Adrian Woolfson

The roots of humanity remain obscure

Ardipithecus ramidus, discovered in 1994, is currently considered our oldest ancestor. But we may not have sprung from a single species, says Kermit Pattison

Skull of Ardipithecus ramidus, discovered in Ethiopia in 1994. Credit: Alamy 
issue 09 January 2021

  • Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind

    Kermit Pattison

    William Morrow, pp. 544, £25

To comprehend ourselves and the future of humankind we have to understand where we came from. Unlike the approximately 350,000 known species of beetles on Earth, there is just one existing species of human. It is hard to imagine how our bodies and minds might have been constructed along different design principles or generated even a fraction of such diversity.

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