SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT

EVOLUTION

Newly found human ancestor named Homo bodoensis

Researchers have announced the naming of a newly discovered species of human ancestor, Homo bodoensis. The species lived in Africa about 500,000 years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene age, and was the direct ancestor of modern humans, according to scientists. The name derives from a skull found in Bodo D’ar in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia.

Scientists said the epoch was significant because it had been when anatomically contemporary humans, , appeared in Africa and the Neanderthals, known as , in Europe. Under the new classification, will describe the majority of Middle Pleistocene humans from Africa and some from south-east Europe, while many from the