Finding Our Ancestors
Credit: © Photo by Mike Hettwer, www.hettwer.com, courtesy of National Geographic
Recently discovered jawbone fossils unearthed at a site east of Lake Turkana in Kenya suggest there were two additional species of our genus, Homo, living alongside our direct human ancestor, Homo erectus, nearly 2 million years ago. Shown here, the lower jaw dubbed KNM-ER 60000 after initial restoration, but before Christopher Kiarie had carefully removed the adhering matrix. (The fossils were discovered by the Koobi For a Research Project, KFRP, led by Meave and Louise Leakey.)
Fit for a Cranium
Credit: © Photo by Fred Spoor
Four decades ago, in 1972, the Koobi Fora Research Project (KFRP) discovered the enigmatic fossilized skull known as KNM-ER 1470, or "1470" for short, which ignited a now long-standing debate about how many different species of early Homo lived alongside Homo erectus during the Pleistocene epoch. Shown here, 1470's cranium combined with the new lower jaw KNM-ER 60000; both are thought to belong to the same species. The lower jaw is shown as a photographic reconstruction, and the cranium is based on a computed tomography scan.
New Teeth
Credit: Photos by Fred Spoor © NMK
The new face KNM-ER 62000, as it was initially found, with some teeth just visible in the rock (left), and after the encasing rock was removed by Christopher Kiarie, revealing the palate (right).
Sifting Sand
Credit: © Photo by Mike Hettwer, www.hettwer.com, courtesy of National Geographic
Fine sand and sediment passing through a screen at the site where KNM-ER 62000, fossils possibly belonging to a new human species, was discovered.
The Leakeys
Credit: © Photo by Mike Hettwer, www.hettwer.com, courtesy of National Geographic
National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Louise Leakey (left) and Meave Leakey search the slope in northern Kenya where KNM-ER 60000 was discovered while, in the background, members of the field crew screen the surface sediment hoping to find additional fragments of this fossil.
What a Find!
Credit: © Photo by Mike Hettwer, www.hettwer.com, courtesy of National Geographic
Meave Leakey (left) and Louise Leakey, National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence, examine the newly discovered fossil KNM-ER 62000 just after its discovery in northern Kenya.
Fossil Field Camp
Credit: © Photo by Louise Leakey
Meave Leakey (left) with Cyprian Nyete (right) and other members of the field crew reconstructing pieces of specimen KNM-ER 60000 at the field camp in 2009.
Clues to Diet
Credit: © Photo by Fred Spoor
Meave Leakey carefully excavates the new face KNM-ER 62000. Researchers might be able to reconstruct what this new human species might have eaten by looking at its teeth and jaws.
Distinct Incisors
Credit: © Photo by Fred Spoor
The left side of the lower jaw KNM-ER 60000, after preparation by Christopher Kiarie. "The incisors are really rather small compared to what you'd find in other early Homo [species]," said Fred Spoor at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "In the back of the mouth, the teeth are large, telling us a lot of food processing was going on there ... it may be possible it ate more tough, plantlike foods than meat."
The 3D View
Credit: © Photo by Fred Spoor
Three-dimensional reconstruction of the new lower jaw KNM-ER 60000, based on a computed tomography scan. It was created by mirror-imaging the better-preserved left side complemented with a few parts only present on the right.