Posted on 09/20/2006 10:56:22 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian scientists unveiled on Wednesday a 3.3 million-year-old fossil of a girl, which they believe is the most complete skeleton ever found.
The fossil including an entire skull, torso, shoulder blade and various limbs was discovered at Dikaka, some 400 kms northeast of the capital Addis Ababa near the Awash river in the Rift Valley.
"The finding is the most complete hominid skeleton ever found in the world," Zeresenay Alemseged, head of the Paleoanthropological Research Team, told a news conference.
He said the fossil was older than the 3.2 million year old remains of "Lucy" discovered in 1974, and described by scientists as one of the world's greatest archaeological finds.
"The new bones belong to a three year old girl who lived 3.3 million years ago -- 150,000 years before Lucy," Zeresenay said.
"Evidence indicates that she probably died in a flood from the nearby Awash river," he added.
The fossil has been named "Selam", which means peace in Ethiopia's official Amharic language.
Zeresenay said she belonged to the Australopithecus afarnesis species, which includes Lucy, and is thought to be an ancestor to modern humans.
"We now have for the first time the hard evidence for a clear picture of what early child human ancestors looked like," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
This thread won't be complete until someone posts a pic of Helen Thomas.
IBTHTP!
The headline is misleading. At 3.3 million years of age, this is no longer a girl. She is a woman now.
DINGDINGDINGDING!
The only reason I posted this was to see how many comments there would be before a Helen Thomas reference!
WOW! This is exciting stuff. Roll over Taung!
Ping!
Don't ruin a cool thread with that disgusting photo! ===> Placemarker <===
"This thread won't be complete until someone posts a pic of Helen Thomas."
LOL, I was thinking the same thing.
By the way, I did a little Google image search and noticed that almost every posed photo of Helen has her resting her head on her hand. Obviously someone once told her this was a flattering look.
Now, I don't want to hear any ungracious person out there say that Helen misunderstood the photographer, who was suggesting she use her hand to cover her face ;-)
I bet I could take my shovel to a graveyard and find a more complete skeleton!
ah, semantics...
The 9th post? You are getting slow! ;-)
Better not let Slick Willie get near it, or he might try to have sex with it.
alas:
'Lucy's baby' found in Ethiopia
BBC News on line | September 20, 2006 | Unsigned
Posted on 09/20/2006 1:26:20 PM EDT by aculeus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704974/posts
I thought the earth was only 6,000 year old?
Another date for clinton.
Ancient humans wiped out, women and children hit hardest.
Yes, I didn't even have to click on the post to KNOW that her picture WILL be here.
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