Near complete ape-man skull found South African scientists believe they may have unearthed the most complete early hominid skull ever found. They hope it will shed light on the distant origins of the human race. Two fossils were discovered, a skull and a jaw, which are between 1.5 and 2.0 million years old. The scientists say the differences and similarities of the hominids from human ancestors, and the reasons for their extinction, may provide clues to humanity's own evolution. The pair of fossils were christened Orpheus and Eurydice after the lovers of Greek mythology and have been identified as Paranthropus robustus , a hominid line that became extinct about one million years ago.
Scientists say the skull belongs to a female of the species while the jawbone belongs to a male.
It was certainly the highlight of my career as a palaeontologist. The genetic ancestors of humans are thought to have split from the apes between six million and four million years ago. Robustus is one of several variations of the genus Australopithecus , which lived between 4.2 million and 1.5 million years ago and whose remains have been found in eastern and southern Africa. There has never been a better discovery in this little-known branch of the human family tree. The reasons for the extinction of some hominid lines are uncertain.