FOSSIL SKULLS STONE TOOLS OVERVIEW HUMAN EVOLUTION 13 BIG QUESTIONS
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus anamensis
Bradshaw Foundation Origins Archive
 
Australopithecus anamensis (or Praeanthropus anamensis) is a stem-human species that lived approximately four million years ago. Fossils have been excavated in Kenya and Ethiopia. The first specimen was discovered in 1965 near Lake Turkana, followed by excavations in 1987 by Allan Morton. In 1994 Meave Leakey discovered several additional fragments of the hominid, including one complete lower jaw, with teeth resembling those of a human.
AUSTRALOPITHECUS ANAMENSIS
AUSTRALOPITHECUS ANAMENSIS
Australopithecus anamensis Kenya Ethiopia Africa
Genus: Australopithecus
Species: Australopithecus anamensis
Time Period: 4.2 million years ago
Characteristics: Tree Climber
Fossil Evidence: Fossils Kenya & Ethiopia, Africa
Bradshaw Foundation

AUSTRALOPITHECUS ANAMENSIS
 
Leakey assigned the 'new' species Australopithecus anamensis, deriving its name from the Turkana word 'anam', meaning ‘lake’, and described this species as independent of many others [M. G. Leakey et al. 1995].
 
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus anamensis bone from the University of Zurich
Australopithecus anamensis, believed to be a tree climber, may have been the direct predecessor of Australopithecus afarensis, sharing many of its traits.
 
In 2006, a new Australopithecus anamensis find was officially announced, extending the range into north east Ethiopia. This discovery, in the Middle Awash, was only six miles away from the discovery site of Ardipithecus ramidus, a more primitive hominid, considered the next known step below Australopithecus on the evolutionary tree.