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A hominid skeleton found in 1994 and dating back 4.4 million years has cast doubt on long-held theories of evolution.
"Ardi," a 110-pound, 4-foot female found in Ethiopia is a million years older than Lucy, previously believed to be the earliest skeleton of a human ancestor.
A study of Ardi shows she was of a species that could walk upright and spent little time in the trees. This find provides evidence that chimps and humans evolved from some common ancestor that existed 6 to 7 million years ago, scientists say, but that each evolved and changed separately along the way.
โThis is not that common ancestor, but itโs the closest we have ever been able to come,โ Tim White, director of the Human Evolution Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Associated Press.
Get more: MSNBC
