Uncovering 1
Missing Link
B y E mily C auch
“ In m y paleo-fantasy this is a land­
s c a p e o f v e ry little re lie f ,” said
Hank W esselm an, an anthropolo­
gist and a team o f international scien­
tists w ere looking for the “M issing
Link” - a branching o f f that d em o n ­
strated a break from the a p e ’s ancestral
line to a line th at appeared to be dis­
W esselm an.
H e envisions a possible rise in a
river, w hich flooded everything in its
path. H e said the ancient fossils m ay
h ay e'b een so w ell preserv ed because
they w ere quickly buried b y fine sed i­
m ents during a m assive flood.
W esselm an and tw o m em bers o f the
m icro-m am m al team discovered about
4 0 0 micro-m am m al fossils, more than he
h ad ev er found. W esselm an described
the A far region, w here the discoveries
w ere m ade, as the “oldfcst and m ost
prolific” m icro-m am m al site.
W hite and his team discovered 17A
tinctly hum an.
“T his proves that C harles D arw in
w as right,” said anthropolo g ist H ank
W esselm an.
A bout 140 years ago D arw in p re­
dicted that the “ M issing L ink” in the
history o f m an w ould be found in A f­
rica, according to W esselm an.
D iscovered in the fossil h o tbed o f
E thiopia’s R ift V alley w ere 95 fossil
bones o f an individual o f long age.
T heteam , including W esselm an and
ledbyV nivereity ofC alifom iaat Berke­
ley anthropologist T im w hite, discov­
ered the oldest found rem ain s o f the
genus A ustralopithecus. W hite nam ed
the species ram idus w hich m eans * ‘root’ ’
in the local A far v illag ers’ tongue.
‘ ‘This really is the m issing link," said
W esselm an, w hose specialty is search-
lrfg for the fossils o fsm a ll m am m als.
“ T his creatu re, A u stra lo p ith ecu s
ram idus, is clearly a separate species
from the L ucy form and it’s very clearly
an interm ediate betw een som ething
w hich is h u m an and som ething w hich
is ape,” said W esselm an.
“L ucy” w as a discovery m ade b y
anthropologist D o n Johan so n and a
team about 20 years ago. L u cy or
A u s tr a lo p i th e c u s a fa r q n s is w a s
thought to be the oldest hum an-like
creature found.
W esselm an can b e found hunching
on the ground looking for th e fossil
bones o f rats, m ice and bats.
B y dating these sm all-m am m al fos­
sils, he is able to reconstru ct the envi­
ronm ent in w hich the 4.5 m illion-year-
oldhum an-like species A ram idus lived.
H e im agined A. ram idus living in a
flat and w ooded land.
“This find is
really the Holy
Grail of
Anthropology.”
ram idus fossils.
In E thiopia, before heading o u t to
the site, W esselm an, w ith an E thiopian
co lle a g u e , sh o p p e d in th e v illag e
Shoarobi forpotatoes, onions,bananas,
oranges and 15 containers o f gasoline.
A far villagers, arm ed w ith A K -47s, es­
corted W esselm an and his colleague
to the ex cav atip n site
T he A far villagers are involved in a
fierce Ethiopian civil w aran d only allow
outsiders into their area w ith their p er­
m ission. T he balabat, o r chief, o f the
gro u p blessed the anthropologists and
pled g ed to defend them i f necessary.
T he villagers w ere often seen in the
distance tending to th eir livestock, o c­
casionally stopping to intently study
the w o rk o f the anthropologist team.
W esselm an joined 25 -3 0 team m em ­
b ers and b eg an h is w o rk in the fine
s e d im e n ts th a t h e ld a n s w e rs to
h u m a n ity ’s past.
In those sam e sed im en ts, in a d ry
riv erb ed , anthropologists cam e across
a lo w e rle g b o n e o L T ram idus, the first
o f m any discoveries. T h e team c o v ­
ered the area w ith a m ak esh ift tent and
started p lanning the ex cav atio n o f the
area,
“ M y m ic ro -m a m m a l te a m , o f
course, w as im m ed iately p ressed into
serv ice an d w e b ecam e ex cav ato rs at
th e site becau se o f the m ag n itu d e o f
this d isco v ery ,’’ said W esselm an .
“D r. W h ite an d his co lleag u es, in­
cluding m yself, began to u ncover bone
a fte r b o n e a fte r b o n e o f a sin g le
in d iv id u al.. .nobody could believe it,”
said W esselm an.
T h e team d id n o t b rin g enough
p ack ag in g m aterial, not an ticip atin g
su ch a find.
T h e team , lying o n th eir sto m ach s
w hile picking aw ay at dirt, found m ore
fossils o f the o w n er o f th e leg bone.
E ach fossil, su rro u n d ed b y its o rigi­
nal sedim ents w as to be p reserv ed in
w hite casting. T h e team reso rted to
using alu m in u m foil an d o th er m ateri­
als to w rap the fossils.
“I t ’s v ery ap e-lik e in its teeth an d
the size o f the can in es an d the th ick ­
n ess o f the en am el, b u t its v ery h u ­
m an -lik e in it’s p o st-cran ial sk eleto n
(h an d s an d legs),” said W esselm an.
“T he feet an d th e legs reveal fea­
tu res w h ich are ch aracteristic o f bi-
p ed alism ,” he said.
B i-pedalism , u n iq u e h o m in id fea­
ture, is th e ability to w alk u p rig h t w ith
tw o legs.
W h ite w ill retu rn to A frica to re ­
m o v e the sed im en t an d resto re and
cu rate the fossils, w h ich still n eed to
b e stu d ied and cleaned.
“F rom the w o rk th a t’s already b een
d one w e ’re very, v ery ex cited becau se
o f the features th at are re v ealed ,’ said
W esselm an. “A m o saic o f features
th at are ape-like an d h u m an -lik e have
b een rev ealed b y w h at w e ’v e seen so I
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Raymond Dart, an anatomist In South Africa originally discovered the Australopithecines. He believed
that these species had been extraordinary predators, hunting many animals and bringing their carcasses
back to the limestone caves. “Man's predecessors... seized living quarries by violence, battered them to
death, tore apart thek.broken bones, dismembered them limb from limb, slaking their ravenous thirst
with the hot blood of victims and greedily devouring IM ng writhing flesh, ” explained Dart.
The new species discovered recently In the RIH Valley of Ethiopia by Hank Wesselman and colleagues Is
millions of years older than Australopithecines that is distinctly both human and ape-llke.
I l~
. P(
X
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n
Katom bo
(Below) Ethiopia’s Rift Valley Is where Hank Wesselman and the International team of scientists found
Australopithecus ramidus - the oldest humanlike fossil found. The area Is rich In ancient fossils because It Is
located on a convergence of two landmass plates. Over a long period of time, chunks of sediments containing
fossils drop and ripe. r
(Above) Hank