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PAR-Team claims discovering human fossil remains considerably older than Lucy, partial elephant skeleton |
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Addis Ababa, March 03, 2007 (WIC) - Fossil remains of humans and elephants have recently been discovered within the Afar Triangle in Galili area of Somali State, with the human fossil remains being considerably older than Lucy, a Paleo-Anthropological Research Team (PAR-Team) disclosed here today.
In a press briefing the PAR-Team gave this afternoon, Dr. Ottmar Kullmer said the most important findings of the season 2007 in the archaeological research underway since 2000 in Galili are two cheek teeth of small sized human ancestors belonging to different individuals. The fossils were found at two separate sites, in the west and east parts of Galili, and most likely represent early forms of Australopithecines that were both considerably older than the famous Lucy from Hadar, another place with in the triangle in Afar State, the Paleo-Anthropologist elaborated. The other main finding of the year, on the opposite extreme with respect to its size, is a partial elephant skeleton comprising an exceptionally well preserved skull with twisted tusks of more than two meters length, and other elements that are still waiting to be excavated in the future, Dr. Kullmer added. According to him, the Galili area produced more than 1,600 catalogued specimens since the beginning of the research in February 2000,that are now housed at the National Museum of Ethiopia while many localities that produce abundant faunal remains including seven hominids have been discovered. The faunal remains consistently indicate an age of the deposits between 3.7 million years, he said ,adding that the diverse fauna including monkeys, antelopes, giraffes, pigs, elephants, rhinos, carnivores, rodents, hippos, crocodiles and fish among others, make Galili a very important area for paleontology and paleo-anthropology, particularly because in that time span only very few localities are so far known in Africa. Also on the occasion, Director General of the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritages (ARCCH), Jara Hailemariam, said cognizant of the need to fully utilize the untapped might of research, ARCCH is doing its level best to support researchers in any possible ways to accomplish their objectives. PAR-Team is an international consortium of research institutions that includes University of Vienna, the Research Institute of Senckenberg (Frankfurt), Addis Ababa and Mekele Universities as well as National Museums of Kenya led by Principal Investigator Prof. Horst Seidler from Institute for Anthropology- University of Vienna, it was learnt. |
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