• Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution & Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University
Fossilised jaws from the 17 million-year-old Kenyan ape Afropithecus turkanensis. Tanya M. Smith/National Museums of Kenya

Revelations from 17‑million‑year‑old ape teeth could lead to new insights on early human evolution

Cutting-edge analysis of fossil ape teeth reveals ancient seasonal change in Africa, long before human ancestors appeared. The method will be crucial for the future study of early hominins.
The original Dikika child skull (left), a 3D model produced with synchrotron scanning (middle), and a model corrected for distortion during fossilisation (right). Gunz et al. (2020) / Science Advances.

Baby steps: this ancient skull is helping us trace the path that led to modern childhood

Our findings reveal the slowing down of brain development in our ape-like ancestors began more than three million years ago.

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