This week’s Fossil Friday features the iconic hominid fossil Sahelanthropus, which is often considered to be the oldest known representative of the human lineage (Su 2013, Strait et al. 2002), as the fossil hominin Sahelanthropus tchadensis. (2005) attempted to establish the crucial position of the foramen magnum as evidence of bipedal locomotion, but this remains controversial (BBC 2005, Hawks 2005, Wolpoff et al. Of course, the discovery of the oldest fossil hominin makes for better publicity and yields higher funding than the discovery of just another fossil ape. (2022) was immediately overhyped in the media reports (Burakoff 2022, Callaway 2022, Handwerk 2022, Lazaro 2022, Liebermann 2022, Pare & Davis 2022, Wilson 2022) and also Wikipedia (2022) uncritically accepted the new study as a refutation of the previous study by Machiarelli and colleagues.

Source: The Guardian September 09, 2022 19:57 UTC