But the discovery of Ardi wasn't just a leap forward in understanding the roots of humanity-it was an attack on scientific convention and the leading authorities of human origins, triggering an epic feud about the oldest family skeleton. When finally revealed to the public, Ardi stunned scientists around the world and challenged a half-century of orthodoxy about human evolution-how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today's chimpanzee. Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the resulting skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus-nicknamed 'Ardi'-was an astounding 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than the world-famous 'Lucy.' The team spent the next 15 years studying the bones in strict secrecy, all while continuing to rack up landmark fossil discoveries in the field and becoming increasingly ensnared in bitter disputes with scientific peers and Ethiopian bureaucrats. It is the ultimate mystery: where do we come from? In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White uncovered a set of ancient bones in Ethiopia's Afar region. Minneapolis Star TribuneĪ decade in the making, Fossil Men is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body: the first full-length account of the discovery of a startlingly unpredicted human ancestor more than a million years older than Lucy New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)īrilliant. In this, he is every bit as good as the best scientist writers.

Pattison's uncanny ability to write evocatively about science. Pattison, Kermit Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind

Fossil Men by Kermit Pattison