For years, a small set of foot bones from Ethiopia sat at the center of a quiet puzzle, so scientists kept circling back to ...

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

When studying how fossil hominids moved, researchers usually analyze the morphology of bones—which is crucial for ...

After decades of excavation and debate, a new analysis argues that Little Foot — one of the most complete hominin fossils ...

Scientists say they have solved the mystery of the Burtele foot, a set of 3.4 million-year-old bones found in Ethiopia in 2009. The fossils, along with others unearthed more recently, have now been ...

When a small set of ancient foot bones turned up in Ethiopia years ago, the fossils raised more questions than answers. The pieces were odd enough to stand out from anything scientists had seen from ...

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 ...

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 ...

In 2009, scientists unearthed fossilized fragments of a 3.4-million-year-old foot in what’s now Ethiopia. They were found roughly 20 miles from where the famous Lucy skeleton was discovered in 1974.

(L)Haile-Selassie and his crew members in the field. (R) The Burtele Foot with its elements in the anatomical position.Stephanie Melillo, Mercyhurst University/Yohannes Haile-Selassie/ASU In a ...

Scientists have solved the mystery of 3.4 million-year-old fossils called the "Burtele Foot" discovered in Ethiopia in 2009, finding they belonged to an enigmatic human ancestor that lived alongside ...