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 
It was published last month in C. R. Palevol 7 (2008) 51-60.
According to Coppens et al 2008 the fragment shows similarities to "...Neanderthals, Chinese
Homo erectus, and West/Far East archaic archaic H. sapiens." It was found in possible association with wooly rhinoceros remains which suggests a late Pleistocene date.
Literature Cited
Yves Coppens, Damdinsuren Tseveendorj, Fabrice Demeter, Tsagaan Turbat, Pierre-Henri Giscard (2008) Discovery of an archaic Homo sapiens skullcap in Northeast Mongolia. C. R. Palevol 7 (2008) 51-60. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2007.12.004
Comments
That's so cool. Do you have a copy of the article? If so can you please email it to me? My school doesn't have access to that journal.
Kambiz
Posted by: Kambiz Kamrani | May 1, 2008 10:17 AM
From the front, it looks kind of "Neandertalish" to me. From the top, it looks more like some variety of H.erectus. And from the side, the browridges don't appear to be all that prominent. So it's human, I guess. . . .and it makes you wonder.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | May 1, 2008 4:18 PM
Its looks like H. sapiens to me, but I wouldn't rule out late Neanderthal either based on the presence of this species as far as Siberia.
Posted by: Rutger Jansma | May 2, 2008 2:42 PM
As Anne says, "it makes you wonder". Perhaps humans have been moving backwards and forwards around the earth forming hybrids since H. erectus (or something similar) first left Africa. The regional varieties are not actually separate species. They were able to interbreed. But it suits some people to be able to believe we suddenly became human at some precisely defined moment. Created, perhaps? From outer space? Specially designed?
Posted by: terryt | May 5, 2008 12:05 AM