@mark kennedy
@inquiring mind
Sahelanthropus tchadensis- dated at 7 million years old.
Human-like Traits:
small canine teeth
shortened C shaped palate
foraman magnum focal point is positioned for a vertical spinal column
Non-Human Ape-like Traits:
small brain capacity, roughly 1/4 of modern man
large brow ridges
elongated skull
Other traits:
somewhat sloped face, too flat to be a greater ape, too sloped to be human
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahelanthropus
This genus predates the homo genus, but is also in-line with genetic predictions as to when mankind came to be.
And actually, biologists argued that the human-chimpanzee split occurred around this time (7 million years ago), before the discovery of sahelanthropus, based on protein studies and rates of evolution derived from biological traits. And there were paleontologists who had 10 million year old fossils who disagreed.
But, as mentioned earlier, with each new fossil discovery, the succession becomes more and more fine tuned, and the paleontologists were ultimately demonstrated to be incorrect in light of additional fossil discoveries, including that of sahelanthropus.