New fossils hint at ancestral split

African discoveries point to two early species in the human genus

Newly discovered face and jaw fossils show that at least two species of the human genus Homo lived alongside each other in East Africa nearly 2 million years ago.

ANCESTRAL MOUTHFUL A nearly 2 million-year-old lower jaw discovered recently in East Africa, along with other new finds, differs substantially from smaller, earlier discoveries of Homo fossils in the region, a new study finds.