Sophisticated scanning technology is revealing interesting secrets about the remarkable fossil Little Feet of the earliest human pioneers living in South Africa 67.67 million years ago during a crucial phase in our evolutionary history.
Scientists said on Tuesday they were examining key parts of the nearly complete and well-preserved fossil at Britain’s National Synchrotron facility, Diamond Light Source. Scanning focuses on the cranial vault of the little foot – the top of his brain – and his lower jaw, or mandible.
The researchers gave an insight not only into the biology of the Little Foot species, but also about the difficulties this person, the adult woman, faced during her life.
The Little Foot species combines ape-like and human-like traits and is considered a direct ancestor of humans. The species has been identified by the University of Rot Clark, a Wittwester Paleoenterologist, who found fossils in the Starkfintein caves northwest of Johannesburg in the 1990s and co-authored the new study.
“In the cranial vault, we can identify the vascular canals in the spongy bone involved in brain thermoregulation – how the brain cools,” said Emily Budett, a paleontologist at the University of Cambridge who conducted the study in the journal E-Life. .
“This is very interesting because we didn’t have much information about that system,” Budett added, adding that it would play an important role in the triple brain size, from Austral australopithecines to modern humans.
The small toothed teeth were also revealing.
“Dental tissue is really well preserved. She was relatively old because her teeth were worn out, “said Budett, although the exact age of Little Foot has not yet been determined.
Researchers have found a defect in the enamel of the teeth, an indicator of two stages of childhood physical stress such as disease or malnutrition.
“There’s still a lot to learn about early hominin biology,” said Thomas Connolly, co-author of Diamond’s lead Beamline scientific study, using the term to include modern humans and some extinct members of the human evolutionary lineage. “Synchrotron X-ray imaging enables examination of fossil samples in much the same way as a patient’s X-ray CT-scan, but in much more detail.”
The little feet, whose moniker reflects the small leg bones that were among the first elements of the skeleton found, stood about a foot — inches (130 cm) tall. The Little Foot has been compared to a fossil named Lucy, which is about 2.6 million years old and less complete.
Both are species of the genus Austral Australopithecus but have different biological characteristics, such as modern humans and Neanderthals are species of the same species – Homo – but had different characteristics. Lucy’s breed is called Austral Strel Austral Pythius af Francis.
“Australopithecus may be a direct ancestor of Homo – humans – and we really need to learn more about the different species of Australopithecus to be able to determine who will be the best candidate as our direct ancestor.”
Our own species, Homo sapiens, first appeared about 300,000 years ago.
Synchrotron findings build on previous research on Little Feet.
The species was able to walk perfectly straight, but its features also indicated that it could still climb trees, perhaps sleeping there to avoid large predators. It had gorilla-like facial features and powerful hands to chase. His legs were longer than his arms, like modern humans, this feature is known to make him the most ancient hominin.
“The remains of all the previous Austral Sterilopithecus skeletons have remained partial and fragmentary,” Clarke said.
