Overview

• An international team led by Brian Villmoare reported 13 hominin teeth from Ledi-Geraru dated between 2.78 and 2.59 million years using volcanic ash layers for precise chronology.
• Three teeth—the oldest at about 2.78 Ma and two at 2.59 Ma—exhibit morphological traits attributed to early Homo, confirming the genus’s deep antiquity in the Afar region.
• Ten teeth from the approximately 2.63 Ma Lee Adoyta layer lack clear Homo characteristics and are provisionally assigned to an as-yet-unnamed Australopithecus lineage.
• The presence of both tooth types in the same stratigraphic sequence suggests that early Homo and an archaic australopith coexisted in East Africa for at least 200,000 years.
• Researchers plan enamel isotopic and microstructure studies alongside further excavations to resolve hominin dietary ecology and validate the provisional taxonomic assignments.