News Anthropology

‘Little Foot’ pushes back age of earliest South African hominids

New dating suggests species lived during same era as Lucy

Little Foot Fossil

OLD SOUTH  Researchers have dated Little Foot, a South African fossil skeleton that includes this skull, to 3.67 million years ago. If the new age holds up, it makes Little Foot the oldest known hominid in that part of Africa.

Jason Heaton

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Lucy’s species, an East African hominid line called Australopithecus afarensis, had a South African counterpart, a new study finds.