Australopithecus anamensis
The earliest australopith has a chimp-like face on a body already committed to walking.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 400 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 100 thousand years
- Era
- Pliocene, Cenozoic
Australopithecus anamensis, from Kenya and Ethiopia, is known from jaws, teeth and limb bones including a tibia whose thickened joint surfaces indicate habitual upright weight-bearing. A remarkably complete cranium found at Woranso-Mille in 2019 gave it a face for the first time — and its date overlapped with Australopithecus afarensis, meaning the two coexisted for at least a hundred thousand years rather than one simply turning into the other.