Jawbone of earliest known hominid discovered in Ethiopian Rift Valley

[gary]

Nicky Phillips, Science Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, reports in
a March 5 2015 article on the discovery of a jawbone in the Ethiopian
Rift Valley that is approximately 400,000 years older than Homo habilis.

Named after the region in which it was discovered, the Ledi-Gerau fossil
belongs to the oldest known member of the human family.

The discovery has been reported in the journal, Science.



Article here -
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/human-jawbone-discovered-in-ethiopia-belongs-to-oldest-human-group-20150305-13vr8i.html

[multiweb]

I recently read that new techniques with carbon dating, cutting down on contamination, have pushed back neanderthal chronology and a few other previously established time lines.

It's fascinating to read how many distinct species of 'humans' evolved at the same time in the past in various geographical locations. Like the smaller types in the indonesian islands. They think they might have still been there only 10000 years ago and were a spawn of homo habilis and got cut out and evolved separately.