The remains of a baby who existed 3.3 million years ago have been uncovered in Ethiopia and reassembled after 5 years of painstaking diggs to uncover it. The Baby girl named Selam (meaning peace) is equal parts human and ape with an ape like upper body and a human like lower half. This discovery is suggesting to scientists that the species ‘Australopithecus afarensis’ was both a land dweller and tree climber.

It’s amazing to think that humans were around in some form or another a whole 3 million years ago. The first human like remains date back as far as 6.5 million years ago.

Plans are in the works to eventually create a model of the child once her complete skeleton has been unveiled. Then we will even be able to see a likeness of what her features would have looked like!

I found this incredibly interesting and thought I’d attach the actual human evloutionary timeline for your perusal.

The ascent of man

6.5m years ago
Earliest human lineages split from chimpanzees and gorillas, but share many traits with the apes.

5.8m years ago
The oldest human ancestor, Orrorin tugenesis, emerges and is thought to walk on two legs.

4m years ago
Australopithecus arrives with a brain no larger than a chimp’s. Makes home on the savannah and develops teeth for chewing tough food.

2.5m years ago
Homo habilis, right, the first modern human genus emerges. It has a brain half the size of humans today and begins to use primitive stone tools.

2m years ago
Homo ergaster arrives with a smaller face and teeth, but slightly larger brain. Develops hand axes and may have begun to harness fire.

1.8m years ago
Homo erectus or Java man, the first true hunter-gatherer settles in Asia.

600,000 years ago
Homo heidelbergensis lives in Africa and Europe. Its brain is similar in size to a modern human’s.

230,000 years ago
Neanderthals arrive in Britain and Europe.

195,000 years ago
Homo sapiens appears, but it is a further 45,000 years before the first signs of speech emerge.

95,000 years ago
The diminutive “Hobbit” people, Homo floresiensis, is believed to emerge in Indonesia.