7 Million Years Old – New Secrets of the Oldest Representative of Humanity Revealed
The oldest representative species of humanity, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, was bipedal, according to a recent study. Bipedalism is thought to have been the tipping point in human evolution. Although there are no fossilized remains, there is controversy on its methods and age. Three limb bones from Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the earliest known member of the human genus, were examined by scientists from the University of Poitiers, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and its collaborators in Chad. The study, which was just published in the journal Nature, lends support to the idea that bipedalism emerged very early in the history of humanity, when it was still thought that people could only travel on four limbs in trees. At the PALEVOPRIM laboratory in Poitiers (CNRS/University of Poitiers), Franck Guy (left) and Guillaume Daver (right) are working on a collection. Franck Guy is to be credited with Paleoprim, CNRS, and the University of Poitiers. With a 7 million-yea...