New species found of early man.

• Position: Human Evolution

The discovery of the fossil remains of a new species of early man could help rewrite the path of human evolution, according to an international team of six scientists that includes American anthropologist Kristian J. Carlson. The two partial skeletons, dating from between 1,780,000 and 1,950,000 years ago, were discovered in South Africa and appear to represent features and attributes closer to humans--the genus Homo--than those from any other of our closest ancestors, the austrelopithecines. The new species is called Australopithecus sediba.

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The fossil remains of the two hominids were found about a half-rneter apart, embedded in cave deposits at the Malapa excavation site located about 170 miles northeast of Johannesburg and about nine miles northeast of the Sterkfontein World Heritage Site, also called the Cradle of Humankind. The first adult australopithecine was found in Sterkfontein in 1936.

It generally has been recognized that Australopithecus lost apelike attributes and began standing upright and evidencing increased brain capacity before evolving into the genus Homo. The Malapa...