A groundbreaking fossil discovery in Ethiopia’s Afar Region has revealed that two early human ancestors—Australopithecus and early Homo—lived side by side nearly three million years ago.
The research team, working in the Lower Awash Valley, uncovered 13 fossilised teeth dating between 2.63 and 2.78 million years old. Among them was a premolar, estimated at 2.78 million years, identified as the oldest confirmed evidence of the Homo genus in eastern Africa.
Alongside it, scientists identified a separate set of teeth belonging to a previously unknown species of Australopithecus, dated to around 2.63 million years ago.
“This is the first evidence from eastern Africa showing these two lineages overlapping in both time and space,” said Prof. Amy Rector, Co-director of the research project. “The fact that Homo and Australopithecus shared this critical period paints a far more intricate picture of our evolutionary family tree than we previously imagined.”
The findings push back the timeline of early Homo in the region while introducing a new branch of Australopithecus to science, highlighting the diversity and complexity of human evolution.
Experts say the discovery reinforces Ethiopia’s status as the cradle of humankind, offering vital clues into the origins of modern humans and the evolutionary journey that shaped our species.