Australopithecus sediba, << AW struh loh PIHTH uh kuhs suh DEEB uh, >> was a prehistoric humanlike creature that shared some similarities with early humans and may have lived around the same time. The creature is known from fossils found in South Africa. A. sediba is classified in the genus (group of closely related species) Australopithecus. Scientists classify Australopithecus in the same scientific family as modern humans and other prehistoric humanlike creatures.
The American-born anthropologist Lee Berger and his young son discovered the first fossils of this species in 2008 at Malapa, a site near Johannesburg in South Africa. By 2010, more fossils were found. These fossils included partial skeletons of two individuals, an adult female and a young male, that are dated to 1.9 million years ago. The skulls show that A. sediba had a brain only slightly larger than that of a typical chimpanzee. Although the brain was small, a detailed X-ray study of the inner skull shows that the foremost portion of the brain had some more humanlike characteristics. Other features of the skeleton show that A. sediba could walk upright and possibly make and use stone tools, as could the earliest humans.
Scientists are uncertain about the precise relationships among the many Australopithecus species known from fossils. Most anthropologists think that the first people evolved from an Australopithecus ancestor. Similarities between A. sediba and the earliest humans have led some scientists to think that A. sediba represents a direct link between Australopithecus and Homo erectus. H. erectus is thought by many scientists to be a direct—though distant—ancestor to modern people). Other scientists disagree with this view. They claim that A. sediba is more likely a kind of Australopithecus that lived about the same time as the earliest humans.
See also Australopithecus; Prehistoric people (The australopithecines).
