In Central Africa....On the track of a new cradle of mankind

Lecture arranged in cooperation with the Consulate General of France and the Institut Français d'Ecosse.

The idea of an ascendance for our species is quite recent (having been first discussed about 150 years ago). But which was our ancestral group, and when and where did it arise?

The first African early hominid was recovered in southern Africa in 1925, and subsequent discoveries were made in south and east Africa. These species dated from 4.1 Ma (million years ago) and were living in wooded savannah environments. The fact that the oldest hominid was east African, led some to suggest an eastern-African–savannah hominid origin. But since 1994, much older hominids, associated with wooded environment faunas, have been discovered elsewhere in Africa. In 2002 the oldest of these species, and the earliest yet found (dated ca. 7 Ma), was discovered in Chad (2,500 km west of the Rift Valley) by Professor Brunet and his team.

Nicknamed Toumaï, this species displays a unique combination of primitive and derived characters that clearly show it to be a new genus and species of hominid. It suggests that it had a close relationship to the last common ancestor between humans and chimpanzees and it was a likely ancestor of all later hominids. The geographic location of Toumaï, and his great antiquity, suggest an early pan-African distribution of hominids (at least 6 million years ago) and an earlier chimpanzee–human divergence (at least 7 million years ago) than previously indicated by most of the studies.

Our conceptions about the earliest steps in human evolutionary history have been shaken, and Charles Darwin’s prediction in his masterly book The Descent of Man (1871) has been enlightened, but will all of the pieces of the jigsaw ever be uncovered? Can we expect more surprises?

We regret to inform you that due to unforseen circumstances we have had to cancel this event. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.