Scientists unearthed Fossilized Bones of a Foot in Ethiopia

Scientists  in the first week of April 2012 unearthed fossilized bones of a foot in Ethiopia which they believe could be of a new species of human that roamed the planet some three million years ago and could offer insight into how man evolved to walk on two feet. The shape of the bones shows that the creature could walk upright at times.

By analysing their structure and dating the surrounding dirt, the team concluded the fragments came from the right forefoot of a human relative that lived 3.4 million years ago. While Lucy- the name of the skeleton which was first identified in the Afar in the 1970s- had humanlike feet, this creature was less advanced.

The ability to walk upright is an important feature that separates humans from other great apes. The new specimen's foot resembled that of Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus, a species that lived a million years earlier than Lucy in what is now Ethiopia. Like Ardi, its big toe is set apart from the rest of its foot, allowing it to grip tree branches, and it had no arch.