article_snippet: Researchers who have digitally reconstructed the jaws of other ancient human ancestors say the fossil also matches what Researchers who have digitally reconstructed the jaws of other ancient human ancestors would expect from this common ancestor.
article_snippet: Scientists say The new discovery can provide important clues to the changes in jaw and teeth that distinguished members of the Homo family from those belonging to Australopithecus.
article_snippet: Dr William Kimbel, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University who was also involved in the research, said: 'The Ledi jaw helps narrow the evolutionary gap between Australopithecus and early Homo. '
article_snippet: The Ledi jaw’s an excellent case of a transitional fossil in a critical time period in human evolution.'
article_snippet: The images above show the jawbone from different angles and how many of the teeth still remain in place .
article_snippet: It is thought to be the left side of an adult's lower jawbone that has canine, premolars and three molars still preserved in the jaw.
article_snippet: The researchers said that the changes in the new jawbone compared to Australopithecus suggest that evolution of different jaw shapes may have been a key step in the divergence of the two lineages.
article_snippet: it reveals an unexpectedly primitive structure, indicating that the species may have originated at least 2.3 million years ago and allowed the researchers to draw conclusions about what the researchers ancestors jaw would have looked like.
article_snippet: the researchers found that the ancestor of Homo habilis would have had features similar to those found in the fossilised jawbone LD 350-1.
article_snippet: Now the Ledi-Geraru jaw has turned up as if ‘on request’, suggesting a plausible evolutionary link between Australopithecus afarensis and Homo habilis.'
article_snippet: This reconstruction of the jaw of Homo habilis by the UCL team shows that it was more primitive than the jaws of Homo erectus or Homo sapiens and was more similar to the jaw of  Australopithecus afarensis .
highlights_snippet: The jaw shares features with other Homo fossils but is also more primative .
  