3.4-Million-Year-Old Foot Redraws Early Hominins, Challenging Lucy's Primacy
A 3.4-million-year-old fossil foot from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia, is now assigned to Australopithecus deyiremeda, suggesting coexisting mid-Pliocene hominins with distinct locomotor traits and diets. Isotopic analysis of eight Burtele teeth shows a forest-based (C3) diet for A. deyiremeda, differing from A. afarensis (Lucy) and implying ecological partitioning. The finding supports a multi-species, branching view of early hominin evolution and challenges the idea of Lucy as a sole direct ancestor.
