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3w ago

New Ethiopian Fossils Link 3.4-Million-Year-Old ‘Burtele Foot’ to Australopithecus deyiremeda

A Nature study connects the enigmatic foot to a tree‑climbing, ground‑walking hominin with a C3‑leaning diet, clarifying how it shared the landscape with Lucy’s species without direct competition.

An undated illustration shows the 3.4 million-year-old bones of the "Burtele foot", which belonged to the ancient human relative Australopithecus deyiremeda and were discovered in the Afar Rift region of Ethiopia, in their anatomical position and with the foot bones embedded in an outline of a gorilla foot. Yohannes Haile-Selassie/Handout via REUTERS
Image
Paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie and field assistant Ali Kadir look at a hominin fossil specimen found in the Afar Rift region of Ethiopia in this undated image. Dale Omori/Handout via REUTERS
Paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie works with his crew at the Woranso-Mille anthropological site in the Afar Rift region of Ethiopia in this undated image. Dale Omori/Handout via REUTERS

Overview

  • New finds near the Burtele site — including 25 teeth and a juvenile jaw — let researchers assign the 2009 foot bones to Australopithecus deyiremeda.
  • The foot’s opposable big toe shows strong arboreal abilities, yet the species walked bipedally and likely pushed off with the second toe, indicating a different gait from A. afarensis and modern humans.
  • Carbon‑isotope data from A. deyiremeda teeth indicate a diet dominated by C3 resources from trees and shrubs, contrasting with A. afarensis’ broader, mixed C3/C4 intake.
  • The fossils demonstrate that A. deyiremeda and A. afarensis coexisted in Ethiopia’s Afar region around 3.4 million years ago, occupying distinct locomotor and dietary niches.
  • Some specialists welcome the stronger case for A. deyiremeda but caution that linking isolated foot and dental remains is still circumstantial, urging more associated specimens to secure consensus.