Kenyanthropus platyops

1.      Dr. Meave Leakey and his colleagues at the National Museum of Kenya unearthed fossils on 1998 and 1999 in Kenya during field work sponsored by the National Geographic Society. According to the findings it is belonging to a new genus of human ancestor, K.enyanthropus platyops. It is estimated 3.2 to 3.5 million years old.

2.      Australopithecus afarensis or popularly known as Lucy is the partial skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. The scientist have believed that Lucy  is the  ancestral species but this was changed when the Kenyan fossils(K.enyanthropus platyops) recovered. One distinguishable feature is the flatter face of K.enyanthropus than Australopithecus. Hence, Leakey concluded that there are two lineages existed as far back as 3.5 million years.

3.      The most popular theory about human ancestry in early 1980’s, was that many scientist and archaeologist have believed that there was a single common human ancestor, which gave rise to successive species within the past 3 million years.

4.      Leakey’s discovery could result to paradigm shift for it changed our belief about human evolution and it requires us to adjust our view about it. The notable changes or new ideas presented are the following:

a.       two lineages existed as far back as 3.5 million years

b.      the early stages of human evolution are more complex

c.       there is no direct competition between K.enyanthropus and Australopithecus for food resource based on the molar teeth recovered

5.      Meave Leakey’s discovery suggests that the truth, that we are believing now about human evolution is perhaps not the actual truth. Anyway, his discovery is a great helped to unlocked the mystery of the past especially the human evolution.   For previous years, we encountered Omo 1 and Omo 2 which both discovered in Ethiopia and we also encountered Australopithecus Ramidus which some scientist thought as the missing link to prove that we came from the monkey. Now new species was discovered the K.enyanthropus platyphos and proved that it is different from another species. Perhaps, we will hesitate which fact we need to believe in, but this discovery is very important to point up and illustrate the kind of people existed 3 million years ago, their environment and how they lived and survived.

The Impact Meave Leakey’s Discovery of K.enyanthropus platyops

The past is really full of mystery and secrets. Sometimes we ask ourselves who are really our ancestors and how we become what we are now.

Last 1998-1999, Dr. Meave Leakey and his colleagues from the National Museum of Kenya unearthed fossils belonging to a new genus of human ancestor, the kenyathropus platyops. The world was shocked to this news as it was published in Nature, one of the prominent scientific journals. It altered our understanding about human evolution and offer new theory on how human exist. According to the report, the major difference between the two is that the Kenyathropus and Australopithecus show that they had different diets and could have existed side by side without direct competition for food resources based on the small molar teeth found. Furthermore, both tooth size and face shape relate to the way a species chews its food.

The discovery nullifies the theory of the scientist and archaeologist in 1980’s that there was a single common human ancestor, which gave rise to successive species within the past 3 million years. It also suggests the possibility that there are another species existed prior to Australopithecus and Kenyathropus that are waiting to be unearthed by another archeologist or scientist  that may result to another major paradigm shift.

In other word, looking backward to know our origin is a very difficult task.  It is really true that human evolution is a very complex process and always a debatable topic for more than century.