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Missing link

Between Homo erectus and modern man

ADDIS ABABA: Scientists in northeastern Ethiopia have said that they have discovered a hominid skull that could be a missing link between Homo erectus and modern man.

The hominid cranium — found in two pieces and believed to be between 500,000 and 250,000 years old — "comes from a very significant period and is very close to the appearance of the anatomically modern human," said Sileshi Semaw, director, Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in Ethiopia.

Archaeologists found the cranium at Gawis, in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region, five weeks ago, Sileshi said.

Sileshi, an Ethiopian paleoanthropologist based at Indiana University, U.S., said most fossil hominids were found in pieces but the near-complete skull — a rare find — provided a wealth of information. The cranium dates to a time of transition from African Homo erectus to modern humans about which little is known. — AP

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