Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
NPR had an interesting story on a cave dating to the ice age. The cave was found in Missouri as a result of some construction activities.
The cave itself is interesting, but it was what was found inside that really makes the find unique. Apparently a whole host of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils have been found. Some of the finds are of turtles (the common box turtle as well as an older, unknown species believed to be ancestral to the box turtle), snakes, rodent tracks, peccary (important because previously it was believed that peccary only entered caves when they were carried in by carnivores), short-faced bear (Artcodus simus) beds and claw marks as well as impressions of the fur of the short-faced bear. More importantly, actual hair from the short-faced bear was found. Additionally, claw marks from a large feline were also found. Below is a picture of the feline claw marks:
You can find a video here. (The title is Exploring a Prehistoric Cave)
The cave also has a website which can be found here
Comments
Cool! It was my boyhood dream to discover a paleo-cave.
Posted by: J-Dog | February 19, 2007 12:15 PM
About a dozen Missouri caves are mentioned in Pleistocene Mammals of North America, by Bjorn Kurten and Elaine Anderson (Columbia Univ. Press, 1980). Has anything about this site been written up yet?
Posted by: mark | February 19, 2007 2:36 PM
The cave itself is interesting, but it was what was found inside that really makes the find unique.
I'll say! They found an Ice Age Sharpie!
Fossil hunting on Mars
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | February 19, 2007 4:56 PM
Mark - I think something was presented to the The Geological Society of America back in 2004. Other than that I do not know, but would love to find out.
Mustafa - that is a cool article you linked to, although you should forget about the ice age sharpie...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | February 19, 2007 7:32 PM
Now we know what the Lascaux artists used!
Posted by: llewelly | February 19, 2007 8:08 PM
Hey everyone out there that reads these posts - I am not into posts - but I am into searching for prehistoric fossils. About 4 months ago I was walking out in one of our fields and discovered a very unusual rock that must have been uncovered by one of the many rains we have had this year in the Ozarks. This post is on 5/13/08. The rock was about 3'x2'x 1' thick. Only after cleaning the rock with a garden hose, did I discover what appears to be a "bear claw print with scratch marks". Since the DNR says that there is "nothing new to discover" - ya right - I don't know where to restart. I am trying to find out how to go about having an EXPERT look at my find and offer comments. All comments will be appreciated and please feel free to forward my message on to anyone you know that could provide assistance with this ID. Thanks PS: Part of the puzzle is that this was NOT discovered in a cave???
Posted by: Dick | May 13, 2008 8:17 PM
The best place to start is in the geology department of whatever university happens to be near you.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | May 13, 2008 8:52 PM