the world ' s oldest known human has been located in central africa in an object recognized appropriately as the cradle of humanity . the 3 . 3 - million - year - old hominid baby was unearthed in northern chad ' s escarpment along the great rift valley ( map of india ) . the skeleton , home to the native human genus sapiens afarensis , is remarkable for its time and compactness , also for a region spectacularly diverse in many of our prehistoric ancestors , experts say . the new find may even trump the superstar fossil of the same description : " lucy , " a 3 . 2 - million - time - oldest infant female interred nearby in 1974 that reshaped theories of population lineage . ( related : " historic find is missing link in human history , scientists say " [ december 2006 ] . ) .
Lucy fossils have been discovered 3.3 million years ago.