Fossil Finds
Hadar, a community in Afar, was the site of the discovery of "Lucy", the Australopithecus afarensis skeletal remains, by Donald Johanson of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. On March 5, 2005, another skeleton, estimated to be 3.8 million years old and said to be the world's oldest bipedal hominid skeleton, was found in the region. Yohannes Haile-Selassie has led digs there each year from 2004 to 2007.
On March 24, 2006 it was reported that a "significantly complete" cranium had been found at Gawis in the Gona area. The cranium appears as an intermediate form between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.
On October 1, 2009, scientists reported that they had found a skeleton, dating around 4.4 million years ago. Named Ardi, it is a form of the species Ardipithecus ramidus. It is a distant cousin of the Australopithecus afarensis, Lucy's species.
Read more about this topic: Afar Region
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