Bones from the feet and hands of an extinct species of early man reveal a versatile ancestor who climbed trees, walked upright, and made tools, two studies showed today.
Homo naledi, whose existence was revealed last month with the discovery of some 1,500 bones in a deep South African cave, upends the notion that the evolutionary path to modern man was a straight line, the researchers say.
Among the primitive human species grouped under the hominin umbrella -- including Homo erectus and Homo habilis -- it revealed an unprecedented mix of ape and modern man.
A small brain and short stature, along with curved fingers and toes, pointed to its ape origins.
But tool-wielding hands and feet made for walking were closer to Homo sapiens, or modern man, than many of the other upright species that emerged some two to three million years ago.
Researchers have not determined the age of the H. Naledi bones yet, so we do not know exactly where it fits into the increasingly complex timeline of early man.
"But regardless of age, this species is going to cause a paradigm shift in the way we think about human evolution," both in terms of behaviour and anatomy, says William Harcourt-Smith, lead author of the study focusing on the foot.
An analysis of the nearly-complete right foot -- 107 foot bones in all -- showed that H. Naledi was well adapted for standing and walking long distances, found the study which was published in Nature Communications.
