Oldest Homo human fossil

A partial left mandible (jawbone) still containing five teeth, labelled LD 350-1, was unearthed in the Ledi-Geraru research area in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 2013, and has been dated between 2.75 and 2.80 million years old. The specimen features characteristics distinctly associated with well-documented early Homo species such as H. habilis (dating from c. 2 MYA), including slim molars and symmetrical premolars, but also traits more associated with earlier hominins such as Australopithecus, including a sloping chin. The findings were published in the online journal Science Express on 4 March 2015.

The jawbone was found by Chalachew Seyoum on 29 January 2013.

This discovery pushed back the fossil record for the Homo genus by around 400,000 years. The dating process used tested for isotopes of argon in the rock that the fossil was found in as remains of this age cannot be dated directly.

The study was a collaboration between an international team of anthropologists and geoscientists from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Arizona State University, Pennsylvania State University, George Washington University (all USA), University College London (UK) and the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (Ethiopia), led by Associate Professor Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada Las Vegas.