Predating Lucy

Lucy of Ethiopia was (is?) the oldest human remains discovered (http://www.warmafrica.com/index/geo/9/cat/1/a/a/artid/244). Thanks, Lucy! Lucy is much older than the Kennewick Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man). But where was the gap between out ancestor (the primate ooh ooh ee ee monkey man) and ourselves bridged? Maybe here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2493535.ece) discovered recently.

"While the bones, found in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in some ways resemble those of Homo erectus, a species from which modern human beings are descended, they have a peculiar mix of phsyical features that could fill a gap in human evolution.

The partial skeletons and skulls appear to be well adapted for walking upright, a key characteristic of more sophisticated hominins or human relatives. Their relatively small brains and upper limbs, however, have more in common with more primitive hominins called Australopithocenes than with Homo erectus, although they clearly belong to the genus Homo.

The results, reported in the journal Nature by a team led by David Lord-kipanidze, of the Georgian National Museum, raise the possibility that the Homo species that first left Africa was anatomically less advanced than species that had already evolved in humanity’s mother continent.

The new fossils are examples of some of the first ancient human beings to leave Africa." (Henderson, M. (2007). Fossils offer fresh clues to missing link in evolution. Retrieved September 22, 2007 from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2493535.ece).

Looks like next to Science I will have to subscribe to Nature.