by JOCELYN NEWMARCH
Johannesburg — A new hominid species has been unearthed in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, 40km from Johannesburg, by a Wits University-led team.
The announcement was made today at Maropeng, in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
The hominid species, named Australopithecus sediba, is almost two million years old, and may be a transitional species between the southern African ape-man Australopithecus africanus (like the Taung Child and Mrs. Ples) and either Homo habilis or even a direct ancestor of Homo erectus (like Turkana Boy, Java man or Peking man), according to Professor Lee Berger, the palaeoanthropologist in charge of the team.
He said the word sediba, which means natural spring, fountain or wellspring in Sotho, was deemed an appropriate name for a species that might be the point from which the genus Homo arises.
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