--- title: New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa description: A new species of ancient human has been discovered in Ethiopia, showing there may be more diversity in human ancestry. canonical: https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-28T19:42:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:06.116Z article:section: Science og:title: New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa og:description: These ancient humans had small teeth og:url: https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48396e0a1c391062/6988520f55a859af93a8c3a9/australopithecus-deyiremeda.jpg?branch=production&width=622&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 622 og:image:height: 350 og:image:alt: AUSTRALOPITHECUS DEYIREMEDA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa twitter:description: These ancient humans had small teeth twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48396e0a1c391062/6988520f55a859af93a8c3a9/australopithecus-deyiremeda.jpg?branch=production&width=622&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 28, 2015 7:42 PM UTC  Cleveland Museum of Natural History  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 28, 2015 7:42 PM UTC A new species of ancient human has been discovered in Ethiopia. Researchers found approximately 3.5 million-year-old jaw bones and teeth in the Afar region of Ethiopia; [the study](http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14448.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=1GEhlRPQoEmyh5zR0wCJtNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OQm-ZXdCT%5FGTG07h5HauCVk%5FI5CEjp11HKinMWQ-%5FwjAYVeSExyBxDPQ-yd6NIRQ6ZzrBfVHJLcTRFmlZQsAblr04f3JEjZ30K6%5FgAQ7qOZgxbsanJc0c2WYJ-6hlS0j5a7g-mLMLeV%5FLlijtTkFek&tracking%5Freferrer=www.bbc.com) published in _Nature_ suggests this hominin is a new species, despite being alive around the same time as other known human ancestors. Lead researcher Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, curator of physical anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, [told BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32906836), “We had to look at the detailed anatomy and morphology of the teeth and the upper and lower jaws, and we found major differences. This new species has very robust jaws. In addition, we see this new species had smaller teeth. The canine is really small—smaller than all known hominins we have documented in the past.” This new species is called _Australopithecus deyiremeda,_ which means “close relative” in the Afar language, and its discovery shows there may be more diversity in human ancestry than was previously thought. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/"},"headline":"New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa","datePublished":"2015-05-28T19:42:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:06.116Z","description":"These ancient humans had small teeth","url":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/","keywords":["Archaeology","Species","fossils"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48396e0a1c391062/6988520f55a859af93a8c3a9/australopithecus-deyiremeda.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48396e0a1c391062/6988520f55a859af93a8c3a9/australopithecus-deyiremeda.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AUSTRALOPITHECUS DEYIREMEDA","caption":"AUSTRALOPITHECUS DEYIREMEDA","creditText":"Cleveland Museum of Natural History","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/archaeology/","name":"Archaeology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/","name":"New Species of Ancient Human Found in Africa"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life","description":"Conservationists and scientists have a saying, \"extinction is forever.\" But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to \"DE-extinction is forever.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7mURxfr4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-12T14:27:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/","duration":"PT4M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3900399/new-species-ancient-human/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```