‘Little Foot’ skeleton refutes theory that humans used to crawl around
JOHANNESBURG: The most complete skeleton ever found of anaustralopithecus,aforerunner to modern man, went on display for the first time in Johannesburg following a 20-year process to excavate and assemble the 3.67 million-year-old remains.
It refutes the theory that human ancestors started as crawlers, and gradually developedamoreuprightwalking gait.
Known as “Little Foot” because four small foot bones were the first to be discovered, the skeleton is the most complete example of a human ancestor older than 1.5 million years yet discovered. It will now be available for public viewing at Wits University in Johannesburg.
“This is one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries made in the history of human origins research and it is a privilege to unveil a finding of this importance today,” said Ron Clarke, the Wits University academic who discovered Little Foot.
Australopithecus — Latin for “southern ape” — are considered to be either closely related to, or the ancestors of, modern man, with a mixture of ape-like and human characteristics.
The reconstruction process revealed that the australopithecus had a skeleton far closer to that of humans than previously thought and actually walked upright instead of on its hands and knees.
“What Little Foot shows is that the pictures you see in books of our ancestors coming up and walking on all-fours, gradually getting more and more upright is all nonsense,” Clarke told AFP.