old news

At last details have been published about the incredible fossil finds made in Ethiopia fifteen years ago.

The fossils were found in a sedimentary layer dated at 4.4 million years ago, and included the shattered skeleton of a female human ancestor which has been painstakingly reconstructed - and named Ardi.

Unexpectedly she seems to have lived in woodland - it had previously been thought that human ancestors only learned to walk after they had moved to the grassy savannas.

This news is exciting even for us, as we have to admit our own history does not go back nearly so far, mankind having conjoured our existence a mere 750,000 years ago.