The Link (History Channel documentary)

[Alex]

The Link
History Channel
www.history.com/content/the-link

Missing link found! An incredible 95 percent complete fossil of a 47-million-year-old human ancestor has been discovered and, after two years of secret study, an international team of scientists has revealed it to the world. The fossil’s remarkable state of preservation allows an unprecedented glimpse into early human evolution.  ...


A review:

Long Lost Relative 
A front-page introduction for a 47-million-year-old primate fossil
by Mark Rose and Eric A. Powell
May 22, 2009
Archaeology
www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/ida_fossil.html

There's no doubt that the fossil primate named Ida, after paleontologist Jørn Hurum's young daughter, is big news, and page one coverage in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal attests it's more than just a bit of evolutionary road kill. Ida is the subject of a two-hour History Channel documentary, "The Link," which will debut on May 25. A juvenile female, the 95 percent complete skeleton comes from Germany's Messel Pit, a mile-wide crater, and dates to 47 million years ago. Effectively acting as host of the show is Jørn Hurum of the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum.

The documentary will engage those who are interested in human evolution, but it has to be said that there's a fair amount of padding. The focus seems solely on the question, is this a human ancestor or not?  ...The answer to the basic question--lower primate or monkey/ape lineage--can be summarized in a few key skeletal characteristics. An anklebone and specifics about the claws/toenails, and front teeth all suggest that Ida was on the branch leading to monkeys and apes (including us) rather than on the lemur and lower primate line.  ...

[Alex]

Following Ida, Ardi is another crucial piece in the evolutionary jigsaw puzzle...

Discovering Ardi
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/ardipithecus/
"Darwin could only dream of finding this."

A Long-Lost Relative
p36, TIME vol 174 no 14, Oct 12, 2009
..a key piece of evolutionary evidence revealed this week: the 4.4 million-year-old skeleton of a likely human ancestor known as Ardipithecus ramidus (abbreviated Ar. ramidus).

Ardi 可能是最早人類祖先
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/world/2009/10/090924_fossilfindsextendhumanstory.shtml
科學家說，已發現的一具440萬年前的動物化石，可能是目前已知的最早的人類祖先。