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Most complete skeleton of ancient relative of man found
Telegraph UK ^ | Thursday, July 13, 2012 | AFP

Posted on 07/13/2012 5:18:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the newly identified Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, are the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," according to Lee Berger, a paleontologist from the University of Witwatersrand.

"We have discovered parts of a jaw and critical aspects of the body including what appear to be a complete femur (thigh bone), ribs, vertebrae and other important limb elements, some never before seen in such completeness in the human fossil record," said Prof Berger.

The latest discovery was made in a one-metre-wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until a technician incidentally saw a tooth sticking out of the black stone last month.

It was then scanned to reveal significant parts of A. sediba, whose other parts were discovered in 2009 in the world-famous Cradle of Humankind north of Johannesburg.

It is not certain whether the species, which had long arms, a small brain and a thumb, was a direct ancestor of humans' genus, Homo, or simply a close relative.

"It appears that we now have some of the most critical and complete remains of the skeleton," said Berger.

Other team members were equally enthusiastic.

"It's like putting together the pieces of a puzzle," university laboratory manager Bonita De Klerk said.

The skeleton is thought to be around two million years old and would have been aged between nine and 13 years when the upright-walking tree climber died.

De Klerk said: "It was in packing this (stone) up in the vehicle to go and be scanned that one of our technicians actually noticed a tooth sticking out on the surface and he called Lee over and said, 'Oh, I think this is a hominid tooth', and he was right."

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: africa; australopithecus; godsgravesglyphs; southafrica
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(L) The skull of MH1, a juvenile male Australopithecus Sediba and paleontologist Professor Lee Burger (R) poses with the highly intact remains of 'Karabo,' a young speciman of Australopithecus sebida Photo: AFP/AP

Most complete skeleton of ancient relative of man found

1 posted on 07/13/2012 5:19:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

Shoulda flossed...


2 posted on 07/13/2012 5:23:29 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Sharia? No thanks!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Jeez, enormous eye sockets!


3 posted on 07/13/2012 5:23:48 PM PDT by squarebarb
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To: SunkenCiv
Well, as Ralph Kramden once said to Alice, “hominid, hominid, hominid...”
4 posted on 07/13/2012 5:24:11 PM PDT by fhayek
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To: SunkenCiv

Makes you wonder what other treasures are lying around in museums undiscovered.


5 posted on 07/13/2012 5:24:33 PM PDT by Melian ("Where will wants not, a way opens.")
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To: SunkenCiv

6 posted on 07/13/2012 5:27:10 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (Liberty and Justice for ALL)
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To: All

OH GREAT!!! Another Democrat voter? Where do they dig these guys up????


7 posted on 07/13/2012 5:28:00 PM PDT by Klemper
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To: Melian

pieced together from fragments found miles apart and others “recreated” to fit the scenario....
usual Darwinian evolutionary crock.


8 posted on 07/13/2012 5:28:18 PM PDT by nevermorelenore
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To: nevermorelenore

Looks like a monkey or ape skull to me.


9 posted on 07/13/2012 5:34:54 PM PDT by doc1019 (Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil.)
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To: SunkenCiv

The professor looks like our man Rush.


10 posted on 07/13/2012 5:35:58 PM PDT by Track9
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To: fhayek

Now that’s funny right there.


11 posted on 07/13/2012 5:38:49 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: SunkenCiv

,,,,,,, if 0bama had a son ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


12 posted on 07/13/2012 5:43:03 PM PDT by Lionheartusa1 (-: Socialism is the equal distribution of misery :-)
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To: isthisnickcool; squarebarb; fhayek; Melian; FreeAtlanta; Klemper; Track9

Thanks, and/or LOL, as appropriate. Sidebars:
13 posted on 07/13/2012 5:43:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Renfield; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Renfield, and have a safe one.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


14 posted on 07/13/2012 5:43:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

15 posted on 07/13/2012 5:44:53 PM PDT by umgud (No Rats, No Rino's)
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To: nevermorelenore

It wasn’t “pieced together from fragments found miles apart” and nothing was “recreated” — IOW, your remark was the usual anti-scientific crock.


16 posted on 07/13/2012 5:45:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

17 posted on 07/13/2012 5:54:01 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: SunkenCiv
Meter - Mile Whats the difference? LOL

The latest discovery was made in a one-metre-wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until a technician incidentally saw a tooth sticking out of the black stone last month.
18 posted on 07/13/2012 5:54:42 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: Melian

The ship that brought my great grandfather from Europe is full of dinosaur bones at the bottom of the Atlantic where it was sunk by the Germans in 1916.

Apparently there is some interest in possibly recovering some of the cargo.

http://www.ssmounttemple.com/


19 posted on 07/13/2012 6:00:32 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek

The Kaiser, bless him, was always against dinosaur bone smuggling. Let us hope that your great-grandfather has seen the error of his ways.


20 posted on 07/13/2012 6:11:57 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (So, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and FU Roberts can't figure out if Obama is a Natural Born Citizen?)
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