Word: afar
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...genetic change over time. By calculating backward, they determined that great apes and hominids branched from a common ancestor between 6 million and 4 million years ago. But no fossils were on hand to support this scenario. The oldest hominid species known, Australopithecus afarensis (southern ape of the Afar), could be dated back only 3.6 million years. Its most famous member, Lucy, unearthed in Ethiopia's bleak Afar Triangle in 1974, is a mere 3.2 million years...
Because the fossils were too distinctive to be included in Lucy's extended Australopithecus family, the researchers called the new species Ardipithecus ramidus (ardi means ground or floor in the local Afar language, and ramid means root). White and his colleagues have since found other ramidus fossils at their site but are giving out precious few details until they complete their methodical analysis of the bones. Says ramidus co-discoverer Berhane Asfaw of the Rift Valley Research Service in Addis Ababa: "It will be worth the wait...
...characteristics wasn't precisely what the experts expected--they were looking to see smaller, more specialized teeth and a larger braincase. So they named their hominid Australopithecus garhi (garhi means surprise in Afar). But the skull's intermediate anatomy and its age--about 2.5 million years--put it midway in both time and form between the most recent A. afarensis and the oldest known fossils of our own genus...
Outside the pavilion, Hamilton has erected a 90-ft. wall of glass and steel that blocks the prospect of the building from afar. Up close, looking through the glass, the building seems to wobble and melt, blurred and distorted...
Epps watched from afar as Glimp's final attempt to end the standoff was unsuccessful, and the state police began to force their...