Recent fossil finds could mean that "Lucy" wasn't our direct ancestor, some scientists say. Others strongly disagree.

South Africa’s initial claim to be humanity’s home goes back almost a hundred years. In 1924, anatomist Raymond Dart found a skull of a juvenile primate among a box of fossil-bearing rocks sent to him ...

South Africa is well known for its fossil heritage, a record of plants and animals that tells us what the world was like long ago. All this time we were aware that there might be more, even older ...

Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Lucy might be one of the most iconic human ancestors, but she had a neighboring species that has gone unidentified—until now. The foot from this ...

NEW YORK - Scientists have gained new insights into an extinct South African creature with an intriguing mix of human and apelike traits. But they still haven't pinned down where it fits on our ...

Little Foot skull (left) with arrow (right) indicating position of atlas vertebra Skulls receive most of the attention in the study of human evolution, but the atlas vertebra, which sits just beneath ...

Consuming the meat of large animals is generally thought to have been instrumental in human evolution. It allowed early hominins, such as australopithecines, to begin developing larger brains some 3.4 ...