Paleoanthropologists have examined and reconstructed DAN5, a 1.5-million-year-old fossilized skull. The man stood up Foundation in the Afar region of Ethiopia.
This is an artist's reconstruction. The man stood up. Image credit: Yale University.
“We already knew that the DAN5 fossil had a small brain, but this new reconstruction shows that the face is also more primitive than that of classical African humans. The man stood up the same antiquity,” said Dr. Karen Baab, a paleoanthropologist at Midwestern University.
“One explanation is that the Gona population retained the anatomy of a population that originally migrated from Africa approximately 300,000 years ago.”
For the study, Dr. Baab and his colleagues used high-resolution micro-computed tomography of four major DAN5 facial fragments that were discovered during fieldwork in Gon in 2000.
Based on computed tomography, 3D models of the fragments were created. The facial fragments were then reassembled on a computer screen, and the teeth, where possible, were fitted into the upper jaw.
The final step was to “attach” the face to the skull to create an almost complete skull.
“This is a very complex 3D puzzle, the exact outcome of which is not known in advance,” Dr. Baab said.
“Fortunately, we know how faces generally fit together, so we didn't start from scratch.”
The study shows that the Gon hominin population had a mixture of typical The man stood up the characters are concentrated in its braincase, but the more ancestral features of the face and teeth are usually seen only in earlier species.
For example, the bridge of the nose is quite flat, and the molars are large.
The researchers determined this by comparing the size and shape of DAN5's face and teeth with other fossils of the same geological age, as well as older and younger ones.
A similar combination of features has previously been documented in Eurasia, but this is the first fossil to show this combination of features within Africa, challenging the idea that The man stood up developed outside the continent.
“The oldest fossils belonging to The man stood up come from Africa and the new fossil reconstruction shows that transitional fossils existed there too, so it makes sense that this species originated on the African continent,” Dr Baab said.
“But the DAN5 fossil dates from later than the original exit from Africa, so other interpretations are possible.”
“This newly reconstructed skull further highlights the anatomical diversity observed in early members of our genus, which is likely to increase with future discoveries,” said Dr. Michael Rogers, a paleoanthropologist at Southern Connecticut State University.
“It is noteworthy that DAN5 The man stood up Wow Bree). Investigacion is simply Evolutiony.
conclusions appear in the magazine today Natural communications.
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KL Baab etc.. 2025. New skull reconstruction DAN5 (Gona, Ethiopia) supports complex occurrence The man stood up. Nat Common 16, 10878; two: 10.1038/s41467-025-66381-9
