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Bones of the hominine Australopithecus afarensis — the species to which the famous 'Lucy' skeleton belongs — have also been found in this location and from the same period.

Horizontal lines indicate speciation times within the hominine subfamily and the sequence divergence time between human and orang-utan.

Good grasp of history The discovery shows that one hominine lineage had grasping feet for at least a million years after Ar. ramidus.

The finding will force a rethink regarding the course of early hominine evolution, Harcourt-Smith adds.

Horizontal lines indicate speciation times within the hominine subfamily and the sequence divergence time between human and orang-utan.