Description

Australopithecus garhi is known from fossil remains in the Bouri Formation, Afar Region, Ethiopia, dating to about 2.6–2.5 million years ago (Early Pleistocene / late Pliocene boundary). It displays a fascinating mix of features: a relatively small brain (≈ 450 cc) similar to other australopiths, but with unusually large molars and premolars (comparable in scale to Paranthropus in some respects) and thick enamel.

Its face is prognathic (i.e. projecting), and there is evidence for a sagittal crest (or at least a raised temporal line) to anchor strong chewing muscles. Some postcranial fragments attributed to A. garhi suggest limb proportions that are somewhat more humanlike (relatively long femur compared to humerus) than in earlier australopiths, though arms remained more “ape-like” in relative proportions.

An interesting and controversial point: at the same site in Bouri, animal bones with definite cut marks (likely made by stone tools) were found ~2.5 Ma, raising the possibility that A. garhi or a close contemporary used simple tools to butcher animals or extract marrow. In early interpretations, A. garhi was proposed as a possible ancestor or transitional form to Homo, though many paleoanthropologists now see it more as a side branch rather than a direct ancestor.