A 7 million-year-old primate cranium found in central Chad does
not represent the earliest human ancestor as reported
previously, according to University of Wyoming Anthropology
Professor James Ahern. When it was discovered in 1999,
scientists thought the ancient Toumai Skull was the earliest
recorded hominid -- a unique human ancestor representing
evidence of the human evolutionary line. But due to missing key
features that could link previously unknown crania with the
earliest hominids, Ahern and his research team dispute the
previous findings. In a recent edition of the online journal
PaleoAnthropology (www.paleoanthro.org/journal/contents.htm),
Ahern writes with colleagues from the universities of Michigan
and Wisconsin, and from the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
and the College de France in Paris. They expose inconsistencies
between Toumai Skull's characteristics and those of definitive
hominids. Foremost among the details that identify all hominids
is evidence of posture and locomotion. According