'Missing link' fossil skull reveals face of ancient human ancestor
An international team of scientists, including researchers in Ethiopia, have uncovered a 1.5-million-year-old fossil skull, called DAN5, that gives us a rare look at what early human ancestors might have looked like.
This skull mixes features from Homo erectus—an important early human species—with more primitive facial traits, making it the most complete find of its kind from the Horn of Africa.
A new twist on our family tree
DAN5 stands out because it combines traits from both Homo erectus and even older species, like a flat nose and big molars—not seen in other fossils from the same era.
This suggests there was more variety among our ancestors than we thought, hinting that early humans in Africa were evolving in different ways after their first migrations.
Tools tell another part of the story
The skull was found alongside some of humanity's earliest tools—simple stone handaxes and Oldowan tools—which means these ancient relatives were already using technology to survive.
Next up, researchers want to compare DAN5 with similar fossils from Europe to see how our story connects across continents.