Prehistoric skull found in dump may be missing common ancestor of apes & humans

The Guardian ^ | Monday November 7, 2005 | Dale Fuchs in Madrid

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Palaeontologists excavating a dump outside Barcelona have found a skull dating back 14m years that could belong to a common ancestor of apes and humans.

The nearly intact skull, which has a flat face, jaw and teeth, may belong to a previously unknown species of great ape, said Salvador Moya, the chief palaeontologist on the dig. "We could find a cradle of humanity in the Mediterranean," he said.

A routine land survey for a planned expansion of the Can Mata dump in Els Hostalets de Pierola turned up the first surprise in 2002: a primate's tooth.

Since then, scientists from the Miquel Crusafont Institute of Palaeontology in Sabadell have unearthed nearly 12,000 fossils of primates and other animals that lived during the Middle Miocene era - between 14m and 8m years ago - when the area was covered by tropical rainforest and populated by the precursors of today's elephants, antelopes and monkeys.

Last year, the team found a 13m-year-old partial skeleton, also believed to be a common ancestor of apes and humans - a male fruit-eater, nicknamed Pau.

"If there is a place in the world where it is possible to find an entire skeleton of a common ancestor to the great apes and humans, it is Hostalets de Pierola," Mr Moya told El País newspaper. "In few places [will] you uncover so many connected vertebrae in such good condition."

The Can Mata dump sits above clay soil in which animal remains became trapped and well-preserved.

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Who would throw something like that away?!

[The Red Zone]

Yeah??? Obviously a Neanderthal pitched it.

[Tax-chick]

Or it could be a missing politician from the Civil War era.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[USConstitutionBuff]

Any pictures?

[OB1kNOb]

Yeah??? Obviously a Neanderthal pitched it.

Not cool, man! Not, cool! ;-)

[counterpunch]

Must be the victim of a Miocene mob hit.

[Constitution Day]

LOL

[Tijeras_Slim]

Og Hoffa.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Yet another missing link.

[Coyoteman]

Yet another missing link.

If they found it, its not missing.

[Battle Hymn of the Republic]

[ASA Vet]

ping

[babygene]

I don't think you would be able to tell from bones if an animal were human. There is that little thing called a soul.

He!!, if you found Islamic bones, you might think THEY were human...

[ErnBatavia]

Any pictures?

[Stentor]

I think we have El Piltdown man.

[ConservativeBamaFan]

Palaeontologists excavating a dump outside Barcelona have found . . . dumpster-diving man, the evolutionary fore-runner of the homeless.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Though tests show the skull was from a male, fossilized impressions of a tight fitting skirt were apparent on nearby skeletal remains. In light of recent discoveries of cave paintings depicting rainbow colored flags, this specimen has been dubbed The Missing Kink.

[wallcrawlr]

may belong to a previously unknown species of great ape,

Oh, I thought it said...grape ape.

[z3n]

Why is it that every time someone finds a skull and dates it, they automatically think they know from the estimated age weather it is some link in some genus (or between them), rather than a dead end branch (which is much more likely) or incidental offshoot?