News Anthropology

Males of this ancient human cousin weren’t always bigger than females

Proteins from a collection of fossils hint at sex and genetic differences in P. robustus

Fossilized skull of an early hominid species, Paranthropus robustus, displayed against a dark background, showing prominent brow ridges, large eye sockets and preserved teeth.

A new analysis of proteins preserved in fossil teeth provides the first molecular assessment of size differences between the sexes and genetic diversity in an ancient African hominid, Paranthropus robustus (skull of own shown).

Bernhard Zipfel

By Bruce Bower

An ancient, distant human cousin from southern Africa called Paranthropus robustus has for the first time revealed molecular clues to its evolutionary status.