Breakthrough shows humans were already standing on their own two feet 7 million years ago

By Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, paléontologue, Université de Poitiers
Andossa Likius, Mission Paléoanthropologique Franco-Tchadienne, Université de N'Djamena (Tchad)
Clarisse Nekoulnang Djetounako, Enseignante chercheure en paléontologie, Université de N'Djamena (Tchad)
Franck Guy, Paléoanthropologue, Université de Poitiers
Guillaume Daver, Maîtres de conférences en paléoanthropologie, Université de Poitiers
Laurent Pallas, Paléontologue, Kyoto University
Mackaye Hassane Taisso, Paléontologue, Université de N'Djamena (Tchad)
Patrick Vignaud, Pr. Paléontologie, Université de Poitiers

The study of present-day species has delivered a clear verdict on humanity’s place in the living world: right alongside chimpanzees and bonobos. However, this does not tell us much about our earliest human representatives, their biology or geographical distribution – in short, how we became human. For this, we mainly have to rely on the morphology of frustratingly rare fossils, given paleogenetic information is only preserved for recent periods…

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