南非發現古猿化石 疑似人類直系祖先

This week，bones from Australopithecus Sediba are unveiled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
　　本週，南方古猿人的骨骼在約翰尼斯堡金山大學公佈於衆。

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.、

科學家認爲，這些已變成化石的骨骼顯示他們是人類的直系祖先，這是人們一直在尋找的存在於人猿和人類之間的過渡生物。現在，有關它的新細節，都清楚的顯示了這些遠古親戚接近現代原始人類的特徵。

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，在南非馬拉帕，一位科學家九歲的兒子在一次考古中發現了一名13歲男子60磅的部分骨架，南方古猿人那時就成了新聞頭條。

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.

這次發現的兩個類人猿是一位母親和他年輕的兒子。經過遺骸的進一步研究，科學家發現成年女性在30歲左右時體重在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.

最新研究對這一原始人類進行了新的闡述，包括最完整的的手，已發現的最完整的骨盆之一，全新的腳及踝的碎片。

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.

南方古猿人用兩條腿走路，而且有着和我們相似的臀部，但是還保留着一些古代人的特徵，比如較長的胳膊和較小的腦袋。

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.

到目前爲止，我們普遍承認那些可追溯至190萬年前化石是直立人的祖先，它們大多數是“能人”和“盧多爾夫智人”。但是，古老的南方古猿人化石提出了一種可能——直立人可能是由一種獨立血統的物種進化的。

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.

研究人員檢查了青少年的局部頭顱，並對它的大腦可能的所在位置做了細節的掃描。

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·卡爾森教授說：“真正的大腦在顱內並沒有變成化石。通過研究顱內的樣子，古生物學家有可能估計出他們大腦表層的樣子和大腦的大小。”