of the two jaws is pictured here , and above in compounding with the cranium dodo from 1972 .
bring together , Leakey writes that the newly discovered trio of specimen “ clear up the material body and taxonomic status of ” the 1972 cranium , classified as Homo rudolfensis , and “ substantiate the presence of two contemporaneous coinage of early Homo [ i.e. H. rudolfensis and H. habilis ] , in addition to Homo erectus , in the early Pleistocene of easterly Africa . ”
By extension , these specimen play a critical office in settling a long - standing debate over forward-looking humans ’ evolutionary origins .
“ This new textile sure substantiates the idea , farsighted gathering ground , that multiple lineages of former Homo are present in the platter at Koobi Fora , ” explained Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History inan interview with the New York Times . He continues :
“ And it support the view that the early history of Homo involved vigorous experimentation with the biologic and behavioural potential of the new genus , instead of a slow process of refinement in a central lineage . ”
“ In a nutshell , ” echoes paleoanthropologist Bernard Wood ina fellow traveller article to the study in Nature , “ the anatomy of the specimens stick out the hypothesis of multiple early Homo species . ”
The researchers ’ findings are published inthe latest issue of Nature .
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