A recently discovered fossil dating back 2.6 million years could fundamentally change our understanding of human evolution and put a long-standing mystery to rest, a new study has found. The fossil, belonging to the early hominin Paranthropus genus, was discovered in Ethiopia's Afar region. "Given this ambiguous combination of characteristics, we decided not to attribute the new fossil to a particular species of Paranthropus at this stage," Dr Spoor said. The jawbone was recovered from the Mille-Logya research area within the Afar region, a location renowned for yielding an exceptional diversity of hominin remains. The discovery was made in Ethiopia's Afar region | NATURE/ZERESENAY ALEMSEGED"Surprisingly, Paranthropus remained unknown from the Afar region despite decades of fieldwork uncovering large numbers of fossils that document human evolution," Dr Spoor noted.

Source: Ethiopian News January 26, 2026 22:09 UTC