India

11 million-year-old Human Ancestral Fossil discovered in Kutch, Gujarat

A study published in PLOS ONE journal Wednesday revealed that after tirelessly digging around in Kutch, Gujarat, scientists have discovered a fossilized upper jaw of an eleven million-year-old human ancestor.

The finding is the first Sivapithecus ape fossil to be discovered so far south in the Indian peninsula, and extends the southern range of ancient apes in the subcontinent by about 1,000 km.

According to the study Abstract, “This is the first record of a hominoid from the Neogene of the Kutch Basin and represents a significant southern range extension of Sivapithecus hominoids in the Indian peninsula. The specimen is assigned to the Genus Sivapithecus, species unspecified.”

Hominoid (Apes) remains from Sivapithecus deposits in India and Pakistan have played a pivotal role in understanding the evolution of great apes and humans since they were first described in the 19th Century, reads the Abstract.

“We describe here a hominoid maxillary fragment preserving the canine and cheek teeth collected in 2011 from the Kutch (= Kachchh) basin in the Kutch district, Gujarat state, western India,” it further reads.

Researchers from Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknow, UP have examined an ape jaw fragment excavated from the Kutch basin, in the Gujarat state of western India, about 1,000 km south of the Siwaliks deposits drawing to a conclusion that the specimen dated to the basal Late Miocene, around 11 to 10 million years ago based on previous mammalian fossil findings in the site.

X-ray computed-tomography had revealed details of the preserved canine and cheek teeth, such as the tooth enamel and root structure. The ape mandible belonged to an adult individual of the Sivapithecus genus, but the species could not be identified.

 

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