科学家发现最早人类祖先是嗜食同类的“食人魔”
科学家在南非的一处岩洞里发现了最早人类的骨骼。研究表明，这位我们人类最早的祖先很可能是长着长长牙齿的小型“食人魔”。据报道，科学家在南非豪登省的一个岩洞里发现了一些距今八十万至两百万年的远古人类的头骨碎片、下颚骨、牙齿及其它部分骨骼。研究表明这是目前为止发现的最早的人类祖先，科学家将其命名为“豪登人”(Homo gautengensis)。
“豪登人”生活在约60万到200万年前，身高仅一米，体重约50公斤，能够用音节简单的语言互相交流。与现代人类相比，“豪登人”前臂较长，面孔突出像黑猩猩一样，牙齿很长，脑容量则较小。
尽管“豪登人”的牙齿证明他们已经开始食用植物，人类的祖先却绝不是素食主义者。在被发现的标号为Stw 53骨骼上有焚烧和剥掉皮肉的痕迹。科学家认为这证明这个男性“豪登人”曾是同类的盘中餐。
Scientists have discovered the bones of what is thought to be the oldest human species in a cave in South Africa. The study shows that the earliest ancestor of human being was probably a toothy little cannibal.
According to a report, scientists found some two million- to 800,000-year-old fossil-skull pieces, jaws, teeth, and other bones at the Sterkfontein caves complex in South Africa's Gauteng Province. The research indicates that this is the earliest ancestors of man discovered by far, which were named Homo gautengensis.
Homo gautengensis were living two million- to 600,000 years ago. They were thought to measure 3ft 6 in height and weighed just over 50kg. They were also able to communicate by verbal language. Compared with modern humans, the new species had proportionally long arms, a projecting face somewhat like a chimp's, larger teeth, and a smaller brain.
Though the teeth of Homo gautengensis proved they had begun to eat plant, the ancestor of man was by no means vegetarian. Along with the burned and de-fleshed bones, the marks on the Stw 53 skull suggest that the man 'was certainly on the menu of Homo gautengensis.'
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