The Origins of the Genus Homo
In this talk, paleoanthropologist Dr. Bernard Wood will survey the history of attempts to find fossils of the earliest members of the genus Homo, including very recent and controversial additions. He will review the complications that arise from defining the genus and discuss how half-a-century of paleontological research has taught him what to look for within the hominin fossil record when searching for the origins of our genus Homo.
Origin Stories: Ancestor
Just recently, the news media announced the discovery of a fossil ape called Alesi. This remarkable fossil was found in Kenya, and it’s from a time period where there’s a big blank spot in the fossil record of our family tree.
New 13 million-year-old infant skull sheds light on ape ancestry
The discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like.
From the Field: Julien Louys, Sumatra
In 1887 M. Eugène Dubois set out to what was then the Dutch East Indies in search of the missing link. More than a century later, Leakey Foundation Grantee Julien Louys followed in Dubois' footsteps to look for fossils in the caves of Sumatra.
3.3 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals the Antiquity of the Human Spine
For more than 3 million years, Selam lay silent and still. Eager to tell her story, the almost perfect fossil skeleton of a 2 1/2 year-old toddler was discovered at Dikika, Ethiopia -- and she had a lot to say.