Texas A&M professor helped find fossilized skeletons of apelike ancestors in South Africa.

A Texas A&M paleoanthropologist participated in the discovery of two skeletons of a previously unknown 1.78 million- to 1.95 million-year-old human ancestor in South Africa.

"When I first saw the skeletons, I knew we had something special," said Dr. Darryl J. de Ruiter, assistant professor of anthropology who was the craniodental specialist on the project. He examined the fossilized skull, jaws and teeth of what are believed to be an adult female and a juvenile male. "Both were remarkably complete and extremely well-preserved." He said the skulls and teeth are humanlike, although the skulls are smaller than those of modern humans.

Named Australopithecus ("southern ape") sediba ("fountain" or "wellspring" in the Sotho language of South Africa), these human ancestors could move in trees and walk on two legs on the ground. This summer, de Ruiter and some of his students will look for more skeletons at the site, a 10-by-10-foot cave about 8 feet deep near Johannesburg.

Science Magazine reported the find in April. The lead author is project director Dr. Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa; de Ruiter, who received the Ray A. Rothrock ’77 Fellows Award from the College of Liberal Arts, is the second author.

To learn how you can support research and academics in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M, contact Larry Walker ‘97 at (800) 392-3310.

This article was originally published in the Summer 2010 issue of Spirit Magazine. Click here to read the full issue of Spirit.