Never-Before-Seen Cousin of Lucy May Have Lived Alongside the Oldest Known Human Species, Study Suggests

 

August 14, 2025

NBC image 1An unidentified early hominin fossil — possibly representing a new species — suggests that Australopithecus and Homo species coexisted in the same region of Africa during the same period.

A Surprising Discovery at Ledi-Geraru
At the Ledi-Geraru archaeological site in northeastern Ethiopia, researchers uncovered fossilized teeth dating to roughly 2.6 million years ago. These belong to a species of Australopithecus, the genus that includes the famous “Lucy” (A. afarensis). However, the newly found teeth do not match any known Australopithecus species, according to a new study published in Nature on Wednesday (Aug. 13).

Adding to the intrigue, the same site also yielded extremely old Homo teeth — possibly belonging to the oldest known Homo species on record, though not yet officially named. These findings reveal that at least two distinct early hominin lineages shared the region 2.6 million years ago.

Ancient Landscapes and Preservation
The Ledi-Geraru site is already famous for producing a 2.8-million-year-old Homo jawbone — the oldest known human specimen — and some of the earliest stone tools, dated to 2.6 million years ago. Paleoenvironmental evidence suggests the area was once an open, arid grassy plain, with rivers and grasslands providing resources for both Homo and Australopithecus.

While these conditions may have attracted multiple hominin groups, the region’s fossil richness could also result from exceptional preservation — possibly aided by ancient volcanic activity.

NBC image 2 A Closer Look at the Teeth In total, researchers found 13 teeth. Ten date to 2.63 million years ago and belong to an unidentified Australopithecus species, temporarily dubbed the “Ledi-Geraru Australopithecus.” These differ in form from both A. afarensis and A. garhi.

Although the variation hints at a new species, the team is cautious — the teeth lack distinctive anatomical features traditionally required to formally name a new species.

The remaining three teeth — dating to between 2.59 and 2.78 million years ago — belong to Homo. They may come from the same species as the oldest known Homo jawbone found at the site, though this has yet to be confirmed.

A Bushy Evolutionary Tree
Before 2.5 million years ago, at least three hominin species appear to have lived in the area: the Homo species identified here, the unidentified Australopithecus, and A. garhi. At the same time, A. africanus thrived in South Africa, while Paranthropus inhabited Kenya, Tanzania, and southern Ethiopia.

These overlaps illustrate why scientists describe human evolution as “bushy” rather than linear. As anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison explains, “During most of our evolutionary history, there have been multiple species of human relatives existing at the same time. This new paper shows it was happening in Ethiopia during a very interesting time frame — maybe the earliest population of our genus Homo.”

  

What Comes Next
The research team plans to analyze the enamel chemistry of the teeth to determine what these species ate — a key to understanding whether they competed for resources.

At present, there is little evidence of direct interaction between Australopithecus and Homo. They may have occupied overlapping territories without living side-by-side, much like chimpanzees and gorillas today.

A Broader Mystery
Discoveries like this not only reshape our understanding of early hominin diversity, but also raise deeper questions about our origins. From a speculative standpoint, if the Sumerian accounts of Enki and the Anunnaki hold any historical truth, one might wonder: Which hominid did Enki allegedly use to blend Anunnaki genes with those of Earth? Strangely, this critical detail — arguably the keystone of such a narrative — is absent from the available Sumerian records. Was it lost, deliberately withheld, or never recorded at all? The answer, like so much of human prehistory, remains a mystery waiting to be uncovered.