南非发现古猿化石 疑似人类直系祖先

This week，bones from Australopithecus Sediba are unveiled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

本周，南方古猿人的骨骼在约翰尼斯堡金山大学公布于众。

Scientists believe their fossilised skeletons show they could be our direct ancestors, the long-sought ‘missing link’ between apes and humans. Now new details about it make it clear our ancient relative displayed both primitive characteristics as well as more modern, human-like traits.、

科学家认为，这些已变成化石的骨骼显示他们是人类的直系祖先，这是人们一直在寻找的存在于人猿和人类之间的过渡生物。现在，有关它的新细节，都清楚的显示了这些远古亲戚接近现代原始人类的特征。

Au. sediba hit the headlines last year after a scientist's nine-year-old son found the partial skeleton of a 60lb 10 to 13-year-old male during a dig at a site known as Malapa.

去年，在南非马拉帕，一位科学家九岁的儿子在一次考古中发现了一名13岁男子60磅的部分骨架，南方古猿人那时就成了资讯头条。

This time, two primitive ape-like creatures, believed to be a mother and her young son. Further exploration led to the discovery of the remains for an adult female in her late 20s or early 30s weighing around 73lb.

这次发现的两个类人猿是一位母亲和他年轻的儿子。经过遗骸的进一步研究，科学家发现成年女性在30岁左右时体重在73磅左右。

The latest research sheds new light on the creature which include descriptions of the most complete hand, one of the more complete pelvises ever discovered and brand new pieces of the foot and ankle.

最新研究对这一原始人类进行了新的阐述，包括最完整的的手，已发现的最完整的骨盆之一，全新的脚及踝的碎片。

Au. sediba, walked on two legs and had hips similar to ours, but still retained a few more primitive features, such as longer arms and a smaller brain.

南方古猿人用两条腿走路，而且有着和我们相似的臀部，但是还保留着一些古代人的特征，比如较长的胳膊和较小的脑袋。

Until now, fossils dated to 1.9million years ago - and mostly attributed to Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis - have been undisputed considered ancestral to Homo erectus. But, the older age of these Au. sediba fossils raises the possibility of a separate, older lineage from which Homo erectus may have evolved.

到目前为止，我们普遍承认那些可追溯至190万年前化石是直立人的祖先，它们大多数是“能人”和“卢多尔夫智人”。但是，古老的南方古猿人化石提出了一种可能——直立人可能是由一种独立血统的物种进化的。

Researchers took a look at the partial skull of the juvenile and made a detailed scan of the space where its brain would have been.

研究人员检查了青少年的局部头颅，并对它的大脑可能的所在位置做了细节的扫描。

Dr Kristian Carlson said: “The actual brain residing within a cranium does not fossilise. By studying the impressions on the inside of a cranium, palaeontologists have an opportunity to estimate what the surface of a brain may have looked like and estimate the size of a brain.”

克里斯蒂安·卡尔森教授说：“真正的大脑在颅内并没有变成化石。通过研究颅内的样子，古生物学家有可能估计出他们大脑表层的样子和大脑的大小。”