Researchers, includingYale Professor Elizabeth Vrba, spent two years removing a million-year-old skull found in Ethiopia from the rock in which it was embedded. Here, another team member -- Henry Gilbert, a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley -- works on the specimen with a porcupine quill.

Skull discovery boosts theory that all
humans came from a single species

The discovery of a million-year-old skull in Ethiopia indicates that a single species of human ancestor, Homo erectus, ranged from Europe to Africa to Asia in the Pleistocene era, according to the cover article in the March 21 issue of the journal Nature. The finding by the research team, which included Elisabeth Vrba, professor of paleontology in Yale's Department of Geology and Geophysics, contradicts recent suggestions that there was a fundamental, early split in the homolineage between Eurasiatic and African populations. "This find puts that into perspective," says Vrba. "This says a single species was very widespread in Africa and Eurasia." The team was led Tim White, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and codirector of the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and by Berhane Asfaw of the Rift Valley Research Service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The skull was found at a new site in Ethiopia's Afar Regional State near the village of Bouri in the Middle Awash study area. The researchers spent two years removing the skullcap from the matrix of sediment that had tightly held it for a million years. Asfaw described the fossil as one of Ethiopia's most important. The team's detailed analysis compared characteristics of the new fossil with other hominids from Africa, Europe and Asia. The analysis showed that it is impossible to cleanly segregate Homo erectus crania from different continents. "They show mosaic resemblances," Vrba says. "One does not get one set of character states in each area, which suggests genetic continuity between them. There was movement and mobility between the populations, and interbreeding, consistent with a single species which should bear the name Homo erectus." -- By Jacqueline Weaver T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S Law School helps launch Legal Affairs magazine Skull discovery boosts theory that all humans came from a single species Investor confidence 'unshaken,' according to new indexes . . . Yale Library honors aviator Lindbergh's 100th birthday In Focus: Yale Cancer Center Academy pays tribute to noted Yale composer Physicist's honor recognizes his research on quantum dots New Drama Dean hails theater's ability to change lives Non-native but common reeds in Connecticut are changing the state's . . . MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS Grants to help bring smoking research to policymakers Obese youths at high risk for diabetes, says study Virus that 'vanishes' raises questions about roots of brain damage Pearson is honored by the American Pediatric Society Robert C. Johnson, former dean of the Divinity School, dies Students win travel fellowships for summer research abroad Graduate student forum to explore 'the art of great teaching' Health-care experts to discuss challenges and dilemmas of 'patient-driven care' Hellenic studies program to host conference on modern Greece Impact of new technologies on architecture to be explored Conference will focus on the problem of illegal logging in tropical forests Medical anthropologists to discuss their work Notice from the New Haven Police Department Yale Books in Brief Campus Notes Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News|Bulletin Board Yale Scoreboard|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs Home|News Releases| E-Mail Us|Yale Home Page