Kenyanthropus platyops

The “Flat Faced Man of Kenya”

The fossil skull, KNM-WT 40000, was discovered in 1999, by a team headed by Meave Leakey. The discovery took place in the West Turkana region of Kenya. In the March 22, 2001 issue of Nature, Leakey pronounced the discovery as not only an new species, but as an entirely new genus as well. This distinction was supported by the morphology of the face, as Leakey stated in an article with National Geographic News, “The shape of the face clearly differentiates it from Australopithecus afarensis and species that lived later.”

Leakey added, “(Finding K. platyops) was what I expected, if you look at the evolution of any other mammal, there's usually a radiation of species and just a few species survive. It didn't seem right that there was only one line of evolution [for this time period]. There should have been other species around.”

The morphological and evolutional discussions of this species can be found in the Discussion section of this web site.

Leakey team member Justus Erus, the discoverer of the Kenyanthropus skull - KNM–WT 40000.

(Photograph: Chad Cohen via National Geographic Today)

Meave Leakey with portion of Kenyanthropus skull.

(Photo:  Chad Cohen via National Geographic Today)

Watch an interview with Dr. Meave Leakey with as she talks about the discovery of a new human ancestor.
Real Audio Windows Media

(Interview: National Geographic Magazine @ nationalgeographic.com)

Map of Kenya, showing where the Kenyanthropus skull was discovered.

(Image: Archaeology.info)

Proposed New Timeline of Hominid Evolution Published in the New York Times following the discovery of Kenyanthropus.

(Image: New York Times via SF Gate)